SEMATECH and the factory of the future

It is noted that from now through the year 2000, US semiconductor manufacturing lines will undergo remarkable changes. SEMATECH´s role in helping shape those changes as it works with the industry to develop manufacturing techniques that will withstand ever-greater pressures for cost-containment, precision processing, and submicron geometries is discussed. SEMATECH is driving efforts to improve manufacturing productivity by taking advantage of the US´s strength in systems. Doing so requires an intimate understanding of past, present, and future fab drivers and parametrics. According to SEMATECH, the factory of the future must be an information-based, precision-manufacturing operation that is fully computerized and controlled using microenvironments, with automation. Use of CIM (computer-integrated manufacturing), vastly lower defect densities, appropriate automation, and improved environmental controls will be critical. The bottom line is that paradigm shifts must occur in wafer handling, wafer processing, material purities, fab organization, CIM and more