Programmable factory IC manufacturing for the 21st century

Stanford University have built a large interdisciplinary program aimed at exploring radically different semiconductor manufacturing opportunities. The approach is to build a highly flexible computer controlled manufacturing facility-the programmable factory and in parallel with this factory, a suite of simulation tools the virtual factory which emulate all functions of the real factory. Controlling both of these and integrating them is the manufacturing automation. The programmable factory is an alternative approach to IC fabrication, based on a new generation of multifunctional equipment with extensive use of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) for added flexibility. The new type of multiprocessing equipment quickly processes one semiconductor wafer at a time, performs several process steps in situ- in contrast to the conventional alternative of slowly processing many wafers simultaneously and one step per equipment. Single wafer processing enables the use of in-situ monitoring and real-time control. The process equipment is also modular, with common mechanical and electronic interfaces. Such modularization and standardization is expected to decrease the amount and expense of equipment that must be purchased for existing fabs to upgrade to new generations of technology. Extensive use of CIM for specification, monitoring, control, and information management should make switching between processes faster and more reliable, should increase the case by which large numbers of different products could simultaneously be routed and tracked through the factory, and maximize equipment utilization.