Coronavirus, Chip Boom, and Supply Shortage: The New Normal for Global Semiconductor Manufacturing

Stephen Rothrock
Founder, President & CEO
ATREG, Inc.

Abstract
Over the past 50 years, the semiconductor industry has faced its fair share of difficult challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic the world is currently experiencing has caused the worst downturn since the financial crisis of 2008, devastating global economies. And yet, the semiconductor industry has repeatedly shown incredible resilience in the face of adversity. Despite the pandemic, the market has not experienced such a dramatic upturn since 2003 and as a result, the new market upturn breaks open the fundamental flaws and risks of manufacturing concentration and outsourcing.At a time when the world is precariously dependent on Taiwan for semiconductors, how can the global supply chain forecast, manage, and plan for such sudden shifts in the future? Now more than ever before, advanced technology companies need to keep the finger on the pulse of supply and demand to successfully inform their strategic manufacturing decisions and remain agile to ensure continuity of supply. As chip demand booms in the midst of a supply shortage over the coming months and supply is no longer a given, what does the future hold for manufacturing fabs? Will greenfield become the rule rather than the exception in this new normal (TSMC in Arizona, Cree in New York, etc.)? How will the market upturn impact global fab location choices?Reflecting on some 20 years of experience completing international semiconductor manufacturing asset transactions in North America, Europe, and Asia, ATREG Founder, President, and CEO Stephen M. Rothrock will provide insights into the current global manufacturing asset market and how it is likely to evolve as part of the current market upturn.

Biography
Stephen founded ATREG in 2000 to help global advanced technology companies divest and acquire infrastructure-rich manufacturing assets, including wafer fabs (front- and back-end) as well as MEMS, solar, display, and R&D facilities. Over the last 20 years, his firm has completed close to 40% of all global operational wafer fab sales in the semiconductor industry, a total of 50 transactions representing a value of $4 billion.Recent global acquisitions and sales have involved Fujitsu, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, IBM, Infineon, Matsushita (Panasonic), Maxim, Micron, NXP, ON Semiconductor, Sony, Qualcomm, Renesas, and Texas Instruments to name just a few. Prior to founding ATREG, Stephen established Colliers International’s Global Corporate Services initiative and headed the company’s U.S. division based in Seattle, Wash.Before that, he worked as Director for Savills International commercial real estate brokerage in London, UK, also serving on the UK-listed property company’s international board. He also spent four years near Paris, France working for an international NGO. Stephen holds an MA degree in Political Theology from the University of Hull, UK and a BA degree in Business Commerce from the University of Washington in Seattle, USA.

Broader view of sustainability challenges for a subfab in Europe

Chris Jones
Environmental Solutions Business Development Manager
Edwards

Abstract
Energy, water, waste, climate change, pollution are repeated themes in many corporate sustainability reports. The EU’s Green Deal sustainability roadmap shows how climate neutrality and sustainability can fuel economic growth. In this paper we discuss how to meet some of the sustainability challenges encountered during the operation of vacuum and abatement on semiconductor equipment.

Biography
Chris Jones is a Ph.D. qualified chemist and has extensive experience in developing methods to help manage environmental compliance within the semiconductor, nuclear, military, and pharmaceutical industrial sectors, and is looking to communicate the importance sustainability to process developers, tool designers, and factory operators. We all need to have some understanding of how we integrate equipment into a fab to ensure that we have a profitable, safe, and environmental compliant facility. He is the Environmental Solutions Business Development Manager within the Edwards Organisation.

Mental Ill Health – The other invisible threat

Richard Meredith
Senior Manager, Field Service SHE
Edwards Vacuum

Abstract
The subfab is a high pressure environment and continues to present significant hazards to the semiconductor workforce. Hazards such as toxic chemicals, radiation and high voltage are commonplace and, in general, well controlled. But are there unidentified hazards which can cause workers to take time off, quit and be less effective at work even to the point they could contribute to workplace accidents? And did COVID-19 bring more into the workplace than just a biological hazard?Using examples from Edwards’ experience and our journey so far, this abstract will explore the hidden problem of Mental Ill Health, what can be done to unearth it, causes of work-related stress, and, most crucially, what we can do to improve things so employees are happy, present at work (in mind and body) and working at their best.

Biography
Richard Meredith is the Senior Manager for Safety, Health and Environment in the Edwards Vacuum Semiconductor division. He is responsible, with a supporting global team, to ensure the health & safety of approximately 1700 field service engineers globally who work in the high-risk environment of semiconductor manufacturing. Richard has over 20 years’ experience in the semiconductor industry, initially in quality roles and for the last 4 years as a health and safety professional. He holds a law degree and is expecting to receive his Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety from the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health in 2020.

Smart to the Rescue!

John Behnke
GM Final Phase Systems
INFICON

Abstract
The semiconductor industry and its supply chain struggle have made the global news almost daily in 2021. This has led many countries to create Semi specific investment initiatives to improve their domestic production of chips to better control their supply chain. These efforts include funding proposals for new regional fabs as well as improving existing production capabilities. This presentation will not comment on the political motivations of these efforts but will instead focus on the criticality of Smart Manufacturing solutions to these efforts. Whether getting more capacity out of existing fabs, enabling fabs run a broader mix of technologies and products for a longer period or to ensure a new site is built with tomorrow’s technology instead of yesterday’s Smart Manufacturing is key. We will review the elements of Smart Manufacturing that can be rapidly deployed in an existing fab to deliver high ROI through improvements in output and cycle time. These initial key elements are intended to require few fab resources to deploy since they are spread thin today. Quickly establishing these capabilities can help maintain a company’s historical supply reputation during these high demand times. Follow on additional Smart Solutions can be added to further improve existing fabs. Green Field new fabs offer more opportunities to leverage Smart solutions but will not deliver significant output for years due to the time required to build. A “Must Have” list of existing and in development Smart solutions for these fabs will also be reviewed.

Biography
Mr. Behnke has 35 years of semiconductor industry experience including: logic and memory manufacturing, technology/product development and fab operational excellence. As the GM of Final Phase Systems an INFICON Product Line, John leads a team that develop and deploy SMART software solutions that enable fabs to improve their manufacturing efficiency. FPS’s suite of software solutions are built upon a common Datawarehouse which enables advanced Fab Scheduling and optimized WIP movement as well as other related capabilities. He is also a Co-Chair of the Semi North America Smart Manufacturing Special Interest Group. Prior to FPS John served as the CEO and President of Novati Technologies, the SVP and GM of the Semiconductor Group of Intermolecular, the CVP for Front End Manufacturing, Process R&D and Technology Transfers at Spansion and the Director of AMD’s Fab 25’s Engineering and Operations groups where he was a founding member of AMD’s Automated Precision Manufacturing (APM) initiative which led the Semiconductor industry’s development and use of APC and other advanced factory systems. He also led the successful conversion of Fab 25 from Logic to Flash memory which was enabled through the virtual automation of the fab.Mr. Behnke earned a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering with an Industrial Engineering Minor from Marquette University. Mr. Behnke holds five U.S. patents.

An Emergency Process Technology for Europe

Reinhart Richter
President
EBARA Precision Machinery Europe GmbH

Abstract
Key topics:Performance - Customer Orientation - SustainabilityGet more out of it - added value for fabs and sub fabsEdge control - many challenges to tackleEnhance wafer yield with high quality bevel polishingNew strategic end marketsAdvanced cleaning

Biography

Dr Reinhart Richter

How to Replace Conventional Wet Etch/Clean Tools with Batchspray® Equipment, While Reducing Chemical Costs and Achiving More Clean Room Space?

Mario Buchberger
Global Account Manager
Siconnex customized solutions GmbH

Abstract
A case study, that was done together with a customer, shows the benefits of moving from conventional wet etch/clean tools to a BATCHSPRAY® equipment.Due to that change the customer generated clean room space and reduced the chemical consumption to a minimum.These benefits were also achieved by a new wafer handling system for automated BATCHSPRAY® equipment. It is called Retainer Comb Handling system (RCH).That system allows a huge open area on the wafer surface by which a good chemical exchange is given.This means high cost savings as well as a good return on invest.

Biography
Mario Buchberger started as Process Engineer at Siconnex in 2016, supporting customers around the globe in any process topic. After his role as Project Development Engineer, where his focus was on cost of ownership & return on invest calcualtions he became Global Account Manager in 2020 and handles several international accounts.

Remote Operations / Training New Employees in Time of Disruption; Integrating New Training Solutions; Managing Operations when Staff is Digital.

Andreas C. Zimmer
Executive Search & Selection Consultant
ZIAN & Co industrial consulting and recruitment

Abstract
CoViD has proven one thing: it is possible to run a company successfully without the physical presence of employees! What does this mean for the future? Will home office establish itself? What impact will this have on management and onboarding of new employees? How do I lead a digital team? It will depend on some factors to be used differently. In detail:Team building: lead teams horizontally. One success factor is that everyone is deployed according to their skills, meaning not only their professional qualifications, but also their skills in terms of ​​interpersonal relationships. The team leader will be well advised to select his team members from this aspect and deploy them accordingly. He is therefore not necessarily the most senior, but rather the one who is most likely to be able to organize, lead and motivate the team and enable them to focus on the task at hand: he's the coach on the sideline, not the best player.Communication: communicate openly, honestly and at an early stage. It is more about “listening” than “talking”, as a remote team will only be successful if all members have the same information and know exactly what is expected. Criticism is expressly encouraged, and suggestions should come from those who deal with the topic every day. “Leading through questions” should prevail.Clear goals, tasks, responsibilities: a precise distribution of tasks is essential. It will be important that those who are best qualified for the respective task take on responsibility, and this qualification is not necessarily a purely technical one. Likewise, it will be necessary to precisely define the goals and to adapt them, should this prove necessary. It is not a top-down process, but an iterative action that accompanies the process fluently. A framework should be set out within which the team members can move freely.Equipment, timing, schedule: ensure (as team leader) that the team has the necessary equipment available right from the start; give clear time constraints, keep an approved agenda, and stick to it.Participants (n ° of max): the team: as small as possible, as large as necessary.Develop people: give colleagues the chance to work out their ideas and suggestions; discuss these with them; give open, honest feedback; praise freely and honestly; give credit; think about each one in your final report.You'll end up successfully if you respect some simple lessons: coach your team; generate enthusiasm; develop people; ask; say “Yes, we'll do it”.

Biography
Andreas is an international acting personnel and industrial consultant with 25+ years’ experience. He’s a specialist for high-end technologies (Semi, LED, PV, Electronics, Test & Measurement, etc.), active throughout Europe, with customers in Europe, USA, Asia. He’s a permanent participant of leading exhibitions and conferences worldwide (SEMICON, INTERSOLAR, EU PV SEC, LIGHT&BUILDING, ELECTRONICA, PRODUCTRONICA) and fluent in three languages, written and spoken.Within the SEMI industry, he operates with his partners from SONAR GmbH, Munich (www.sonar-gmbh.com).Prior to his consultancy career, Andreas covered positions in Sales and Marketing with OSRAM, Germany and Italy, for almost ten years. Further on, he matured experience in controlling, change management, re-engineering. Andreas lives in Munich. He has one son and is in his spare time an avid tournament ballroom dancer and sailor.For more information, go to his LinkedIn-profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreas-c-zimmer-16807112/, or contact him directly: aczimmer@zianco.com or +49 89 31988638.

Challenges and Opportunities for Adopting Digital Twins in Semiconductor Industry

Fahad Golra
Research Coordinator
Agileo Automation

Abstract
Virtualization of a real-life object, process or system is not new; what brings the concept of digital twins to the forefront is its potential real time connection to the real world and leveraging AI and big data analytics to interact with and evaluate different “what if” scenarios.Through our experience in the development of digital twin solutions for semiconductor equipment manufacturers, we share the findings of an analysis on their adoption in semiconductor industry.Depending on their perspective, OEMS and integrators have an outgoing focus by finding its value for product improvement, customer service and new business models. On the contrary, fabs have an incoming focus by finding its value for cost reductions, process improvements and safety. By replicating manufacturing systems and processes, digital twins afford an opportunity for online and offline support for extending the APC technologies like Equipment Health Monitoring for assessing tool health as a function of deviation from normal behavior, Predictive Maintenance for using process and equipment state information to predict maintenance needs, Predictive Scheduling for improving scheduling of system by utilizing current and projected information on tool and factory state, capabilities and schedule, Virtual Metrology for the prediction of post process metrology variables using process and wafer state information, and Yield Prediction for monitoring information to predict process or end of line yield.For adopting digital twins, the stakeholders will have to prepare themselves for new challenges. The product teams need to become proficient in both hardware and software by developing new skills like design, simulation, analytics, etc. Integration, management, and maintenance of both physical and digital twins need to be considered. Maintenance of digital twins and their links to the physical twins become a core approach for upgrades and thus require new business models. An additional effort to standardize data interchange, not only between the physical and digital twins but also for the integration of digital twins would be required. With more data from digital twins, unless the stakeholders can find innovative “what if” scenarios, its value would remain unclear. The ownership of data is already becoming an important concern. The stakeholders would need to devise procedures for data sharing and partitioning and ensure the confidentiality of data and intellectual property security.

Biography
Fahad Golra is currently working as a research coordinator at Agileo Automation. After his doctorate in process modeling, he has been active in research activities around model federation, model driven development, Industry 4.0 solutions based on RAMI 4.0, OPC UA and digital twins. He is actively participating in different standardization activities in OPC Foundation, SEMI association and ISA.

Vocus: The Most Sensitive Detector of Air Molecular Contaminants

Carla Frege
Application scientist
Tofwerk

Abstract
A fast and precise monitoring of room air and material outgassing is critical to ensure good product quality in the semiconductor industry. As cost per chip rises significantly from one technology node to the next, maintaining optimal yield is more than ever paramount. As such, measurement of air molecular contaminants (AMCs) from high to extremely low concentration levels (ppmv-pptv) has become of great importance within the different fab processes. Current technologies used for monitoring AMCs are specific to some categories (acids, bases, volatile organics, condensables) and/or fail detecting low concentration levels of AMCs. The TOFWERK Vocus chemical ionization mass spectrometer offers new insights into monitoring of AMCs in the fab with extremely fast time response (seconds), detection limits in the range of single digit pptv and high versatility being able to measure trace acids, bases, condensables and volatile organic compounds simultaneously . Vocus is also a mobile instrument that can, when necessary, be deployed to specific areas within the fab. In this work we present the use of a Vocus for continuous monitoring of outgassing after a process that simulated standard cleaning procedures of a FOUP (a specialized plastic enclosure used for wafer transport). For these measurements the outgassing of molecular acids (MAs) and molecular bases (MBs) was monitored over 16 hours in separate experiments simulating cleaning of a FOUP. With 1 min LODs in the range of 3-10 pptv, Vocus measures some molecular contaminants that persist at trace concentrations (10-30 pptv) for many hours.

Concentration decay of common inorganic acids in a FAB environment. The markers show the quantification limit of each compound. Arrows on the right axis show the 1 minute LOD of the Vocus