nanochip fab solutions

Leading conference on process control solutions for semiconductor and related high precision industries slated for San Antonio, Texas on October 28-31, 2019.

Manufacturers can turn periods of lower utilization to their benefit by using the available time to take proactive steps to increase the performance and productivity of their equipment and fab operations.

Developing security standards so that data analysis experts can work together to solve thorny process control challenges remains a top priority as semiconductor manufacturing moves to a smart manufacturing model.

As Moore’s Law has been stretched and the industry has become more global, more capital intensive, and more competitive, the focus of fab managers has expanded beyond device- and equipment breakthroughs to include significant advances in service technologies to boost the efficiency of semiconductor fabs.

Given today’s high market demand for semiconductor products, device manufacturers are looking for ways to maximize the output of good wafers from their fabs−and optimize their returns on invested capital.

Among the many tenets of smart manufacturing, “digital twin” solutions represent a significant opportunity for microelectronics manufacturers to leverage existing and emerging technologies to improve quality and throughput, and reduce variability and cost.

To unlock the full potential of their manufacturing systems and personnel, companies in many industries are rapidly moving toward highly automated systems and digital data-driven methods and tools. Widely known as “smart manufacturing” or Industry 4.0, the resulting productivity improvements are often so dramatic that many people are calling this shift a new industrial revolution.

China’s initiatives to build more sophisticated greenfield semiconductor fabs come at a time when equipment and services suppliers such as Applied Materials are developing new ways to gather and analyze data. 

Fully automated factory systems are fast becoming a necessity in semiconductor manufacturing, given today’s ultra-competitive markets, shorter product life-cycles, the growing use of semiconductors in new applications and the need to quickly set up greenfield fabs around the world.

Applied Materials will soon mark its thirty-fourth year in China, where, since 1984, its operations have grown to include more than 1,600 full-time employees supporting sales, service, and a rapidly growing Global Development Center (GDC) located in the ancient capital of Xi’an.