300 mm Automation: Perfection or Dead End?

摘要

Will 300 mm equipment designed around SEMI standards solve future factory challenges? Or will the industry be forced to turn to a different solution, such as one based on clusters of automation? Despite all the focus on 300 mm, tumors of the demise of 200 mm wafer processing are greatly exaggerated. The 200 mm sector is very much alive and well and serving industry needs. That's more than can be said for 300 mm technology today. With more than five years of aggressive 300 mm tool development and more than 100 SEMI standards almost exclusively focused on 300 mm factory and tool automation, real 300 mm strides remain elusive. And the debaters are lining up. Many feel 300 mm standardization efforts have caused tool prices to rise, while driving compatibility and integratability downward. Others point to the fact that almost every 300 mm fab still distributes notebooks filled with fab-specific tool specs. By addressing the standards, some ask, have we simply been unable to come up with reasonable tool designs that meet the needs of next-generation manufacturing, or are the standards themselves flawed?