Data is the new oil – or is it skilled workforce ?

I just came back from the 2023 ASMC in Saratoga Springs, which was packed with 15 technical sessions and lots of great presentations. One topic was in the air throughout all the sessions – will the semiconductor industry have enough skilled operators, technicians and engineers ? Almost all keynotes brought this point up and there…… Continue reading Data is the new oil – or is it skilled workforce ?

ASMC 2023

The Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference in Saratoga Springs is just one month away ! I’m looking forward to meet many industry experts and discuss Factory Physics topics in person. Here are some of my personal Agenda highlights: Keynote: Salvatore Coffa from STMicroelectronics – Silicon Carbide Keynote: Thomas Sonderman from SkyWater Technologies – US Chips Act…… Continue reading ASMC 2023

Product Mix and FAB performance

Semiconductor manufacturing is a highly complex and dynamic industry that requires constant innovation and adaptation to meet the changing needs of customers. One of the biggest challenges in this industry is managing changes to the product mix, which can have a significant impact on the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the manufacturing process. Product mix…… Continue reading Product Mix and FAB performance

Equipment Uptime and FAB speed, part 1

I like to resume with the posts on the topic of FAB cycle time drivers. As mentioned in an earlier post – these are some of the key drivers for factory cycle time: overall factory size (number of equipment available to run a certain step) overall equipment uptime and uptime stability M-ratio rework rate product…… Continue reading Equipment Uptime and FAB speed, part 1

US Semiconductor Ecosystem Outlook

I recently attended the Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference (ASMC) in Saratoga Springs, NY and listened to a very interesting presentation. Bill Wiseman from McKinsey & Company spoke about the future of the US semiconductor ecosystem and a few fundamental challenges which will have significant impact. Bill is a longterm insider of the semiconductor business and…… Continue reading US Semiconductor Ecosystem Outlook

View into a FAB

Happy Easter everybody ! Today only a very short post – since I’m discussing here normally how semiconductor FABs work in terms of cycle time and output, I thought why not have a quick look inside a FAB ? This post was triggered by a recent YouTube post of an Intel FAB walk, which nicely…… Continue reading View into a FAB

Equipment load port utilization vs. FAB speed

I received and interesting comment to one of the older posts: The topic is indeed very interesting. Most modern semiconductor processing equipment come with 4 load ports. Maine reason for that is to ensure the process chambers can be utilized as much as possible and do not have idle time because of exchange of lots.…… Continue reading Equipment load port utilization vs. FAB speed

Wafer FAB – size does matter !

In one of the earlier blog posts (LINK) I received interesting feedback on what are “acceptable” FAB cycle times. The results showed big differences and I think this is mainly based on voters professional experience. There are a lot of factors which influence a factories capability to achieve a certain cycle time. If we assume…… Continue reading Wafer FAB – size does matter !

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The value of 1 day of factory cycle time

Thank you everyone who participated in the last poll. Participation was significantly down beside the fact, that there were plenty of post viewers. My interpretation is that the readers are not too sure about the actual value of 1 day of cycle time. This observation is also in line with my personal experiences from working…… Continue reading The value of 1 day of factory cycle time

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Chip shortage and FAB performance, part 3

Today only a very short post ! Very interesting poll results ! Of course the poll left a lot of things open to free interpretation and assumptions, but as expected voters had different opinions. Here is the feedback chart: The same data in the context of the operation curve: If I ignore the outliers at…… Continue reading Chip shortage and FAB performance, part 3

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Chip shortage and FAB performance, part 2

Reflecting on the wide spread of acceptable wait times and therefore acceptable FAB cycle times from the poll results, I was wondering: Why do people have these different opinions. I think it has to do with the actual factory conditions, the individual voters have experienced in their professional careers. To have fast cycle times is…… Continue reading Chip shortage and FAB performance, part 2

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