A generic computer simulation model to characterize photolithography manufacturing area in an IC fab facility

A generic computer simulation model has been developed to characterize the photolithography area in a semiconductor fabrication facility at Intel. Use of simulation to study the impact of policy decisions on key manufacturing system parameters like product cycle time, line throughput, work-in-process inventory, and utilizations are discussed. Details on the structured modeling approach taken to develop reusable simulation models are also discussed. A number of simulation sensitivity analyses were performed for the photolithography manufacturing area. These included experiments to analyze: (a) the impact of a changing quantity of process equipment on manufacturing performance, (b) the impact of a changing quantity of operators on manufacturing performance, (c) variation in throughput time through each of the lithography steps, (d) utilization of each piece of process equipment, and (e) utilization of each of the operators.<
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