Mini environment systems. Enabling technology for flexible fabs of the future

Summary form only given. As the industry moves from one generation of IC technology to the next with smaller and smaller submicron devices and larger and larger wafers, severe constraints will be placed on manufacturing fabs. Conventional fabs typically have four generations of product running at once: advanced technology in development; growing technology ramping-up; current technology at its peak; and one generation declining and going out. Fab flexibility will be a key requirement as technological changes demand substantial tooling changes. We will describe a Minienvironment System that integrates the many tooling and process requirements the "Fab of the Future".