Modular approach to continuous process yield improvements

Todays highly competitive marketplace enforces semiconductor manufacturers to continuously improve their key productivity figures such as cycle time, electrical yield and process yield. At SMST a Modular Quality System (MQS) has been established at in order to get proactive control over the base contributors that lead to losses in the process yield area. The MQS approach is based on creating personalised ownership. Therefore the major contributors to process yield have been identified, measurements have been established and the actual performance of these modules has been assigned to individual module owners in the MQS Core Team. These module owners are leading crossfunctional action teams, that are responsible for the definition of corrective actions, when the agreed upon targets are not met. The key success factor of the MQS system is based on the approach to establish a personalised ownership and a sense of responsibility for each individual problem or event.