Evaluation of small volume production solutions in semiconductor manufacturing: Analysis from a complexity perspective

In the volatile semiconductor market, leading semiconductor manufacturers aim to keep their competitive advantage by providing better customization. In light of this situation, various technologies are proposed but complexity may also increase. This paper attempts to select the best strategy from the complexity perspective. We borrow the theory of change management and view each new technology as a change to the as-is one. A generic framework to decide the best approach via complexity measurement is proposed. It is applied to a case study with three technologies (shared reticle, compound lot and a combination of both), and for each one we analyze its change impact and increased complexity. This paper delivers both, a guideline on how to build up a complexity index to supplement the cost and benefits analysis, and its practical application to the decision making process to handle small volume production.