A new architecture for equipment and clusters for backend processes

For years, semiconductor backend manufacturing has shown a trend for automation and integration of processes and equipment. The goals to be achieved are well known: reduction of cycle time, WIP material handling, and improvement of equipment utilization to name a few. The challenges for equipment manufacturers and integrators are maximizing functionality and flexibility, while minimizing complexity and cost. While equipment manufacturers must deal with short time-to-market and difficulties of integrating new processes in their equipment, integrators are confronted with differences in interpretation of standards by equipment manufacturers. All these problems can be tackled by a different approach to system architecture and design. This paper presents such a new approach to system architecture and design for equipment and clusters in the semiconductor backend industry. Because no fundamental differentiation is made between process integration and equipment integration, the same generic components (mechanical, electrical and software) can be used to build-equipment or clusters. Finally, this paper shows how this system architecture can be applied in the design of standalone equipment as well as in the design of clusters.