Throughput improvement in semiconductor fabrication for 0.13μm technology

Semiconductor fabrication is known to be the one of the most complex manufacturing operations. This is due to total processing steps in semiconductor fabrication is as high as 1000 steps and the process will re-enter through same equipments multiple times. This will always pose a challenge to the operational team to achieve goal for optimal cycle time and maximum output. One of the WIP (Work In Progress) management approach used to achieve this goal is to use the right WIP prioritization. In general, giving priority to respective WIP usually will result in faster cycle time to fulfill customer expectation. This is done by identifying specific products as priority 1 to be executed first and priority 2 next. The methodology in this research uses simulation software to configure a real 200mm semiconductor fabrication facility. The input parameters used in this analysis include technology product specification, products demand based on real market trend, manufacturing, and equipment specification and requirements. The results from this study re-instate that prioritization has direct impact to the overall product cycle time and monthly wafer output. The results in this study also shows that categorizing product into two types of priorities will improve the cycle time by 2.21% and monthly wafer output will increase by 2.1% compared to when the WIP were managed by the same priority. In conclusion, this is desirable because increasing 2.1% monthly output can easily contribute to increase revenue of more than USD 4 million per year, which is vital for company's survival in this competitive business.