Pursuing the Increase of Factory Automation in 200mm Frontend Manufacturing to Manage the Changes Imposed by the Transitionfrom High-Volume Low-Mix to High-Mix Low-Volume Production

Abstract

We regard the stringent adoption of factory automation as the right strategy to efficiently leverage a 200 mm fab's competitiveness. In this article we exemplarily show how the Dresden fab cut its own path in the face of the transition challenge from a high-volume low-mix fab to a high-mix low-volume fab. We discuss the advantages of our conveyor type transport system with respect to our automation strategy and its extendibility to direct tool loading. A comparison of our transport system with typical 300 mm performance data and current ITRS requirements [1] is presented. We describe the positive influence of the taken factory automation measures on typical key manufacturing indicators like cycle time, tool utilization, head count efficiency, variability improvement, cost efficiency and quality.