by Debra Vogler, Senior Editor

At the behest of its board of directors, SEMI has created a new advisory board to foster better communication among device makers and equipment suppliers, and more promptly develop a clear understanding of what semiconductor manufacturing standards will be needed, and by when. The Manufacturing Technology Forum (MTF), a regional- and sector-balanced group representing device manufacturers, consortia, and equipment suppliers (see table), held its formal kick-off meeting in May in Boston, with a second meeting held during SEMICON West, and another scheduled for October in Austin, TX.

The need for the MTF came out of analyzing problems the industry faced during the transition to 300mm manufacturing, according to Bettina Weiss, director of international standards at SEMI, who earlier described SEMI’s MTF and other standards efforts in an interview with WaferNEWS. Looking at the portfolio of 300mm standards — the four groupings of metrics, EHS, software, and hardware — all four are critical, she said. “But research showed that EHS and metrics standards were stabilized early on — there were good, sound approaches — while the hardware and software standards were a bit out of control.”

Weiss explained that the software and hardware standards showed a high frequency of revisions that were indicative of a process gap — e.g., the dialog on user requirements, definitions of tasks, and supplier feedback occurred too late, she explained. The MTF is expected to close the process gap that caused the problems with timing and lack of early industry consensus.

Although the MTF’s focus and scope is very broad, according to Weiss, the initial focus will be 300mm Prime, the International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative’s new program to establish an “incremental” approach toward improving 300mm production and ease the eventual migration to the 450mm new wafer size (see news announcement, and strategic analysis. Once the MTF is fully established, Weiss anticipates that it will have strong ties going both to and from the SEMI Standards Program, including the ~1500 industry volunteers who represent their respective organizations on 17 global technical committees and hundreds of task forces. “The MTF will hand down recommendations but will also take requests from the volunteer community,” explained Weiss.

Weiss noted that time-sensitive IC manufacturers do not want to have to go to every single supplier, preferring instead to talk to a group of suppliers that have already reached some sort of consensus. “This is why, alongside the MTF, SEMI has formed an equipment supplier group (ESG) that feeds the collective supplier voice into the MTF,” Weiss told WaferNEWS, adding that eventually MTF also will work closely with SEMI’s Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG).

Having a voice and the ability to influence standards activities are not the only attractions of the MTF, according to Weiss — one of its biggest assets is enabling discussions in an anti-trust protected environment. She indicated that several companies, on both the supplier and device sides, have expressed interest in closer contact to what their own representatives to the SEMI Standards program are doing. Because these volunteers represent their companies not only during the standards definition/creation process, but also when standards revisions are being voted, knowing what they are doing is key to ensuring continuity, and that companies are speaking with one voice. — D.V.

MTF advisory board, current membership status (as of August 2006)

Consortia……………Device manufacturers……………Equipment suppliers

ISMI…………………….Samsung……………………………….Applied Materials
JEITA…………………..Intel……………………………………….TEL
…………………………….STMicroelectronics……………….Asyst
…………………………….NEC………………………………………DNS
…………………………….Toshiba…………………………………Nikon
…………………………….TSMC……………………………………Murata Machinery
…………………………….IBM……………………………………….Hitachi High Tech
…………………………….AMD……………………………………..KLA-Tencor
…………………………….Infineon

Source: SEMI