Hsinchu, Taiwan–Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) announced today that it has set what is believed to be an industry first by delivering 300mm wafers from its 300mm line in Taiwan to customers.

“TSMC is very pleased to deliver the foundry industry’s first 300mm customer wafers as the new century closes in,” said F.C. Tseng, president of TSMC. “No doubt 300mm wafer manufacturing will be the mainstream in the 21st century, with its guarantee of higher yield and lower cost. By delivering 300mm customer wafers in the 20th century, TSMC has clearly demonstrated the world-class manufacturing capability that our customers constantly expect of a leader.”

TSMC beat its original schedule for delivering 300mm customer wafers, with better than expected initial yield. Verifying each process module and electrical performance using the JEDEC test wafers has been extremely helpful in accomplishing this, according to the company.

“Yield of the first 300mm customer wafers exceeded our expectations. The results are exciting and most encouraging, and we are now more confident than ever about meeting the future challenges of 300mm manufacturing,” said N S Tsai, senior director of TSMC’s 300mm line. “Establishing the 300mm pilot line is critical to our success. We started with customer products that have been in volume production with 200mm wafers at TSMC using a mature 0.18-micron process.”

TSMC currently is constructing two 300mm manufacturing facilities, Fab 12 in Hsinchu and Fab 14 in Tainan, which are expected to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2001 and in early 2002, respectively.