Half-micron work begins at MOS4YOU, Phillips new Dutch fab

11/01/1996

Half-micron work begins at MOS4YOU, Philips` new Dutch fab

Philips Semiconductors opened its new half-micron fab in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, in early September. The new fab is named MOS4YOU, with YOU standing for Yield Output Utilization.

The 200-mm facility uses a mini-environment system, with the majority of the 7000 m2 production area kept at a Class 100 level (0.3 micron particles) and about one-tenth of the total area kept at Class 0.1 (0.1 micron particles). Employees never come into direct contact with the wafers at any stage in the production process.

Preparations for the start of wafer production in MOS4YOU were carried out in record time - installation of the first equipment began just 98 days before completion of the first wafer. The minimum nonstop processing time of a wafer is about 14 days.

Production capacity at MOS4YOU, which will employ over 600 people, will grow to 240,000 of the 200-mm wafers/year by the end of 1997, accounting for revenues of about US$700 million. In 1998, Philips plans to switch its MOS4YOU equipment from 0.5 to 0.35 micron.

The chips produced at MOS4YOU in 0.5 micron CMOS technology are used for advanced audio and video equipment, portable digital telephones, and multimedia applications, including the Trimedia chip, which is about as complex as a Pentium. Philips has invested a total of more than 1 billion guilders (about $600 million) in the Nijmegen production center for semiconductors. - A.V.