EuroFocus
10/01/1997
Jenoptik Infab and Meissner + Wurst provide integrated fab
Jenoptik Infab and Meissner + Wurst, both part of the Jenoptik Group based in Jena, Germany, provide a single source solution for facility design and construction, as well as fab automation and software integration.
At this summer's Semicon/West, Jenoptik Infab announced that it will provide all fab automation at SGS-Thomson Microelectronics' newest SMIF/minienvironment wafer fabs in Rousset, France. The SGS-Thomson order incorporates CIM system design, software integration, equipment integration, SMIF robots, advanced wafer lot tracking, and minienvironment technologies. The cleanroom systems will be provided by Meissner + Wurst.
 The scope of Jenoptik Infab and Meissner + Wurst's turnkey solutions for integrated fab systems and process control. |
The Rousset facilities are the latest in a series of expansions by SGS-Thomson, based in St. Genis, France. The company designs, develops, manufactures, and markets ICs and discrete devices used in telecommunications systems, computer systems, consumer products, automotive products, and industrial automation and control systems. The Rousset facilities are scheduled for full production of 0.35-µm and smaller circuits on 200-mm wafers by the end of 1999.
SGS-Thomson has continued to grow. According to Dataquest's 1996 data released earlier this year, Intel and SGS-Thomson were the only top 10 companies to show positive growth, with strong growth of 29% and 24%, respectively. For the year ending December 31, 1996, SGS-Thomson posted revenues of $4.12 billion and net earnings of $625 million.
Facility and automation integration
The Jenoptik Group provides total integration of both the facility and automation sides, according to Juergen Giessmann, CEO of Meissner + Wurst and executive VP of holding company Jenoptik AG, which grossed more than $1 billion in sales in 1996.
Giessmann commented at Semicon/West. "By skillfully combining the resources of Meissner + Wurst and Jenoptik Infab, the Jenoptik Group can provide customers with a totally integrated solution providing beginning-to-end design, construction, and implementation." Geissmann says this will enhance fab productivity in the areas of time-to-market, overall cycle time reduction, fast ramp-up, increased productivity, and contamination and defect control.
Jenoptik Infab has also provided automation and system integration to Siemens' 200-mm facilities in Newcastle, UK; Philips MOS4YOU in Nijmegen, the Netherlands; and ANAM in Korea; and is playing a similar role for future US, European, and Asian facilities.
Three years ago, Jenoptik Infab invented the ergonomic SMIF robot. The company says it has maintained market share leadership and shipped more than 1000 robots using its technologies. The company has been as an innovator for standard-setting technologies including ergonomic robots for 200-mm tool loading and 300-mm FOUP/minienvironments. Meissner + Wurst is a leader in facility design and construction, and optimizes the performance of wafer fabs. In 1996, Jenoptik Infab and Meissner + Wurst together achieved sales in excess of $550 million, and currently employ more than 1400 people worldwide.
F3 program
Last year, Jenoptik Infab and Meissner + Wurst developed a joint 300-mm preprogram called F3. "Since the industry is still not mature about the 300-mm program, there are still many questions as to when and how the semiconductor industry transition to 300-mm will take place," noted Jenoptik Infab VP Herbert Blaschitz at Semicon/West. "There was also great concern over how the conversion costs would be funded, and how semiconductor companies and equipment suppliers would interface with the standards process."
The F3 program's mission is to design and build turnkey, integrated wafer fab systems with high fab profitability (see figure). The primary objectives are to minimize time to market, maximize capital productivity, minimize nonproductive cycle time, and minimize contamination and defects.
The result, according to Blaschitz, has been a concentrated focus on the main skill of both Jenoptik Infab and Meissner + Wurst, together with development partner EMPAK. "In the process, we will match the organization's resources with the market need, define intellectual property areas, and establish a facility requirement roadmap for the next century. [We will also] present a recommended facility and automation concept to the entire industry based on the current knowledge and technology to support the members of I300I and Selete." — L.S.