Eight Japanese IC firms plan pods for 300-mm

09/01/1997

Eight Japanese IC firmsplan pods for 300-mm

In a remarkable change of position, eight of the top 10 Japanese chipmakers have reportedly decided to equip their initial 300-mm wafer fabs with minienvironments, rather than using traditional open cassettes.

Several sources familiar with the situation indicated that all the members of the Selete 300-mm evaluation consortium in Japan will adopt front-opening unified pods (FOUPs), with the exception of NEC and Mitsubishi, who will reportedly stick with cassettes. The shift in position, which is said to have begun in May and gathered momentum in recent weeks, will be a boon to equipment makers, who will now feel less pressure to develop tools capable of accepting both types of wafer carriers. This should simplify engineering and help keep the costs of 300-mm tools down.

"The war is over," commented Kerry Kiser, 300-mm program manager for wafer management at Fluoroware, Chaska, MN, a producer of both open cassettes and FOUPs. Kiser noted that officials of the International 300-mm Initiative (I300I) had been active in making the case for FOUPs with Selete and J300, the Japanese 300-mm standards development group, as well as other trade associations in Japan. "They want a common solution, because if the toolmakers only standardize on one, it will commoditize the interface and bring the cost down," said Kiser.

Kiser also suggested that the entry of Daifuku into the pod and load-port interface business via an agreement with Fluoroware played a role, as it gave Japanese chipmakers a domestic alternative in the market. Until recently, the FOUP market has been dominated by German vendor Jenoptik, US supplier Asyst, and Fluoroware. Also, concerns about the length of time required to amortize the higher up-front cost of minienvironments have been offset by concerns about airborne particle contamination, a desire to not fall behind in handling technology, and other issues such as the ease with which FOUPs can be handled manually in case of equipment failure, said Kiser.- P.N.D.