Sematech 450 Program to Roll Into New Consortium
By David Lammers and Mark LaPedus
In a major shift, the Sematech ISMI 450 program will become part of the Global 450 Consortium announced yesterday by New York governor Andrew Cuomo, Sematech officials said Wednesday (Sept. 29).
(Source: Sematech ISMI 450 program presentation)
Since 2006, the Sematech ISMI organization has been in charge of the early stages of the 450mm transition, including developing standards for the wafers, automation, and getting the ball rolling for development of the 450mm processing tools. Last year, the entire ISMI organization moved to Albany, N.Y., from Austin, Texas, and the state of New York invested an estimated $300 million in the 450mm program at ISMI. Intel assignee Tom Jefferson headed up the ISMI 450 program, with another Intel assignee, Tom Abell, serving as the point man for many of the negotiations with the tool suppliers.
In a parallel track, Intel, Samsung and TSMC – the so-called IST group of device makers supporting the 450mm transition – began plotting a timeline for 450mm-capable pilot and production lines.
The announcement of the Global 450 Consortium consolidates the 450 effort into one consortium, with access to the new CNSE Fab West building now under construction at the CNSE campus.
Fab construction firm M+W is building a $300 million research center at the University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at the University at Albany, which will be part of the Global 450 Consortium, according to a spokesman for the CNSE.
The building will be ready to install the fab equipment by July 2012, according a report from The Business Review, an Albany-based news Web site, citing Alain Kaloyeros, senior vice president and CEO of the Albany Nanotech complex, as its source. The new building, according to the report, will include a 50,000 square ft. cleanroom and have room for 800 employees.
A Sematech spokeswoman sent out a statement, which indicated the Sematech ISMI 450 program “has built the foundation for where the industry is today in the transition to 450mm, and our program is now a part of the new initiative, which will build on and expand our efforts.”
Bob Johnson, a Gartner analyst, said the transition from a Sematech-led 450 program to a separate consortium using the CNSE facility makes good sense. The overall 450 program is moving into a more expensive phase, where beta tools must be developed and tested, and a comprehensive process flow must be proved out. That will take many billions of dollars, and duplicating efforts is not an option.
“This is an example of where the four big companies – Intel, GlobalFoundries, TSMC, and Samsung – decided to step up to the plate and get this going in ways the 450 program couldn’t do,” Johnson said, adding that Toshiba remains the only large chip manufacturer outside of the new consortium. Micron Technology and Elpida also are mulling their 450 options, he noted.
The CNSE Nanotech operation has proven its ability thus far to protect IP, even where competing firms are operating side-by-side, he noted.
Gartner’s team of analysts has created a timeline which foresees a 450mm volume fab going into operation in 2018-2019. The major equipment companies, such as Applied Materials and Novellus Systems, may have beta tools ready next year, Johnson said. The new Global 450 Consortium may support some of the beta tool development efforts, he added.
The pilot line at Albany Nanotech will move into operation in 2013, with the participating companies working out the bugs from the process. The major device makers will set up their own pilot lines around 2016-2017, he said.
“The companies have to make sure that their processes yield chips at the same rate on 450 wafers as they do on 300 millimeter wafers,” he said.
One important question is how the lithography tool vendors will handle the 450 transition. Any 450 line will need both EUV and 193nm tools. And the throughputs must improve so that the device makers will see the cost savings which drive the move to the larger wafer size.
The Global 450 Consortium is “an efficient way to do the R of the 450 R and D. It is a way to go from concept to a feasible set of tools and processes,” he said.
Tags: 450-mm wafers, 450mm wafers, Global 450 Consortium, GlobalFoundries, Intel, Samsung, Sematech, TSMC