Next-Generation Chip Fabs 256
PaulBu writes "As reported in EE Times, a new IBM $2.5B fab will be the first one to 'produce chips using all three of the sophisticated technologies on the industry's bleeding edge: low-k dielectrics, copper interconnect and silicon-on-insulator based transistors' on 300mm wafers. And it runs entirely on Linux! Quote from the article: 'The state of automation in Building 323 is such that 20,000 sensors are used to track wafer lots in front-opening unified pods that are transported from one tool to the next on rails using linear induction motors. The setup resembles an intricate monorail system tuned to millimeter-precision specs. A central control system monitors all stations and tracks wafer lots via 802.11 wireless communications.'"
*snicker* (Score:2, Insightful)
It's points like this which the Linux evangelists out there should be adding to their scrapbooks.
Interesting to note that their network is based on 1Ghz processors though - perhaps a way of reducing an ageing inventory??
Re:Watch out for Starbucks (Score:3, Insightful)
What about "Strained Silicon?" (Score:2, Insightful)
Quote from the article:
Simply put, you want transistors to be able to pass as much current as possible when they're switched on and to pass no current when they're switched off. Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world and transistors don't always behave as they should. Technologies such as Silicon on Insulator (SOI) help stop current from flowing when it shouldn't (leakage current) and technologies such as Strained Silicon help increase the amount of current that's allowed to flow when it's needed (drive current).
I saw no mention of IBM doing this so I wondered, is this patented by Intel? Even so, if you are setting about to make the most advanced FAB, it would seem that this technology should be licensed.
Re:What sort of chips? (Score:4, Insightful)
So perhaps they will fab the next-generation (G5?) processor for Apple there. I at least hope so
Re:Their reasoning for choosing Linux (Score:3, Insightful)
Claiming to be better than the competition - and being able to show real-world examples of it is a Good Thing. Seems to me that if you can't say, "It's better than Windows", that's when you really have problems.
Re:Watch out for Starbucks (Score:3, Insightful)
I wouldn't be surprised if it's 802.11a. Most people with their 2.4 GHz 802.11b equipment can't connect to the 5 GHz 802.11a networks.
Re:FUD just as bad when it comes from Linux crowd (Score:3, Insightful)
No, had that been the case, the story wouldn't have been posted.
More seriously tho, IBM has a vested interest in Linux, plus probably has more internal native *nix expertise than Windows. If thats the case, they still chose the better OS for them.
Anybody can make any OS stand up for awhile; I think the point is that the market winner is the first one you can get to meet your performance and uptime requirements, not neccessarily or esotarically the best OS given a level config/admin playing field. People have to make decisions based on what they have, not what you or I they think they should have.
Re:Only mm? (Score:4, Insightful)
You must have been in one of the older fabs. There are two industry standard automated wafer carrier pods used these days: SMIF and FOUP. SMIF (Standard Mechanical InterFace) is used for 200mm wafers, and FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod) is used for 300mm wafers. The pods are sealed from their environment and are not opened by fab technicians under normal circumstances. The overhead tracks run directly to each machine in the fab, and each fab tool loads the wafers directly from the pod without human intervention.
A major benefit of all this is that the wafers never enter the cleanroom air - they only encounter the air in the pod, and the air in whatever tools they enter. As a result, the air in the cleanroom doesn't have to meet such a high spec, which leads to big savings on air scrubbers.
Accidentilly forget which wafers have been processed already (many of the machines could only load 5 or 10 wafers, and a lot was 24 wafers)? Bad things happen when you double-dope or double-etch wafers.
This is the reason behind the wireless control system. Old fabs use paper-based flow logging, meaning that each wafer lot has a paper attached to show where it has been and where it has to go. Did I mention that this is special (read: expensive) cleanroom paper, because regular paper flakes off lots of particles that are a no-no in the cleanroom environment? In modern fabs, the SMIF and FOUP pods have electronic tags that carry all the information needed to process the wafer lot - the recipe for which machines it has to go to, what to do when it gets to the machine, notes by technicians, etc etc.
Re:Only mm? (Score:2, Insightful)
Not at the time... but they're old now. DM4 (ok, it was old), DM5/DP1 (both brand new at the time, DM5 wasn't even finished when I started). They certainly didn't have the sealed pods at the time, but DP1 was the first TI fab to use the robotic rail system.
FWIW, I was in the automation group, so we got pretty wide exposure to most of the fab systems.
The control system may work with the pods now, but it didn't then. Our control system was paperless as well, even in DM4, but that doesn't help when a technician miscounts and winds up putting one wafer into the PVD twice.
The only cleanroom paper was carried by engineers and maintenance workers. I guess the tech foreman had a pad too, but I don't recall the regular workers having them. All the recipes were online -- that was one of the primary things we automated to eliminate mistakes.