Semiconductor Industry Needs in UPW and Water Management during Turbulent Times; A Summary

This webinar focused on the technology needs of advanced semiconductor manufacturers. The panelists discussed contamination control within high purity environments, specifically focusing on UPW and the continuing need for improvements to technological gaps, defect reduction strategies, semiconductor facilities’ environmental footprints and strategies to conserve water

Slava Libman, FTD Solutions, opened our webinar series with the annual IRDS and SEMI update; the 2020 update focuses on yield enhancement and proactive technology management. His presentation began by exploring particle management and control, and he shared the results of recent studies on particle deposition, as well as an updated definition of defectivity. The second half of his presentation focused on SEMI standards, and its role in facilitating proactive technology management, resilience and sustainability.

The panelists then explored risk management, resilience, and sustainability within the wider industry. Rushi Matkar, Intel, addressed the question of the biggest technology gaps and emphasized that as an end-user they must look at this issue within three vectors: yield enhancement, sustainability and affordability. Essentially, the goal is to have cleaner materials for manufacturing at an affordable cost, whilst meeting sustainability requirements. This requires generalized defect reduction strategies; rather than there being a single technology gap, Rushi instead highlighted the need for further R&D efforts to find viable solutions in a timely manner. Dan Wilcox, Page/imes, supported Rushi’s response, specifically emphasizing the importance of addressing the industry’s inability to control UPW quality parameters in real time. This becomes more important as devices develop, and the industry must move past merely managing the quality of the product, to controlling it. To do this, the industry must support collaborative efforts to truly understand quality issues, to uncover the pathways of contamination, and then develop proactive solutions, as is being explored by the IRDS and SEMI teams.

The panel were then asked to share their thoughts on the current business environment, one in which people are working remotely, spending is down, and the supply chain has been disrupted, as highlighted by Bob McIntosh, Enviro-Energy Solutions. Bob’s biggest concern, however, is the potential negative impacts on technology development cycles and R&D efforts, as some companies may not want to take risks during the current environment. Alan Knapp, Evoqua Water Technologies, then highlighted the health and safety of people across the supply chain as his biggest concern, as protecting staff is akin to protecting business continuity. Technology development is key to business continuity and so we must continue to collaborate even in these difficult times, using the technologies available to us.

After discussing the risks in the industry, panelists spoke about resiliency. Alex Milshteen, Intel, pointed out that current mega fab facilities are growing faster than the city and municipal infrastructure, making site master planning an important step that should be incorporated in the site development process. For both new and existing facilities, the improvement of site infrastructure can save cost and support product time to market. Dan Wilcox built upon this point by highlighting the need for an examination of both external and internal aspects. When it comes to the internal proactive management of facility design, we can look to certain tools to quantify risks in design and for a comprehensive understanding of future growth expectations, showing where resources and money should be spent.

An important question raised for our panelists was concerning environmental sustainability. It is important to have a baseline for water conservation, as is promoted by SEMI, to help stakeholders create plans for facilities. In the opinion of Dan Wilcox, it is important to start at the tool level, to understand the separate processes in order to optimize wastewater management and reuse. Rushi Matkar spoke more to the connection between energy and water, and wanted to highlight that the intensity of energy use also adds to the problem of effective water use. Not only is there high demand for water in process use, but there is also a tremendous demand on the non-process side, which is generated by the high intensity of energy use within fabrication processes. The fab process is uniquely intensive in both energy and water, which is a sustainability problem in need of viable solutions.

The final note of the webinar came from Alex Milshteen, speaking about the trend of increasingly complex engineering tasks, driving the need for more talent. As the workforce ages, and talent moves on, we must leverage industry collaboration in order to fill in the gaps in industry needs, a sentiment shared by the whole panel.

If you’d like to hear the full discussion, please visit the webinars page, where you can watch a full webinar recording. With thanks to Alex Milshteen, Intel, Alan Knapp, Evoqua Water technologies, Bob McIntosh, Enviro-Energy Solutions, Dan Wilcox, Page/imes, Rushi Matkar, Intel, and Slava Libman, FTD Solutions, for their time and contributions to this webinar.