MICRO: Facilities Technologies - Mattukat (September 2000)

Frank Mattukat and Stephan Migge, The use of a single, equipment card­based database can facilitate process tool installation and provide as-built documentation for later fab buildout. In any new fab construction project, hookup—the connection of all process and support equipment to the building's facility systems—is the last step before the start-up of production. A complex and time-consuming process, hookup involves a variety of systems, ranging from electrical supplies and gas distribution lines to drains and mechanical exhaust systems. The hookup project described in this article was carried out at the Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Fab 30 in Dresden, Germany . As the general contractor, M+W Zander (Stuttgart, Germany) designed and built this turnkey fab, which includes approximately 12,000 m of Class 100T cleanroom space and was designed for the production of the Athlon processor, a highly sophisticated PC cpu with six metal layers. The entire project was budget driven, yet at the same time the fab had to be built to accommodate future chip generations and further decreases in device geometry. To support the hookup project team, M+W Zander developed customized database and software tools for use in the design and document control of all process tool­related connection activities. Based on equipment cards, this database system is the focus of this article. Special emphasis is given to the use of value engineering to minimize costs without adversely affecting the performance of the production equipment. Although the main activities and processes of a hookup project partly overlap, as shown in , such projects typically involve six steps: The project's main activities can be further broken down into a series of interrelated detailed tasks. provides an example of such tasks and their interactions. From design to handover, however, all activities have to be scheduled and coordinated on a tool-by-tool basis, which is a