Abstract :
The history of semiconductor fabs has seen exponential growth in size, volume and cost. From chemistry lab to ultra-clean, large wafer automated handling systems, the productivity increase has contributed to the sustained cost reduction as guided by Moore´s law. If history were to repeat, 450mm wafer sizes would soon be here, single wafer processing would be the only tool option, and the productivity of just a few of such gigafabs would be enough to supply the smallest geometries. What factors would control this transition? Will non-optical litho be an essential element of this? What will happen to the 300mm fabs? Perhaps the change to atomic layer control dictates different processing priorities, perhaps wafers are not the only or ultimate substrate for all applications? Will the less scalable technologies like analog, or MEMS, or (bio)medical demand a higher fraction of worldwide capacity growth? These and other questions will be discussed by a distinguished panel of fab experts from Samsung, TSMC, Toshiba, Micron, ASML, and Applied Materials.
