Factory throughput improvement through intelligent integrated delivery in 300 mm wafer manufacturing

Integrated delivery (ID) is a terminology used to describe the integration of the Automated Material Handling System (AMHS) with process tools so as to streamline factory operations and reduce labor. With 100% Integrated Delivery (ID) in the 300 mm context, lot delivery performance is a critical factor to impact factory throughput. As a known fact, lots stored in remote storage locations result in very long delivery times to the tool, and therefore dramatically increase tool cycle times. This paper mainly describes how Intelligent Integrated Delivery (IID) capabilities can be employed to move WIP to the closest possible storage location, as expediently as possible, just before the tool request these lots for processing. This significantly reduces the lot delivery queue time, and as a result, improves manufacturing throughout dramatically.