A joint industry-university CIM project for university microelectronics manufacturing

A student-operated factory for manufacturing integrated circuits has been in operation at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) since 1987. In 1989 RIT and IBM joined together to improve the factory operation by installing a computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) system. The CIM system allows users control equipment access, monitor equipment status, do lot tracking, provide detailed current operator instructions, provide a paperless manufacturing environment, do scheduling, do manual input and auto input data collection, do statistical process control, do materials planning, download recipes to equipment, and realize feedback and feedforward control. Reports are routinely generated. The project is mostly completed and has proven to be successful in reducing cycle time, improving manufacturing flexibility, and increasing the quality of the devices manufactured at RIT