15 major fab tool suppliers plan 'Sematech-styled' consortium
SEMI-backed group could be launched in August to work with chip R&D consortia on advanced technologies, new fab concepts
By J. Robert Lineback
Semiconductor Business News
(05/09/01 08:08 a.m. EST)
SAN JOSE -- Fifteen of the world's largest suppliers of semiconductor equipment are in the final stages of planning a new industry consortium to jointly pursue R&D for new chip-production standards, next-generation processes, and a range of emerging concepts in wafer fabs, such as e-diagnostics of tools connected to the Internet.
The group--presently called "MES" (for major equipment suppliers)--is formed under the auspices of the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) trade organization, which began working on the concept following an executive summit meeting in Japan late last year. San Jose-based SEMI plans to host a meeting of capital equipment executives here on May 24 to select a consortium leader, nail down a list of initial member companies in the group, and select some of the first R&D programs to be pursued by the MES consortium.
If successful, the MES consortium would be ready for launch in August, during the next meeting of the Industry Executive Forum in Taiwan. This global industry forum was created two years ago by SEMI and semiconductor consortium International Sematech in an attempt to greatly improve communications and cooperation between chip manufacturers and fab equipment suppliers.
Under SEMI's plan, the new global equipment consortium will work with chip industry consortia--such as U.S.-based Sematech and Japan's Selete--to help accelerate semiconductor technology roadmaps and address new challenges in driving down the cost of device manufacturing later this decade. The MES consortium could also launch its own joint-development programs that would involve only semiconductor equipment companies.
"The organization of global suppliers [under the MES consortium] is being pinned down as we speak, and by the end of May, we hope to have commitments of the companies that want to participate," said Stanley T. Myers, president of SEMI. "We will then be ready to report back to the IEF [Industry Executive Forum], which now includes representation from Sematech and Selete," Meyers told SBN.
The formation of a global semiconductor equipment consortium will help Sematech and other chip R&D groups increase their cooperation with tool suppliers in development of next-generation technologies, said Mark Melliar-Smith, chief executive officer of Sematech who is set to step down from his post later this year. Austin, Tex.-based Sematech on Tuesday named Bob Helms, a Texas Instruments Inc. vice president, as its new president, replacing Melliar-Smith, who has held the position since 1997 (see May 8 story).
On Tuesday, Melliar-Smith said the new MES consortium will "enhance our ability to work together on joint programs, where there will be an equal ownership from both side of the industry [device makers and tool suppliers]... It is great to have them form an organization just like ours so that we can work as an interface between the two industries," he added.
Sematech hopes to work with the new fab equipment consortium to develop a number of new concepts and manufacturing tool standards for next-generation processes as well as 300-mm wafer frontends. Specifically, Melliar-Smith mentioned the need to focus on new fab equipment standards and the use of e-diagnostics, which would enable systems suppliers and chip companies to remotely monitor and debug tools over Internet links (see March feature story).
Details are still being set on how the MES equipment consortium would operate, but SEMI intends to keep its entire membership informed about the group's activities, Myers told SBN. Initially, only 15 of the world's major equipment suppliers are being included in the setup of the R&D consortium, but the group could be expanded, based on the needs for certain types of technologies that may not reside inside these larger companies, Myers explained.
"No one gets excluded--well perhaps in the beginning--but it is our intention to make sure that any technologies or companies that want to participate in a specific activities will be available to do so," Myers said. The SEMI trade group will act as coordinator of the MES activities.
After the May 24 meeting, SEMI plans to hold additional executive sessions in June and July to further nail down details for the planned launch of the MES consortium in August.
"Currently, it is aimed at equipment companies, but we think in the future that may be expanded to include materials as well," Myers said. "We are still in the final planning stages right now and will know more at the end of May." |
