Implementation of a Simulation-Based Optimizer for Semiconductor Wafer Factories

Abstract

In this paper, we present a method to automate the manual process of optimizing a semiconductor wafer fabrication environment with regard to tool and operator costs. We use the simulator factory explorer for evaluation of the common performance measures. First, we provide a short introduction about the challenges of planning and optimizing a complete factory. After that we outline a six step algorithm that mimics the optimization process used by human planners for factory cost minimization for a given target output. The amount of time needed for optimization can be reduced considerably through this approach compared to performing this task manually.