Semiconductor CIM system, innovation toward the year 2000

Yield and device monitoring during the production rather than at the end of the whole processes on final chips may also be more commonly practised for the earlier detection of failures. In-situ monitoring with single wafer processing may be used for finer process control. To reduce the ever increasing cost of clean rooms including the running cost, mini environment technologies will be applied more to production in clean rooms. Material handling automation will be essential for dealing with heavy load of larger wafers. To share the higher investment for equipment and facilities, international alliances among foreign companies will be accelerated, and production environment needs to be global. Technology trends toward the year 2000 are shown. The role of CIM systems in the semiconductor industry has become increasingly important for dealing with new technologies as well as with their difficulties. Their importance and expected roles are discussed.