Micro-Electronics Magazine Issue no. 380, November 2017

SEMICON Taiwan Special Report

Semiconductor front and back-end production processes face numerous challenges, material and equipment manufacturers work together to solve issues

Article introduction Although the now-obsolete Moore’s Law has been constantly mentioned in the semiconductor industry, it’s impossible to sense an end to process miniaturisation in this year’s SEMICON Taiwan exhibition. From 10 nanometers all the way down to 7 nanometers, or even 3 nanometers, this has formed the focus of every exhibitor.

On the other hand, the semiconductor industry has also bore the brunt of electricity and labour shortages in Taiwan’s technology landscape. Hence, power systems and automation solutions providers have also chosen to showcase their products and services during SEMICON Taiwan.

SESTO Robotics’ interview Labour shortages also affects the semiconductor industry in Taiwan. SESTO Robotics CEO Michael Leong pointed out that wafer line operation not only requires a high degree of manual labour, it is also rather dull and lacks development opportunities for the operator.

Take wafer handling for example. Although most advanced 12-inch wafer fabrication plants come equipped with overhead tracks that do not require manpower for wafer transportation, 8-inch wafer fabrication plants or older factories tend to still rely on manpower to transport wafers. In addition, cost for overhead track installation is high and lacks flexibility. If an overhead track is used, the position of the production line must be fixed, which can be troublesome when the user wants to change lines or expand production capacity.

In cases where overhead tracks cannot completely replace manpower, many semiconductor plants – in particular those handling back-end processes – are still dependent on operators to push carts carrying wafers to various work stations. This is hard work as an operator may need to walk over 20 kilometres a day. With the work being monotonous and without clear development opportunities, many young people are unwilling to take up the job.

As a company specialising in automated guided vehicle (AGV) design, this presents a great opportunity. Presently, the company has introduced a solution designed to transport wafer carriers. This solution involves incorporating a Yamaha robotic arm onto a SESTO AGV and the robotic arm is able to carry a payload of 20kg. Not only can the AGV meet the requirements of the semiconductor industry by ensuring less than 0.5G vibration on X, Y and Z axes, it can also work along human operators without any safety concerns be utilising laser ranging and other technical capabilities. It will also not collide with other machines on the production line.

Currently, SESTO Robotics’ AGVs have been adopted by many international semiconductor manufacturers such as Infineon, proving its reliability and durability in actual deployments. Therefore, Michael believes that SESTO AGVs have great application potential for Taiwan’s semiconductor industry which is also facing issues pertaining to labour constraints.

*This is a brief translation of a portion of the original article. Please refer to the original article here: http://www.mem.com.tw/arti.php?sn=1711010015.