Beginning with the End in Mind

Technology is all around us. It’s so integral to our daily lives that we often forget how reliant we are on the electronics that drive our everyday activities. This means everything from the mechanical and electrical systems in the car we drive to the systems that power our garage door opener or refrigerator. Semiconductors, and a huge variety of microchips/processors, are a critical component of these electronic devices. However, keeping up with demand for the manufacturing of these chips is the challenge that chip manufacturers are tasked with and contractors like JE Dunn are tackling.

The chips manufactured in semiconductor fabrication facilities are highly specialized, requiring a complex process to produce, and the methodology for executing the design and construction for these facilities is equally complex. Design and construction of semiconductor fabrication facilities is comprised of three phases: Base build, process lateral systems and tool install, with each phase dependent on the others. The challenge of successfully integrating them can be overcome with a thorough understanding of the “backward pass” approach to planning, design and construction.

The solution for seamless integration between phases is to engage and integrate tool install subject matter experts (SMEs) as part of the base build team to coordinate with our client’s tool install early on, using our backward pass approach. This approach is facilitated by our SMEs, who have a complete understanding of the moving parts in all three phases of the FAB build and understand the tie points, as well as their interdependencies on one another. Integrating this knowledge with our scheduling and modeling processes ensures the “critical path” runs through the first tool of the tool set and commissioning of each system — closing the loop and connecting all three phases.

Without getting too technical (which is difficult with something that is literally the definition of the most complex and technical technology), the key is working forward efficiently with the end product and deliverable in mind the entire way. This is not unlike how most construction projects work — or start, at least. Typically, construction and design begins with the design (or what the finished product will look like and how it will function), then going back to the beginning to build, all the while with the final design in mind.

One of the most unique differences between traditional construction and semiconductor manufacturing is that the “end” design can change so many times along the way, as the technology that drives the final product also changes. With technology evolving daily, we have to build with what the final product could be, as it reaches its fullest potential.

Setting the Standard

The base build phase of the design build process typically consists of the core and shell of the fabrication building (FAB) and all the supporting infrastructure required. At this step, cleanliness and attention to detail leading up to clean protocol level 3 is of utmost importance.

Process Lateral Systems (PLS)

The key to success is understanding that the design of the PLS must be driven from the tool matrix. It is critical that the points of connection (POCs) for the tools have been qualified to meet the necessary FAB specifications prior to tool installation.

Tool Install

Tool Install is a specialty design-build process and requires specific trade partner and tool manufacturer engagement and strict safety protocols. This phase requires the highest level of collaboration between all working in a controlled environment.

This just scratches the surface of the complexities of constructing semiconductor manufacturing facilities, while technology produced within these facilities takes complexity and imagination to the next level.

Colin Featherstone is vice president at JE Dunn.