DEVELOPMENT OF A MESC-COMPLIANT CLUSTER TOOL

Assembly of ''best-of-breed'' cluster tools from plug-and-play modules supplied by different equipment manufacturers is made possible by the standards set by the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Internatio nal (SEMI) Modular Equipment Standards Committee (MESC). By complying with the MESC standards specifying the interfaces to Individual cluste r modules - services, messages, and mechanical interfaces - these modu les can become interoperable. To achieve the flexibility required for application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) production, the MESC st andard has been implemented in a cluster tool for our Intelligent Modu lar Fab (IMF) project (Table 1). This approach can benefit every level of the semiconductor industry, from R&D and production facilities to equipment suppliers and systems integrators, by increasing flexibility and reducing development and integration costs.