Lam Research launches collaborative robots to optimize critical maintenance in chip factories
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Chip instruments maker Lam Evaluation launched Dextro, the chip {{industry}}’s first collaborative robotic (cobot) designed to optimize necessary maintenance duties in chip factories.
The robots have been deployed in a lot of superior wafer fabs all around the world. Dextro permits appropriate, high-precision maintenance to cut back instrument downtime and manufacturing variability. It drives very important first-time-right (FTR) outcomes that will enhance yield in wafer fabrication vegetation.
If worthwhile, the robots might make semiconductor manufacturing — which is the inspiration for earnings throughout the billions throughout the electronics {{industry}} — rather more atmosphere pleasant.
At current’s wafer fabrication instruments makes use of superior physics, robotics and chemistry to create semiconductors at nanoscale. A typical fab has tons of after all of devices that each require widespread, sophisticated maintenance.
Dextro is designed to boost the cost-effectiveness of this instruments by performing necessary maintenance duties with repeatability and sub-micron precision.
“Dextro is an thrilling leap forward in semiconductor manufacturing instruments maintenance. Constructed to work side-by-side with fab engineers, it executes sophisticated maintenance duties with precision and repeatability that are previous human performance alone, enabling bigger instrument uptime and manufacturing yield,” said Chris Carter, group vice chairman of the consumer help enterprise group at Lam Evaluation, in a press launch. “It is a extremely efficient addition to Lam’s in depth portfolio of devices and suppliers designed to help chipmakers optimize their fabs for worth and productiveness.”
As fabs proceed to develop in dimension, geographic selection, and instruments complexity, chipmakers should optimize the effectiveness of their fab engineers by rising automation and together with efficiencies. That’s turning into rather more crucial as a result of the number of semiconductor positions worldwide continues to outpace the availability of skilled engineers.
Precision is important in instrument maintenance, the place the proper reassembly of subsystems interprets to the underside line. Reaching FTR saves time and worth. Repeatable maintenance moreover reduces waste associated to consumable parts, labor and manufacturing downtime, leading to a lot much less variability and higher yield in manufacturing.
“When manufacturing instruments requires maintenance, the work must be carried out shortly and successfully to stay away from extended instrument downtime and wasted worth,” said Youthful Ju Kim, vice chairman and head of the Memory Etch Know-how Employees at Samsung Electronics, in a press launch. “Error-free maintenance by Dextro helps drive enhancements in manufacturing variability and yield. That’s an thrilling milestone in Samsung’s journey to the autonomous fab.”
Dextro is a mobile unit with a robotic arm operated by a fab technician or engineer. It makes use of quite a few end-effectors as palms to deal with necessary instruments maintenance duties that are time-consuming and vulnerable to errors when carried out manually.
As an example, it precisely installs and compresses consumable parts with higher than twice
the accuracy of handbook utility. Actual assembly helps administration etch effectivity on the wafer edge, bettering yield.
Dextro tightens high-precision vacuum-sealing bolts to precise specs, relieving fab engineers of a repetitive job that has as a lot as a 5% error worth when carried out manually. Exactly meeting specs eliminates chamber temperature deviations that can take a instrument out of producing and affect die yield.
And Dextro removes side-wall polymer build-up all through the chamber, with out the burden of disassembly of the lower chamber. Importantly, it does this at lower hazard to individuals who require heavy defending respiration instruments to hold out the responsibility manually.
Lam’s Flex G and H assortment dielectric etch devices are at current supported by Dextro, growing to
further devices in 2025 and previous.
“With the massive enhance in demand that AI is bringing to the semiconductor market, it’s necessary for chipmakers to keep up all their manufacturing instruments working as successfully as attainable to cut back downtime,” well-known Bob O’Donnell, president of TECHnalysis Evaluation, in a press launch. “Dextro can automate tedious, time-consuming and, normally, intricate cleaning and maintenance duties on chip fabrication instruments so that manufacturing output could be maximized. It affords an infinite revenue for companies that choose to deploy it.”
Dextro joins a portfolio of wise choices from Lam that enhance effectivity and reduce the worth of operations for semiconductor fabs. This incorporates the Lam Gear Intelligence course of devices with autonomous calibration and self-adapting maintenance capabilities, along with Gear Intelligence Corporations that use data, machine learning, artificial intelligence and Lam space information to realize larger productiveness outcomes.
