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Minienvironment System
Ballroom System Ready / Production Support (improvement support for manufacturing equipment)
The minienvironment (localization of an extremely clean space) system for semiconductor factories achieves an ultrahigh-level cleanup of only some parts of a cleanroom by storing the carrier cassettes containing silicon wafers in hermetic containers (SMIF POD, FOUP, etc.) for transportation within and between processes, instead of cleaning up the entire cleanroom at an ultrahigh level. We construct the minienvironment systems based on our proven track record and experiences.
Brief History of Cleanroom System for Semiconductor Manufacturing
| 1980s : Class 1000 Cleanroom | |
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Class 1000 -> Class 10 -> Class 1000 again |
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| 1990s : Class 10 Super Cleanroom | |
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| The figure on the right shows a bay-type cleanroom, which was prevalent in Japan. Evenly-oriented airflow (Total downflow) |
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| 2000s : Class 1000 Cleanroom / Minienvironment Scheme | |
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The figure on the right shows an example of a 200mm wafer line.
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Benefits of Minienvironment (M.E.) - It's not only about cost.
Challenges for the Installation of Minienvironment System
The dust from manufacturing systems can go into the minienvironment (M.E.)
It is the most important to control the air pressure and airflow (grit and dust) between manufacturing system and M.E.
User-specific active countermeasures are required for the prevention of molecular contaminations in M.E.
The constructional elements of a loader, materials of a pod, and cleaning, storage, and handling methods should be examined.
The antistatic measures for the M.E. cabinet should be considered.
The prevention of grit and dust adhesion and electrostatic discharge damage.
Less volume of circulating air than traditional (total downflow) cleanrooms tends to create uneven indoor temperature distribution.
An air spreading technique should be introduced to uniformize the indoor temperature distribution.
The simultaneous setup of a manufacturing system and M.E. requires more work than traditional methods.
Coordination between the fields of production engineering, equipment technologies, mechatronics, and clean environment control enables the fast setup of the whole system.
Flexibility (Other technologies & services)
