原创 探访应用材料梅坦技术中心,揭秘芯片制造(下)

2010-10-27 11:31 1957 5 5 分类: 工程师职场

美国《WIRED》杂志2010年10月19日题为 《A Chip Is Born: Inside a State-of-the-Art
Clean Room》的文章。杂志记者去到全球最大的半导体设备制造商应用材料公司(Applied
Materials)的梅坦技术中心(Maydan Technology
Center)进行了参观,探访设在那里技术一流的无尘室,揭秘芯片诞生的全过程。

以下是中文对照(由于本人英文不佳,如有翻译错误,请指正)

 

front-opening unified pods/FOUP前置式晶圆传送盒
 

Over the past several decades, the wafers upon which chips are made
have steadily increased in size, enabling manufacturers to cram
more chips on each disk. Since 2000, the industry standard has been
300 mm [about a foot in diameter].
过去几十年,用于制造芯片的硅晶片在尺寸上稳步增加,使得制造商可以在每张晶片上制造更多的芯片。从2000年开始,硅晶片直径的行业标准达到
300毫米(直径大约一英尺)。
To simplify transportation and minimize the risk of contamination,
fabs make use of "front-opening unified pods," or FOUPs. Each one
holds 25 wafers in a sterile, clean environment.
为简化传送过程,将污染的风险降至最低程度,晶圆厂会充分利用前置式晶圆传送盒(简称FOUP)。每个前置式晶圆传送盒可以在无菌的清洁环境下放置25个硅晶片。
FOUPs can be docked onto the front of most of Applied's machines.
The machines then suck the wafers inside and automatically process
them one-by-one in quick
succession.它们能够被放在应用材料公司大多数机器的前端。接着,机器吸入里面的硅晶片,一个个地自动快速加工。

Automation and Storage高度自动化
 

Because a front-opening unified pod full of silicon wafers can be
heavy (around 20 pounds), automation is a key aspect of clean-room
design. 因为放满硅晶片的前置式晶圆传送盒很重,大约为20磅(约合9公斤),自动化就成了无尘室设计的重要部分。
Applied's clean room has an overhead robotic monorail that
transports FOUPs from place to place. In the sealed room shown
here, up to 700 FOUPs (containing 17,500 wafers) can be stored
until they're needed. Robot arms move the pods in and out of the
racks on either side and onto an overhead monorail (not shown in
this photo) that runs around the entire cleanroom.
应用材料公司的无尘室有一条自动化悬
挂单轨,可将前置式晶圆传送盒从一处输送至另一处。在照片中显示的密封房间内,最多可以放置700个前置式晶圆传送盒(可装1.75万个硅晶片)。机械臂将它们从两侧移进移出,放置在贯穿于整个无尘室的悬挂单轨(这张照片上没显示)。
Another 2,800 FOUPs can be stored in the level below the main clean
room.
Every machine in a modern clean room is built around 300-mm wafers.
The next generation of chips will be made on 450-mm wafers,
enabling even larger economies of scale. But because companies will
have to replace every single piece of equipment in order to work
with 450-mm wafers, many are understandably reluctant to make the
switch.
另外2800个前置式晶圆传送盒可以存放于主无尘室下面的一层。现代无尘室中的每一台机器都围绕300毫米的硅晶片设计和制造。新一代芯片将采
用450毫米的硅晶片制造,从而实现更大的规模效益。但是,要与450毫米的硅晶片兼容使用,整个行业必须更换每一个设备零部件,所以,许多公司不愿作出
这种调整也可以理解。
When the transition does happen, it will be the end result of many,
many long negotiations among companies like Applied Materials,
Intel, AMD and others. 一旦实现了这种过渡,这会是应用材料公司、英特尔、AMD等企业之间长期谈判的最终结果。

Precision Manufacturing零部件精确制造
 

Computer chips are only about the size of a fingernail, yet contain
hundreds of millions of transistors, not to mention all the wiring
needed to connect those transistors into a working machine and
connect it to a motherboard and the rest of the world.
由数亿个晶体管构成的电脑芯片仅相当于手指甲大小,而用于将这些晶体管连接于机器、再将机器与主板和剩余世界连接的配线更是像迷宫一般。
They're made on circular silicon wafers about a foot in diameter,
each of which can contain 200 separate but identical processors.
芯片全部是用直径大约1英尺(约合30厘米)的圆形硅晶片制造,每个可以包含200个独立、但外形相同的处理器。
And because contamination does happen occasionally, despite the
purity of the clean room, manufacturers have to test every single
one of those processors to make sure that its half-billion
components, each of which is only about 30 to 45 nanometers wide,
contain no manufacturing defects. 由于偶尔会发生污染事件,虽然无尘室
极为干净,制造商仍必须测试那些处理器的每一个零部件,以确保5亿个零部件,每个直径仅30至45纳米左右,在制造过程中不会出现任何瑕疵。
It's no wonder that these types of machines can cost up to tens of
millions of dollars (though most are single-digit millions). A
full-blown fab, which might contain hundreds of such machines, can
cost billions of dollars to build.
所以,这类机器的成本高达数千万美元(但大多数还是以百万美元计),也就不足为奇了。一个可容纳数百台此类机器的完整晶圆厂,建造成本高达数十亿美元。
And yet the factories pay for themselves. Worldwide semiconductor
sales totaled $226.3 billion in 2009, and companies like Intel are
among the most profitable corporations in the
world.2009年,全球半导体销量总额达2263亿美元,像英特尔这样的公司是世界上最赚钱的企业之一。

Mail Break技术人员休息时间
 

The bunny-suited engineers and technicians who work in the clean
room are responsible for setting up and monitoring the processes
that go on inside the machines. But once a process is running, it's
largely automated, which leaves downtime.
身穿防护服的工程师和技术人员在无尘室内工作,他们负责设计和监督机器内发生的过程。不过,一旦某个操作过程启动,它很大程度上属于自动化,工程师和技术人员此时就可以稍微轻松一下。
It took us about 10 minutes to get into or out of our multilayered
bunny suits. And though experienced workers can do it in just a few
minutes, it's enough of a hassle that once you're in the clean
room, you generally want to stay in for awhile.
穿上或脱下这种多层防护服,每次大概需要10分钟时间。虽然有经验的技术人员可以在几分钟内完成这一步,问题是你在无尘室一般只能呆上很短时间,所以说这个过程是足够的繁琐。
As a result, workers use laptops inside the clean room to take care
of other business while the machines are running. They analyze
data, write reports and even check Gmail.
所以,技术人员在机器运行时通常不会走出无尘室,而是使用房间内的笔记本电脑处理其他事务,比如,分析数据,写报告和查看邮件。
When they do, they're using chips that started out in a room much
like this one.当他们做这些事情的时候,其实正用到在这样的无尘室内制造的芯片。


原文链接:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/10/inside-a-state-of-the-art-cleanroom/?pid=629&viewall=true


PARTNER CONTENT

文章评论0条评论)

登录后参与讨论
EE直播间
更多
我要评论
0
5
关闭 站长推荐上一条 /3 下一条