May 24 2006
Integrated Materials, Inc., the semiconductor industry's leading manufacturer of pure poly silicon furnaceware, announces the release of a cost of ownership study for its SiFusion(TM) furnace fixtures from Wright Williams & Kelly, Inc. (WWK), a prominent, independent cost and productivity management software and consulting services company.
Commissioned by Integrated Materials, this analysis examines and compares the cost and productivity issues related to quartz, silicon carbide and poly silicon SiFusion furnaceware, and provides quantitative validation of the financial benefits of SiFusion products in LPCVD applications. The study concludes that the SiFusion products "provided the lowest cost of ownership by a substantial margin ... through the total elimination of cleanings."
"On rare occasions, we get the opportunity to conduct studies that have the potential to make a major change in a process's cost structure," said David Jimenez, WWK's president. "Our research on SiFusion demonstrated that these poly silicon products not only reduce LPCVD cost of ownership but also increase system availability and provide a payback period that is far shorter than most fab managers' rules of thumb for procurement."
The WWK cost-of-ownership analysis included consideration of production utilization rates, good wafers out per week, annual cleaning costs, annual component consumption and annual breakage risk. For each of these factors, SiFusion furnaceware performed better that the quartz and silicon carbide consumables.
200mm COO Result: Boat/Liner Material Cost of Ownership
SiFusion/SiFusion $2.10
Quartz/Quartz $2.65
SiC/SiC $3.02
300mm COO Results: Boat/Liner Material Cost of Ownership
SiFusion/SiFusion $2.79
Quartz/Quartz $3.58
SiC/SiC $4.51
Integrated Materials' patented SiFusion technology enables it to manufacture its suite of poly silicon furnaceware -- the first viable pure silicon alternative to traditional quartz and silicon carbide consumables. The line of SiFusion products includes furnace boats, injectors and pedestals.
"For more than 20 years, the semiconductor industry has sought a solution to the acute problems that accompany the use of quartz and silicon carbide in furnace processes," said Duncan Dobson, vice president of marketing at Integrated Materials. "Integrated Materials has developed a solution to these problems, and we are pleased that the industry's leading experts in manufacturing cost analysis, Wright Williams & Kelly, Inc. have provided validation for our work with its independent third-party review."
The WWK study explored the cost of ownership advantage for IMI's SiFusion furnaceware for 200 and 300 mm LPCVD processes. The review, which compared SiFusion fixtures to traditional quartz and silicon carbide alternatives, determined that SiFusion components increased the production utilization capability in 300 mm processes by more than seven percent and reduced lifetime costs by nearly $2 million in comparison to silicon carbide materials.
The study was conducted using WWK's TWO COOL(R) cost of ownership (COO) and overall equipment efficiency (OEE) simulation software and on-site modeling/engineering support.