Semiconductor Eco-Efficiency Platform Using Digital Replicas
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Solution Overview
Problem
The semiconductor manufacturing industry faces significant environmental challenges due to increasing demand for semiconductor wafers, leading to high resource utilization and environmentally damaging waste. There is a need for more ecologically-friendly and environmentally responsible methods to decouple industry growth from its environmental impact.
Innovation Solution
An eco-efficiency monitoring and exploration platform is developed to assist engineers in creating processes and tools that meet both material engineering and eco-efficiency specifications. This platform leverages sensor data, physics models, algorithms, and user interfaces to monitor and explore the eco-efficiency of various process recipes and fabrication hardware configurations, using digital replicas to simulate and optimize environmental resource usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If semiconductor manufacturing demand increases to meet electronic device requirements, then productivity and output increase, but environmental resource consumption and waste generation worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a digital replica (digital twin) of the substrate fabrication system that virtualizes the manufacturing environment. This digital copy allows engineers to simulate, monitor, and optimize resource consumption patterns without affecting physical production. The digital replica captures the system's state, operations, and resource usage, enabling analysis and optimization of environmental impact while maintaining productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors resource consumption data from the fabrication system and feeds this information back to engineers through the user interface. The digital replica tracks environmental resource usage in real-time, allowing for continuous optimization of manufacturing processes to reduce waste while maintaining output levels.
2Measurement precision
If traditional manufacturing monitoring methods are used, then implementation simplicity is maintained, but eco-efficiency measurement precision and optimization capability worsen
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of directly modifying the complex physical system with multiple sensors and monitoring devices, the patent creates a digital replica that mirrors the fabrication system's behavior and resource consumption patterns. This virtual model provides precise eco-efficiency measurements without requiring extensive physical instrumentation, thereby reducing system complexity while maintaining measurement accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes receiving data indicating an update to a substrate fabrication system to operate according to one or more process procedures. The update includes at least one of i.) an alteration of a scheduled operational mode of a support asset of the substrate fabrication system to a shared operational mode; or ii.) a modification of a first gas to a second gas used by the substrate fabrication system. The method further includes inputting the data into a digital replica configured to estimate environment resource usage data indicative of an amount of one or more resources consumed. The method further includes receiving estimated environmental resource usage data output from the digital replica corresponding to performing the one or more process procedures by the substrate fabrication system incorporating the update. The method further includes providing the estimated environmental resource usage data for display on a graphical user interface.