Application of design for environment concepts to the semiconductor industry

Abstract

AbstractMotorola has traditionally focused on cost, yield, performance, and logistics as primary drivers for decision‐making. In the semiconductor industry, environmental issues have resulted in major modifications of tools and process steps because they are not routinely considered when making process design and manufacturing choices, nor is their impact on cost, yield, and cycle time. Certain business driving forces, such as cost, sustainability of processes/tools, time to market, market access, and market share, are leading Motorola to a cultural change in which environmental impacts must be considered during product and process design; however, design and process engineers have not been able to adequately address these impacts. Motorola's Advanced Process Research and Development Laboratory (APRDL) in the Semiconductor Product Sector (SPS) has recognized this and has established its own environmental group (separate from the site environmental compliance group) to implement a Design for Environmental (DFE) strategy. This group works with several project teams to address environmental issues in process development. To empower engineers to consider the environmental impacts of their materials and processes at the earliest possible stage, the APRDL environmental group has also developed a DFE training course. This web‐based course targets semiconductor design and process engineers and is available through Motorola University, the corporate training institution.In the broadest terms, DFE is a systematic management approach for evaluating and mitigating environmental concerns at the earliest possible stages of process design or product life cycle. It includes ongoing evaluation during the product life cycle, while optimizing the balance between environmental priorities and factors such as cost, yield, cycle time, performance, etc. This optimization requires that Motorola make value judgments based on the best information available. The course is designed to provide semiconductor engineers with the neccesary background to understand the concepts of DFE and the tools to incorporate consideration for environmental impacts into their daily routine with‐qut adding a significant burden to their workload.