ASMC

As the semiconductor industry works to attract talent to overcome its labor shortage, governments, educators, and the private sector must collaborate to make industry career opportunities more accessible for prospective employees. This concept provided the framework for a panel discussion during SEMI’s 35th annual Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference (ASMC) that took place in Albany, New York in mid-May.Despite extensive CHIPS and Science Act news coverage and escalating efforts to promote semiconductor career development initiatives, there’s still a tremendous amount of work to do, noted Fran Dillard, Vice President and Chief Diversity Inclusion Officer at Micron. “We're going to have to work to reduce barriers to this industry, and we have a chance to make a generational difference for American citizens,” she said. The panel, titled Talent Pipeline: Building a Sustainable and Diverse Semiconductor Workforce, featured Dillard and representatives from government and education who shared insights on growing the industry to fulfill unprecedented chip demand. Dillard was joined by Kylie Patterson, Chief Opportunity and Inclusion Officer at CHIPS for America; Kevin Younis, Chief Opportunity Officer and Executive Deputy Commissioner at Empire State Development; and Hector M. Rodriguez, Ph.D., Dean of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math at Hudson Valley Community College. Shari Liss, Executive Director of the SEMI Foundation, moderated the panel.Building the Future Together The need for extensive collaboration to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States fueled the discussion. Patterson explained that given current investments in the semiconductor industry, the U.S. must double its workforce and triple its graduates in technical and construction-related fields. Overall, she estimated the industry will need to train around 100,000 new technicians.To achieve these goals, Rodriguez said that representatives from GlobalFoundries, the New York State Department of Labor, State University of New York, Center for Economic Growth, and the National Institute for Innovation and Technology, meet monthly to discuss on-the-job training programs for high school graduates and General Educational Development (GED) holders. He explained that by frequently evaluating training programs, they can quickly adjust curriculums if results don’t meet expectations. Younis said that bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. creates a unique alignment of interests between the government and the private sector. He highlighted the opportunity to work together to build the country’s manufacturing capacity, citing Empire State Development and Micron’s Green CHIPS Community Investment Fund for Central New York as an example of public and private collaboration. Part of the fund, he explained, will go toward workforce development. “We can focus on succeeding, with everyone marching in the same direction,” he said. Tapping Underrepresented Populations To find the talent needed to sustain the pace of semiconductor innovation, the panel stressed the importance of attracting people from all backgrounds and exposing them to the industry earlier in life. Dillard pointed out that women account for just 10-15% of workers in technical roles, and that percentage is even lower for people of color. “If we’re going to resource the semiconductor industry over the next 10-20 years, we’ve got to bring everyone with us,” she said.Helping those from underrepresented communities overcome barriers like limited access to childcare and transportation is important, said Rodriguez. He noted that wraparound services can be essential for transitioning these individuals into industry careers. Younis also highlighted Empire State Development’s One Network for Regional Advanced Manufacturing Partnerships (ON-RAMP) program, which will help provide these services in Upstate New York. If we’re going to get the people the industry needs, we must look for every opportunity, Rodriguez said, as they need to see that a great job is on the other side of the fence. Patterson said schoolchildren should be exposed to the semiconductor industry at a younger age, particularly girls and those from underrepresented groups. She cited a study about LEGO blocks, explaining that when the toy is introduced in primary school, boys are often excited, but girls are generally uncomfortable. “This is an example of the role of exposure,” she said. “If you’re not exposed to something, you have a lack of comfort, and that lack of comfort means you also have a lack of persistence to arrive at a level of competence.” Retaining the WorkforceAs an example of how to retain employees, Dillard pointed to the success of Micron’s Employee Resource Groups, as evidenced by the company’s internal data. These groups offer space for Micron’s underrepresented populations to connect with peers from similar backgrounds. Currently, the company has 10 groups, including groups for veterans, women, disabled employees, racial groups, and others. Diversity within leadership was also noted as key for retaining employees. Rodriguez said that when employees see people from similar backgrounds to their own in leadership roles, those employees are more likely to stay with those companies. Leadership training around psychological safety and working cross-culturally was also mentioned, with Dillard highlighting the importance of developing leaders that value inclusion. The cyclical nature of the industry was addressed during the Q A as a reason people may not stay long-term. Part of the solution, Patterson said, is to be transparent about market challenges and the importance of having a few months’ worth of savings. When employees encounter market challenges, they may be forced to switch industries if they don’t have savings to cover them. “There’s a role for us to be playing when it comes to supporting the financial literacy of our employees,” she said. View the full 2024 panel discussion to learn more. Additional ASMC 2024 HiglightsASMC 2024 featured keynotes by thought leaders from IBM, Wolfspeed, and Semiconductor Advisors. ASMC is the leading international technical conference for discussing solutions that improve the collective manufacturing expertise of the semiconductor industry. Solving the challenges presented by semiconductor manufacturing is a combined effort by device makers, equipment and materials suppliers, and academics. ASMC provides a platform for semiconductor professionals to network and learn the latest in the practical application of advanced manufacturing strategies and methodologies. Technical presentations at ASMC highlight industry innovations with specific results and select ASMC manuscripts are published in the ASMC Special Section of IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing.Krish Raghunath is Sr. Specialist for Conferences Committees at SEMI Americas.

The key to driving change is getting men involved in closing the gender gap and encouraging more equitable workplaces.

Jennifer Braggin, director of technical training at Entegris, was honored with the inaugural SEMI Foundation Excellence in Achievement Award at SEMICON West 2021 in San Francisco in December for her contributions to advancing workforce development and DEI in the microelectronics industry.

Hello SEMI members:First and foremost, I hope this finds you all healthy and safe. With new developments emerging every day on the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, we want to make sure you’re aware of the resources that SEMI is making available to your business, and many others in the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain, to help you navigate through these tumultuous times. Our SEMI Responds webpage lists best practices for company policies, communications and working from home, based on recent calls with members led by our Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) and Information Technology Leadership (ITL) groups. The EHS section provides tips on facilities and meetings, employee policies, business travel and communications, while the ITL section lists insights on computing hardware for staff, licensing, networks, security and employee policies. SEMI greatly appreciates the invaluable member input. Our goal is to help our member companies make informed business decisions during these highly challenging and uncertain conditions, and your contributions to this effort will benefit the industry as a whole. I am pleased to announce that SEMI has partnered with McKinsey Company to provide an additional source of information: a joint-webinar – COVID-19 Insights: Microelectronics Industry Impact and Best Practices – on Thursday, March 26 at 4pm PT. We will present insights gathered through SEMI member surveys and other industry outreach along with the latest expert data from McKinsey Company to help guide your business continuity plans. Click here to register.The SEMI Global Advocacy team has been evaluating how government responses to the outbreak will impact the industry. In the U.S., the team sent letters to 16 state governors last week to request the classification of the semiconductor industry as an “essential business” so that operations can continue if states institute “shelter-in-place” orders. The letters note that SEMI members are “employing all measures necessary to maintain the health and safety of their employees as they maintain continuous operations critical to the industry” based on the input of participating companies.As for SEMI events, I want to reassure you that SEMI continues to make the safety of our members, exhibitors, visitors and employees our top priority. We continue to track COVID-19 developments worldwide and advisories from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We are also working with our regional offices to engage with industry contacts for inputs, and SEMI has postponed or cancelled several of our major events including: Canceling SEMICON Korea 2020, which was scheduled for February 5-7 Postponing SEMICON China 2020 from March 18-20 to June 27-29 Postponing ISS Europe 2020 from April 1-3 to September 1-3 Postponing ASMC 2020 from May 4-7 to the week of August 23 (still finalizing) Postponing SEMICON Southeast Asia from May 12-14 to August 11-13 If plans for any other upcoming events change, SEMI will immediately notify event exhibitors, visitors and speakers. You can find the latest information on changes to our event schedule on our Coronavirus Status Updates webpage. SEMI is working to help our members continue to connect and do business in the interim. For example, our Standards team is hosting virtual meetings for task forces, and we are exploring other virtual events and ways to keep the lines of communication open. I have challenged the SEMI team to think outside the box and will keep you posted as we make new services available.In the meantime, SEMI continues preparations for later events with laser-sharp focus and determined intent to help spark the industry to reignite business growth and meet pent-up demand. The first major rescheduled event is our largest, SEMICON China in Shanghai. You have probably heard news on some of the positive signs coming out of China. You can read about some of these developments in this blog post from the SEMI China team, which has been in close contact with key exhibitors, domestic suppliers and large multi-national corporations that have confirmed that they will participate in SEMICON China based on the current outlook. We are determined to help the industry return to growth. For the first time we will feature an IC Design Pavilion at SEMICON China to help our traditional semiconductor manufacturing members form more connections across the microelectronics supply chain.In the U.S., this year is proving how quickly everything can change. While the immediate future is steeped in uncertainty, we are diligently assessing current conditions while planning for SEMICON West 2020 in San Francisco from July 20-23, though the event dates are subject to change. SEMI is monitoring the COVID-19 containment efforts closely, and we will keep you informed of any changes in plans.In closing, I want to provide a brief reminder that SEMI members should be proud of the roles your companies have played in enabling the technology that will beat the COVID-19 coronavirus. The most powerful supercomputers in the world are helping in the push to develop a vaccine, and these machines would not exist without countless innovations from SEMI members over our 50-year history. The team at SEMI is proud to serve you all and is absolutely committed to doing all that we can to help the industry rise to meet this newest challenge. Sincerely yours,Ajit ManochaPresident and CEO, SEMI

Part 2 of this two-part piece examines the potential benefits to be realized by pairing human Subject Matter Experts with smart silicon assistants, and what these new arrangements mean for semiconductor device manufacturing. Part 1 explores best-practice perspectives on collecting and utilizing smart data in industries outside semiconductor manufacturing, one of the important takeaways from the Smart Manufacturing panel discussion at SEMI ASMC 2018. So what does this observation (i.e. the field of medicine, in what seems at first glance a big data environment, is really just clusters and clusters of loose small data connected by the collective neural network of highly trained doctors and their colleagues) mean for semiconductor manufacturing? We think it means we need to apply the same level of intense focus that we already devote to instrumented data collection and analytics in the fab to something more: we need to better capture the vast expertise of our engineering and operational talent in semiconductor manufacturing. We think we need to record what the subject matter experts (SMEs) in the fab see, hear, and think as they investigate yield excursions or machine-down problems. We need to effectively combine product, process, equipment and component subject matter expertise / subject matter experts (SME) with big data analytics to more effectively solve manufacturing problems, be they killer or be they chronic. And we must provide structured methods for incorporating inputs from and active participation of SMEs throughout the data analysis lifecycle, from collection and aggregation, through filtering, feature extraction, analysis and optimization. Some of the challenge will be in just how do we make it easy to gather information from SMEs in real time, while standing in front of equipment in the fab. Internet of Things (Iot) devices are emerging to capture and label images and sounds to enable machine learning algorithms to recognize and help diagnose manufacturing problems based on sight and sound, complementing the instrumented data. But we also need to record the thought processes our human SMEs go through in those investigations – perhaps by the SMEs talking to a smart AI-based conversational assistant who helps make “rounds.” Doing contextual analysis on this added data, combined with the instrumented data, will create the equation Human + Machine = AI (Awesome Insight). Sounds reasonable, right? We think artificial intelligence becomes too artificial if you leave the human out of the equation. AI should be augmented intelligence, where we take the expertise and creativity of the human, and combine it with the rapid computational capabilities of the computer, in order to put problem identification and solutions on steroids. But with the already huge advancements to date in data analytics, cloud, and the emergence of AI, why do improvements in quality, machine utilization, and the implementation of predictive analytics in semiconductor manufacturing seem to be creeping along incrementally, and not appearing as dramatic, step-function improvements? Call it Smart Manufacturing, call it Connected Enterprise, call it Advanced Manufacturing, or Analytics, or Cloud, or the Digital Twin … there are no shortages of terms, philosophies, and technologies available, but why aren’t we seeing their rapid adoption? It could be it’s the downside that comes with needing people. “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” Jack Welch. We see from other industries that smart manufacturing conversations originating with the executives of a company thinking to implement smart manufacturing programs lead to vision; however, we also see from other industries, and from our own, that realizing this vision has often been a challenge. Why is that? One reason may be that the people who are personally vested in solutions they implemented in the past, as well as those who follow a pattern of ‘how we’ve always done things’, create, inadvertently or not, persistent internal barriers hindering innovative action. Another may be that engagements with the working engineers and managers charged to be smart manufacturing implementers leads to the pursuit of low-hanging fruit, and cautious investments, that often utilize solutions that ultimately cannot scale and integrate. Not to mention the disadvantage of dealing with the legacy equipment, the legacy networks, the traditional thinking, and the lack of consistency in metrics adding to the confusion. Addressing all these barriers requires an alignment in strategy and execution, along with a plan to support the overall vision, often across the entire enterprise, which is no small matter. And then there are the standards. Having and adhering to standards in control solutions, networks, and data becomes critical in achieving real benefits from smart manufacturing. And data security. One of the other big impediments in the smart manufacturing transformation is data and IP security, another key concern (maybe the most significant) preventing us from moving forward more quickly (e.g. to cloud-based solutions) in our industry. More about that in a follow-up. Achieving synergy across all of manufacturing, from connecting equipment horizontally, through the production system (machines processes), and vertically, through enterprise systems and across production facilities, can only occur if we build standards, security, infrastructure, and human engagement throughout our ecosystem and supply chain. In simple form, the steps to do so include connecting assets, collecting and contextualizing data, and then driving business transformation with actionable insights gained from the data. With impact on every function, and every person, in the enterprise, from equipment operators in the fab through the C-Suite in HQ. Maintenance, Engineering, R D, Operations, Scheduling, IT, Procurement, Finance, HR all contribute, collaborate and benefit. Regardless of the technology, from device level analytics to predictive maintenance and optimization, the people that reside in these disparate groups need to come together with the smart machines to create a common strategy to achieve transformational results. Aligning an enterprise’s goals with its human capital is paramount to success. Therefore, we must challenge our team members and ourselves to work outside our comfort zones, and we need to be forever aware of the need for us to grow with the technology. Smart manufacturing is not necessarily about having fewer people in the fab, but it does suggest having people in the fab, perhaps with different, or upgraded, skill sets, who are even more efficient in their roles as a result of the boost they are getting from Industry 4.0. Fortunately, we now have techniques that let us combine the best, brightest, and latest and greatest analytics with our invaluable SMEs throughout the data analysis lifecycle. We’ll not only be able to deliver higher quality semiconductor manufacturing solutions all in all, but we’ll also be providing methods to more easily distribute, scale, maintain, and continually refine those hard-earned solutions. We expect that subject matter experts will continue to put the “smart” in machine-based smart manufacturing today, and for the foreseeable future. SME contributions are not an option, but, rather, an imperative for ensuring a semiconductor manufacturer’s sustained prosperity, much less its survival. Nancy Greco (IBM Watson), Dave Mayewski (Rockwell Automation), James Moyne (University of Michigan / Applied Materials), and Paul Werbaneth (Intevac, Inc.), along with Julie Jacob (Ernst Young), and Carson Henry (Micron Technology), were members of the SEMI ASMC 2018 panel discussing Industry 4.0 and the Future of Commercial Semiconductor Device Manufacturing. All opinions here are purely our own. Please contact Paul Werbaneth via email at [email protected]. The SEMICON West (July 9-11, 2018, in San Francisco) Smart Manufacturing Pavilion features working production equipment on the floor and three full days of speakers providing insights on building the infrastructure needed to enable AI. Equipment from Bosch Rexroth, Cimetrix, Rudolph Technologies, INFICON, Final Phase Systems, OMRON, DISCO and Edwards Vacuum will showcase cutting-edge smart manufacturing technologies. For information on the SEMI Smart Manufacturing initiative and how to get involved, please click here.

Part 1 of this two-part piece explores best-practice perspectives on collecting and utilizing smart data in industries outside semiconductor manufacturing, one of the important takeaways from the Smart Manufacturing panel discussion at SEMI ASMC 2018. Part 2 examines the potential benefits to be realized by pairing human Subject Matter Experts with smart silicon assistants, and what these new arrangements mean for semiconductor device manufacturing. The spacecraft Discovery and its HAL 9000 computer system had a digital twin. Did you know? Stanley Kubrick’s seminal film “2001: A Space Odyssey” had its theatrical release 50 years ago this April. “2001” isn’t just a great science fiction film. Rather, it’s a great work of cinema overall, across any category. (The American Film Institute lists “2001” as #15 in the AFI Top 100; a bit below “Vertigo,” a bit above “It’s A Wonderful Life.”) It’s a film so distinguished and so prescient that its lessons can inform our thinking about smart manufacturing, Industry 4.0, and artificial intelligence (AI) today. Not to give too much away, but the earth-bound digital twin of Discovery / HAL identifies a diagnostic error the onboard, Jupiter-bound HAL 9000 has made, things go awry from there, and one of the mission pilots, astronaut Dave Bowman, is forced to intervene. At the recent SEMI Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference, ASMC 2018, on 02 May 2018 in Saratoga Springs, NY, five diverse panelists representing capital equipment, IDMs, academia, the semiconductor supply chain, and smart manufacturing best practices outside the semiconductor industry engaged in a lively discussion with the ASMC attendees. They explored where “smart” is in our industry today, where it’s headed, and what that’s going to mean for us -- the professionals who have brought semiconductor manufacturing to the current state of smart, and are looking to implement an ever-smarter tomorrow. Not to give too much away, but the panelists and audience agreed that there’s nothing artificial about pairing human intelligence with machine-based smart manufacturing. Implementing an ever-smarter tomorrow in semiconductor manufacturing requires smart people just as much as it requires smart machines. Moving towards “smart” means understanding how to derive useful information and actionable intelligence from the ever-increasing pool of big data created during semiconductor manufacturing. Modern manufacturing sites are extensively instrumented today, and create massive amounts of data to consume, decipher, base decisions upon, or discard. As we dig into this problem we realize that equipment and processes in our industry are both obviously complex, but, also, subtly complex. Semiconductor manufacturing tools easily contain 100s to 1000s of components working together to produce nanometer scale, angstrom scale, or even atomic scale features using complex chemical, physical, and plasma processes. There is a plethora of potential failure points and modes, and despite our best efforts to collect more data, many processes continue to be only poorly observable. On top of that, semiconductor fabrication processes are always drifting, and the operational context is continually changing as we change product mix, process maintenance swap-out kit components, and operating conditions and recipes. Sounds like … hospitals, and healthcare? When you see your doctor, she will collect and look at your instrumented data – blood work, blood pressure, weight, and other quantifiable factors. But, typically, your doctor won’t draw a conclusion based on that analysis alone. Rather, your doctor will sit with you, ask probing questions, and record what she asked, your responses, and what she saw, what she heard, and what she thought. Then she’ll build a hypothesis, combining the “anecdotal” data with the instrumented data, and derive from that data set both a likely diagnosis and an effective course of action. In this case, beyond the instrumented data, two humans, and their natural language input, are part of the equation: the patient, with his observations and thoughts, as well as the doctor, with hers. And it’s been a formula for success. Healthcare has made huge, step-function improvements across a spectrum of deadly diseases, as well as with less-deadly chronic afflictions, by harvesting this complex input, committing the proven disease presentation – disease diagnosis – and disease treatment models to medicine’s collective memory, and then teaching the next generation of healthcare providers both the general methods and the standard protocols essential to maintaining good health and successful outcomes. Maybe, in medicine, what seems a big data environment is really just clusters and clusters of loose small data connected by the collective neural network of highly trained doctors and their colleagues. Nancy Greco (IBM Watson), Dave Mayewski (Rockwell Automation), James Moyne (University of Michigan / Applied Materials), and Paul Werbaneth (Intevac, Inc.), along with Julie Jacob (Ernst Young), and Carson Henry (Micron Technology), were members of the SEMI ASMC 2018 panel discussing Industry 4.0 and the Future of Commercial Semiconductor Device Manufacturing. All opinions here are purely our own. Please contact Paul Werbaneth via email at [email protected]. The SEMICON West (July 9-11, 2018, in San Francisco) Smart Manufacturing Pavilion features working production equipment on the floor and three full days of speakers providing insights on building the infrastructure needed to enable AI. Equipment from Bosch Rexroth, Cimetrix, Rudolph Technologies, INFICON, Final Phase Systems, OMRON, DISCO and Edwards Vacuum will showcase cutting-edge smart manufacturing technologies. For information on the SEMI Smart Manufacturing initiative and how to get involved, please click here.