Lam Research launches collaborative robots to optimize critical maintenance in chip factories

Chip equipment manufacturers Pan-forest research Launched Dextro, the chip industry’s first collaborative robot (cobot), designed to optimize critical maintenance tasks in chip factories.

These robots have been deployed in several advanced fabs around the world. Dextro enables accurate, high-precision maintenance, minimizing tool downtime and production variability. It delivers significant First Time Right Right (FTR) results that can increase fab throughput.

If successful, robots could make semiconductor manufacturing – the basis of billions of dollars in revenue for the electronics industry – more efficient.

Today’s wafer fabrication equipment uses advanced physics, robotics and chemistry to create nanoscale semiconductors. A typical fab has hundreds of process tools, each of which requires complex maintenance on a regular basis.

Dextro is designed to make this equipment more cost-effective by repeatedly performing critical maintenance tasks with sub-micron precision.

“Dextro is an exciting leap forward in semiconductor manufacturing equipment maintenance. It is designed to work side-by-side with fab engineers, enabling higher performance by performing complex maintenance tasks with precision and repeatability beyond what humans alone are capable of. Tool uptime and manufacturing yield. Chris Carter, vice president of Lam Research, said in a statement: “This is a strong addition to Lam’s broad portfolio of tools and services designed to help wafer manufacturers optimize their fabs. cost and productivity. “

As fabs continue to expand in size, geographic diversity and equipment complexity, chipmakers need to optimize fab engineer productivity through increased automation and efficiency. This becomes even more important as the number of semiconductor jobs worldwide continues to exceed the number of skilled engineers.

Precision is critical in tool maintenance, and accurate reassembly of subsystems matters to the bottom line. Implementing FTR saves time and cost. Repeatable maintenance also reduces waste associated with consumed parts, labor and production downtime, thereby reducing production variability and increasing throughput.

“When manufacturing equipment requires maintenance, the work must be done quickly and efficiently to avoid extended tool downtime and wasted costs,” Young Ju Kim, vice president and head of the memory etching technology team at Samsung Electronics, said in a statement. “Dextro’s Error-free maintenance helps improve production variability and throughput. This is an exciting milestone on Samsung’s path to its own fabs.

Dextro is a mobile unit with a robotic arm that is operated by fab technicians or engineers. It uses a variety of end effectors as a hand to manage critical equipment maintenance tasks that are time-consuming and error-prone when completed manually.

For example, it can accurately install and compress vulnerable parts more than twice as fast
Accuracy of manual application. Precise assembly helps control etch performance at the wafer edge, thereby increasing throughput.

Dextro tightens vacuum-sealed, high-precision bolts to precise specifications, freeing fab engineers from repetitive tasks that can have an error rate of up to 5% when done manually. Accurately meeting specifications eliminates chamber temperature excursions that can cause tooling to shut down and impact wafer yield.

Dextro removes polymer buildup from the sidewalls of the chamber without disassembling the lower chamber. Importantly, it is less risky for people who require heavy protective respiratory equipment to perform tasks manually.

Lam’s Flex G and H series of dielectric etch tools are currently supported by Dextro, with expansion
Additional tools for 2025 and beyond.

Bob O’Donnell, president of TECHnaanalysis Research, said in a statement: “As the demand brought about by artificial intelligence in the semiconductor market grows significantly, chip manufacturers must keep all manufacturing equipment running as efficiently as possible to minimize downtime. That’s critical. “Dextro can automate tedious, time-consuming and often complex cleaning and maintenance tasks on wafer fabrication equipment, maximizing manufacturing throughput. It offers significant benefits to companies that choose to deploy it.

Dextro joins Lam’s portfolio of smart solutions that improve semiconductor factory efficiency and reduce operating costs. These include Lam Equipment Smart Process Tools with autonomous calibration and adaptive maintenance capabilities, as well as Lam Equipment Intelligence Services that use data, machine learning, artificial intelligence and Lam Domain Knowledge to achieve better productivity outcomes.