SEMICONDUCTOR UPDATE
October 2009
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Allvia Semiconductor Firm Acquires Plant in Hillsboro
M+W Zander Started Construction of Semiconductor Factory for Russia’s T-Angstrem
GlobalFoundries Awards Contract to M+W Zander for 28-nm node at Fab 2
TI’s New 300-m Wafer Fab in Richardson
Air Liquide Gets Major Contract with SMIC in Shenzhen, China
A Silicon Valley firm, ALLVIA, said that it has acquired a new manufacturing site in Hillsboro, and plans to put its facilities into operation in 2010. ALLVIA, a provider of TSV prototyping and volume production, said that it has acquired a 178,000 square foot building, with 60,000 square feet of cleanroom capacity in Hillsboro. The firm, which currently does its manufacturing in Sunnyvale, CA, said it will be gradually transitioning full volume production to the Oregon facility. The firm cited the "tremendous" pool of engineers and fab personnel in Oregon, plus lower operating expenses--particularly electricity and water--as reasons for the site selection
Germany based M+W Zander have started construction of a semiconductor factory for Russia T-Angstrem in Zelenograd, Near Moscow. The estimated investment is 150-million Euro. As part of the project, M+W Zander will expand the facility, originally from 1991, to secure the future manufacturing of semiconductor discs, wafers with a diameter of 200 millimeters. The installation of machinery and equipment is set for the end of 2009. To produce the 200-mm wafers, the new Angstrem production building consists of a cleanroom of about 64,560 sq. ft. In addition, M+W Zander will build a central supply building.
The international engineering company M+W Zander has been awarded a contract for approximately €550 million from semiconductor manufacturing company Globalfoundries, to engineer and construct its new semiconductor wafer facility Fab 2.
The construction site is located at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Saratoga County, New York. Fab 2 is expected to be the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing foundry in the world.
The facility will initially produce 300-millimeter-wafers at the 28-nanometer node for a variety of clients. The order for M+W Zander provides a full 'turnkey' solution for the construction of the facility.
As such, M+W Zander is providing full architectural and engineering services, construction management for the entire project as well as general contracting for all of the technical areas to include the manufacturing spaces, building utilities, central utility building and process systems.
The Fab 2 complex will consist of four major buildings totaling more than 130,000 square meters including a 28,000 square meters (301,280 sq. ft.) Class 100 (ISO Class 5) cleanroom wafer fabrication building, a support building, an administrative office building and a central utility building (CUB) along with service yards and small support buildings.
Construction is expected to take about two years to complete, and 12 to 18 months to ramp to full operating mode. Initial production is expected to begin in 2012.
Having been the construction project manager for AMD’s original Dresden-based fabrication facilities, Globalfoundries has awarded M+W Zander the full turnkey construction contract for Fab 2, currently being built at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Saratoga County, New York. A departure from previous fab projects, M+W Zander is also responsible for the architectural aspects of the 4 building project. Previously, AMA Group, based in Italy had been the architectural firm responsible for this aspect of the work. The turnkey project is worth approximately €550 million to M+W Zander over the two-year construction schedule.
Fab 2 is expected to be the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing 'Foundry' in the world. The facility will initially produce 300-millimeter-wafers at the 28-nanometer node for a variety of clients.
The order for M+W Zander provides a full 'turnkey' solution for the construction of the facility. As such, M+W Zander is providing full architectural and engineering services, construction management for the entire project as well as general contracting for all of the technical areas to include the manufacturing spaces, building utilities, central utility building and process systems.
“This new major order strengthens our global leadership as the engineering and construction partner for the semiconductor industry”, said Jürgen Wild, CEO of M+W Zander Group. Rick Whitney, president of M+W Zander in the U.S. added: “We appreciate the confidence GLOBALFOUNDRIES has shown in M+W Zander. We are looking forward to designing and building a globally competitive foundry manufacturing facility in the upstate New York area.”
Lining up production of 300-mm wafers, chip giant Texas Instruments Inc will soon kick start operations at its new 300-mm analog semiconductor fab in Richardson, Texas.
The Richardson facility will be the first analog chip fab to use 300-mm wafers. It has been pointed out that the company would begin to ship the first chips from the fab by the end of next year.
TI is on track to develop the facility in phases. The first phase of equipment would see the company ramping up the facility. The fab will then be capable of shipping more than $1 billion worth of analog chips a year.
To be known as RFAB (Richardson fab) is the culmination of the company’s work toward establishing a state-of-the-art facility for 300-mm analog semiconductor. The company had made the first move towards building the new fab way back in 2004. The RFAB has been incorporated on a 1.1-million-square-foot facility.
Also, a US bankruptcy judge had approved the purchase by TI of $172.5 million worth of chip production equipment from Qimonda AG's fab in Sandston. The company will now move this equipment from Virginia to Richardson to equip RFAB. Further, it would also be hiring 250 professionals to man the RFAB.
According to an analyst, the company could also put pressure on its rivals with the new fab, especially in the power MOSFET arena, where it competes with Fairchild, International Rectifier, On Semiconductor and others. TI also outlined its roadmap for mainstream analogue processes and tipped a new 130nm (nanometer) technology based on copper interconnects, reports EE Times.
Initially, RFAB will produce chips based on TI's LBC7 process, its mainstream, workhorse analogue technology. Chips based on the LBC7 process account for 40 percent of TI's analogue output. Over time, the fab will make chips based on TI's future analogue processes, such as the yet-to-be-announced LBC8 and LBC9.
The electronics market in China experienced sequential improvement in the second quarter of 2009. Shenzhen Grand Industrial Zone (SGIZ), a major industrial park based in Guangdong Province, stands at the forefront of China's electronics industry. High-tech industries have been the number one pillar industry of Shenzhen.
Air Liquide has just signed a long-term contract with the leading integrated circuit foundry in China, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), for its new 200mm and 300mm wafer fabs in Shenzhen. Under the terms of the contract, Air Liquide will supply SMIC with carrier gases including nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, argon and compressed
Wacker Chemie AG has announced that it has withdrawn from the silicon wafers business and will transfer its shares in its joint venture Wacker Schott Solar GmbH (WSS) to Schott Solar AG.
According to Wacker, the reason for the move is a decision to focus solar activities exclusively on its core competency - the production of hyperpure polycrystalline silicon. Schott, on the other hand, concentrates on the downstream side of the photovoltaic value chain, the manufacturing of solar cells and modules.
In the context of this transaction, Wacker says it will perform its respective duties as a shareholder and will support WSS and partner Schott with a variety of measures. All in all, Wacker Chemie AG is expecting from its share in WSS a non-recurring negative impact on pre-tax profit of about €50 million as well as an increase in financial debt of some €65 million.
“Focusing on hyperpure polysilicon production provides an excellent base for our long-term competitiveness and profitability”, said Wacker Group CEO Rudolf Staudigl, who added: “In this field, we can play out our technology leadership and our strong market position with maximum impact.”
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