Abstract

Semiconductor manufacturing is a highly competitive business due to complicated production processes, sophisticated equipment, and fluctuating demand. I summarize the challenges and opportunities of semiconductor manufacturing and provide my thoughts on the solution with three applications for case study.

As an example of planning optimization, I describe a planning methodology to generate a complete capacity planning solution using mixed-integer linear programming (MILP). This methodology has been successfully implemented in Intel’s global semiconductor assembly and test manufacturing (ATM) since 2004.

As an example of queuing modeling, I analyze the correlations between the arrival and the service processes and their impact on cycle time.

As an example of simulation, I model a supply chain from fabs, assembly & test sites, to distribution centers for a typical product family. I conduct detailed sensitivity analysis and identify the tens of million USD cost saving opportunities through subcon consolidation and a centralized die hub.

Biography

Mike Tao Zhang (S’98–M’01–SM’05) received the M.S. and the Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, in 2000 and 2001 respectively, as well as the Management of Technology certificate from the Haas School of Business and the College of Engineering, in 2000, all at the University of California, Berkeley in 3 years.

Dr. Zhang is Vice President of the US-China Green Energy Council. He is a senior manager/director of Automation and Industrial Engineering at Spansion Inc., the world largest NOR Flash memory provider. He is also a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Prior to that, he was a department manager and a staff technologist at Intel. He was awarded three patents and published over 50 papers and four books/book chapters. His research interests are industrial automation, manufacturing systems, operations research/management, and supply chain management.

Dr. Zhang is a Member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, and also a Senior Member of IEEE and IIE (the Institute of Industrial Engineers). He is Co-Chair of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Technical Committee on Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation. He is an Associate Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUTOMATION SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING and a Guest Editor of Assembly Automation and the IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION MAGAZINE. He is Program Chair of the 2007 IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering. He is also the recipient of the Li Foundation Heritage Prize for Outstanding Achievement (two awardees per year in the U.S.), the Outstanding Young Industrial Engineer Business/Industry Award by the Institute of Industrial Engineers (one awardee per year worldwide), and the Early Career Industry/Government Award by IEEE RAS (one awardee per year worldwide). He is listed in Marquis Who's Who in the World.