Energy analysis, diagnostics and conservation in semiconductor manufacturing

Semiconductor industry accounts for 1.3%--2% of the total US electricity consumption in the manufacturing sector. Energy in the form of electricity is required to operate the manufacturing process equipment, maintain the clean room conditions, and operate equipment such as Heating Ventilation and Air conditioning (HVAC) units, and Chillers. The process equipment accounts for 40% of the operating costs in a semiconductor fabrication unit. Since a significant amount of energy is used by the manufacturing process, it becomes necessary to determine process parameters which govern energy. A computer based interactive model referred to as Semiconductor Energy Calculation Program (SECALPRO), was built in this study to estimate the energy requirement of any particular process in semiconductor manufacturing based on the input variables. Energy intensive processes such as layering and diffusion are studied. Process parameters most sensitive to energy are determined. It is intended to enable the estimation of process energy beforehand by analysis of process parameters governing energy. The computer model also estimates the support energy requirement in semiconductor manufacturing. It is found that process temperature is the key variable governing the energy requirement of the processes under study. This research reports a sensitivity analysis of process variables with respect to energy. A research in this area will help the production managers in the semiconductor fabrication facilities to effectively select the production parameters based on the results obtained by this research.