• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.275-286
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• 2015

In this paper, we propose a practical method for setting up a daily production plan which can operate semiconductor fabrication factories more stably and linearly by determining work in process (WIP) targets and movement targets. We first adjust cycle times of the operations to satisfy the monthly production plan. Second, work in process (WIP) targets are determined to control the production progress of operations: earliness and tardiness. Third, movement targets are determined to reduce cumulated differences between WIP targets and actual WIPs. Finally, the determined movement targets are modified through a simulation model which considers capacities of the equipments and allocations of the WIPs in the fab. The proposed daily production planning method can be easily adapted to the memory semiconductor fabs because the method is very simple and has straightforward logics. Although the proposed method is simple and straightforward, the power of the method is very strong. Results from the shop floor in past few periods showed that the proposed methodology gives a good performance with respect to the productivity, workload balance, and machine utilization. We can expect that the proposed daily production planning method will be used as a useful tool for operating semiconductor fabrication factories more efficiently and effectively.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.283-290
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• 2014

In the flat panel display industry, to meet production target quantities and the deadline of production, the scheduler and dispatching systems are major production management systems which control the order of facility production and the distribution of WIP (Work In Process). Especially the delivery time is a key factor of the dispatching system for the time when a lot can be supplied to the facility. In this paper, we use survival analysis methods to identify main factors of the delivery time and to build the delivery time forecasting model. To select important explanatory variables, the cox proportional hazard model is used to. To make a prediction model, the accelerated failure time (AFT) model was used. Performance comparisons were conducted with two other models, which are the technical statistics model based on transfer history and the linear regression model using same explanatory variables with AFT model. As a result, the mean square error (MSE) criteria, the AFT model decreased by 33.8% compared to the statistics prediction model, decreased by 5.3% compared to the linear regression model. This survival analysis approach is applicable to implementing the delivery time estimator in display manufacturing. And it can contribute to improve the productivity and reliability of production management system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.298-301
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• 2001

In semiconductor manufacturing, wafer fabrication is the most complicated and important process, which is composed of several hundreds of process steps and several hundreds of machines involved. The productivity of the manufacturing mainly depends on how well they control balance of WIP flow to achieve maximal throughput under short manufacturing cycle time. In this paper mathematical formulation is suggested for the stepper scheduling, in which cycle time reduction and maximal production is achieved.

• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.71-91
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• 2008

The definition of cycle time is the time from the wafer start to the wafer output. It usually takes one or two months to get the product since customer decides to produce it. The cycle time is a critical factor for customer satisfaction because it represents the response time to the market. Long cycle time reflects the ineffective investment for the capital. The cycle time is very important for foundry because long cycle time will cause customer unsatisfied and the order loss. Consequently, all of the foundries put lots of human source in the cycle time improvement. Usually, we make decisions based on the experience in the cycle time management. We have no mechanism or theory for cycle time management. We do work-in-process (WIP) management based on turn rate and standard WIP (STD WIP) set by experiences. But the experience didn't mean the optimal solution, when the situation changed, the cycle time or the standard WIP will also be changed. The experience will not always be applicable. If we only have the experience and no mechanism, management will not be work out. After interview several foundry fab managers, all of the fab can't reflect the situation. That is, all of them will have an impact period after product mix or utilization varied. In this study, we want to develop a formula for standard WIP and use statistical process control (SPC) concept to set WIP upper/lower limit level. When WIP exceed the limit level, it will trigger action plans to compensate WIP Profile. If WIP Profile balances, we don't need too much WIP. So WIP level could be reduced and cycle time also could be reduced.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.295-299
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• 2012

Defect generation during organic bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) in the photo lithography process is closely related to humidity control in the BARC coating unit. Defects are related to the water component due to the humidity and act as a blocking material for the etching process, resulting in an extreme pattern bridging in the subsequent BARC etching process of the poly etch step. In this paper, the lower limit for the humidity that should be stringently controlled for to prevent defect generation during BARC coating is proposed. Various images of defects are inspected using various inspection tools utilizing optical and electron beams. The mechanism for defect generation only in the specific BARC coating step is analyzed and explained. The BARC defect-induced gate pattern bridging mechanism in the lithography process is also well explained in this paper.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.1240-1245
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• 2009

The throughput characteristics of the cluster tool with dual blade robot are analyzed. Using equipment's cycle time chart of the equipment, simple analytic form of the throughput is derived. Then, several important throughput characteristics are analyzed by the throughput formula. First, utilization of the process chamber and the robot are maximized by assigning the equipment to the process whose processing time is near the critical process time. Second, rule for selecting optimal number of process chambers is suggested. It is desirable to select a single process chamber plus a single robot structure for relatively short time process and multi process chambers plus a single robot, namely cluster tool for relatively long time process. Third, throughput variation between equipments due to the wafer transfer time variation is analyzed, especially for the process whose processing time is less than critical process time. And the throughput and the wafer transfer time of the equipments in our fabrication line are measured and compared to the analysis.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.482-488
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• 2000

The Fab fraction of PDC-E2 specific human monoclonal antibody was produced using recombinant E. coli, and the effects of glucose and acetate were investigated to develop an optimal strategy for recombinant human antibody production. Higher glucose concentration in the culture media resulted inn higher cell growth and glucose consumption rate, which in turn resulted in an increased acetate production rate. When glucose was depleted, cells began to consume acetate as an energy source, and this consumption rate depended on the glucose concentration. When the residual glucose concentration was high, the accumulation of acetate was accelerated due to an increase in the acetate production rate and a decrease in the acetate consumption rate. Futhermore, it was found that a high accumulation of acetate, accompanied by a high glucose concentration, inhibited human antibody formation; the critical acetate concentration was $0.6g/\ell$. During production, a high glucose concentration enhanced cell growth, but inhibited antibody formation due to catabolic repression. Therefore, it is important to keep the concentration of both glucose and acetate as low as possible to increase antibody production after induction. Accordingly, it is important to accurately control the concentration of glucose and acetate in the culture media to obtain high cell densities and high productivity levels of recombinant human antibody.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.162-173
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• 2015

The cellular fatty acid composition is important for metabolic plasticity in Rhodobacter sphaeroides. We explored the effects of changing the cellular ratio of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) to saturated fatty acids (SFAs) in R. sphaeroides by overexpressing several key fatty acid biosynthetic enzymes through the use of expression plasmid pRK415. Bacteria containing the plasmid pRKfabI₁ with the fabI₁ gene that encodes enoyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase showed a reduction in the cellular UFA to SFA ratio from 4 (80% UFA) to 2 (65% UFA) and had decreased membrane fluidity and reduced cell growth. Additionally, the ratio of UFA to SFA of the chromatophore vesicles from pRKfabI₁-containing cells was similarly lowered, and the cell had decreased levels of light-harvesting complexes, but no change in intracytoplasmic membrane (ICM) content or photosynthetic (PS) gene expression. Both inhibition of enoyl-ACP reductase with diazaborine and addition of exogenous UFA restored membrane fluidity, cell growth, and the UFA to SFA ratio to wild-type levels in this strain. R. sphaeroides containing the pRKfabB plasmid with the fabB gene that encodes the enzyme β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase I exhibited an increased UFA to SFA ratio from 4 (80% UFA) to 9 (90% UFA), but showed no change in membrane fluidity or growth rate relative to control cells. Thus, membrane fluidity in R. sphaeroides remains fairly unchanged when membrane UFA levels are between 80% and 90%, whereas membrane fluidity, cell growth, and cellular composition are affected when UFA levels are below 80%.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2023

Ti₃C₂T_x MXene, a 2D material, is known to exhibit unique characteristics that are strongly dependent on surface termination groups. Here, we developed a novel annealing approach with Ca as a reducing agent to simultaneously remove F and O groups from the surface of multilayered MXene powder. Unlike H₂ annealing that removes F effectively but has difficulty in removing O, annealing with Ca effectively removed both O and F. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed that the proposed approach effectively removed F and O from the MXene powder. The results of O/N analyses showed that the O concentration decreased by 57.5% (from 2.66 to 1.13 wt%). In addition, XPS fitting showed that the volume fraction of metal oxides (TiO₂ and Al₂O₃) decreased, while surface termination groups (-O and -OH) were enhanced, which could increase the hydrophilic and adsorption properties of the MXene. These findings suggest that when F and O are removed from the MXene powder, the interlayer spacing of its lattice structure increases. The proposed treatment also resulted in an increase in the specific surface area (from 5.17 to 10.98 m²/g), with an increase in oxidation resistance temperature in air from ~436 to ~667 ℃. The benefits of this novel technology were verified by demonstrating the significantly improved cyclic charge-discharge characteristics of a lithium-ion battery with a Ca-treated MXene electrode.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.41-47
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• 2012

As a core process in the manufacture of state-of-the-art industrial technologies such as semiconductor and LCD, a clean room is the most important process which can affect the performance and quality of products drastically. Nevertheless, scientific research on comprehensive safety measures from a fire protection standpoint is not being carried out in Korea. This study aims to derive measures to improve smoke control systems by identifying performance and problems of smoke systems installed in clean rooms as an LCD manufacturing process and analyzing fire and evacuation simulations considering several scenarios. As a result of analysis of fires and smoke in a clean roomas an LCD manufacturing process, it is found to be necessary to stop air handling units through interlocking in case of a fire and exhaust smoke out of the room through the top of FAB in consideration of buoyancy of smoke. It is also found to be necessary to install quick response sprinkler heads and accessories to accelerate the response time, because the heat-accumulating performance of sprinkler heads decreases in this application. Despite its low density of dwelling due to the automation process, clean room is characterized by an array of complex production equipment and working environment requiring dustproof clothes, which makes it difficult to acquire evacuation safety performance. Thus, thorough control of danger factors in processes and periodic education and training are required. It is also necessary to establish a level of domestic technologies equivalent to the level of standards of advanced countries in fire protection.