Make your smart factory smarter

In high-tech manufacturing, the ability to transform data into actionable insights is the key to staying competitive. What tools are available to empower engineers in the semiconductor industry to make faster, smarter decisions? Every day, engineers must make decisions, and they are critical for improving yield, optimising production processes and maintaining a competitive edge. Here, Alessandro Chimera, Sr. Principal Industry Analytics, Spotfire explains further.

Here’s an example of why data is so critical to success. In the early 2000s, a leading semiconductor company faced a crisis. Its new microprocessor chip, which worked perfectly in its R&D fab, was failing miserably in a new production fab.

Despite employing top-tier engineers and trying countless experiments, the yield was still too low to launch the product. The company was on the brink of failure, with $10bn already invested in the factory and significant market competition breathing down its neck.

Desperate, they transferred 200 engineers to the production fab, working around the clock to solve the issue. Finally, they discovered that a slight change in a single chemical during the clean cycle was the root cause. Overnight, the yield was brought to market readiness.

This story illustrates a critical lesson; no matter how brilliant your engineers are, without the right tools to handle vast amounts of data and find insights quickly, even the smartest teams can struggle to solve complex manufacturing challenges. That’s where visual data science comes in.

Addressing the challenges in semiconductor manufacturing

Semiconductor manufacturing is one of the most complex and capital-intensive industries in the world. Modern fabs, filled with cutting-edge equipment such as steppers, etchers and testers, cost billions. Yet, profitability is dependent on maximising throughput and minimising unplanned downtime.

The race to develop devices with ever smaller nodes and higher performance makes it increasingly challenging to maintain high yields and tight process control. For companies that outsource fabrication, the challenge becomes even more daunting as they must optimise their processes within the same production lines used by competitors.

Beyond manufacturing, additional complexities arise during testing and packaging. Engineers must ensure that the components not only function as expected but meet customer specifications for reliability and safety. How do they navigate these challenges? By leveraging tools that enable them to analyse data from every aspect of the process – end to end.

The power of visual data science in semiconductor engineering

To fully understand how visual data science can help, let’s consider three types of

engineers in the semiconductor industry:

• Equipment and process engineers
• Yield and defect engineers
• Product and test engineers

Each of these roles requires access to vast amounts of diverse data, such as temperature, pressure, gas flow, spectrometry, thickness and more. They need to extract insights, identify patterns and anomalies, and act fast on findings to ensure optimal performance and yield.

Visual data science tools like Spotfire empower engineers by putting the data directly in their hands, allowing them to wrangle, combine and analyse data from multiple sources without needing to be data scientists. They can easily perform calculations, visualise trends and automate processes. A unique combination of agile visualisations and manufacturing specific algorithms enables teams to collaborate and solve complex problems faster.

Overcoming common data science bottlenecks

In many semiconductor companies, engineers rely on specialised tools and statistical software to analyse data.

However, these tools often come with limitations. Specialised tools may lack flexibility and require advanced training to be used effectively. Meanwhile, statistical software can create bottlenecks, as engineers must rely on data scientists to run complex analyses and then wait days for results.

Spotfire eliminates these barriers by providing an intuitive platform for engineers to explore data, create custom visualisations and apply advanced statistical models – without needing to be experts in programming or statistics. Engineers can access and integrate data from different sources, clean outliers and run sophisticated analyses.

Future-proofing high-tech manufacturing

Visual data science is already helping companies like STMicroelectronics solve complex manufacturing challenges. As the semiconductor industry continues to evolve, the need for agile, data-driven decision making will only grow. The Spotfire platform’s ability to seamlessly integrate diverse data types, apply advanced analytics and scale across large engineering teams makes it an invaluable tool for high-tech manufacturers.

Engineers can tackle problems like equipment performance optimisation, process monitoring and root cause analysis faster than ever before. By enabling faster insights and collaborative problem solving, the right tool helps semiconductor companies reduce downtime, improve yield and maintain their competitive edge.

Conclusion

In the world of high-tech manufacturing, time is precious, and data is power. ‘Seeing’ and sharing findings enables engineers to unlock the full potential of their data, accelerating decision-making and driving innovation.