Schneider Electric's Semiconductor Arc Detection System Cited for Design Engineering Excellence; Saves Millions of Dollars in Wasted Materials for Wafer Fabs.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

PALATINE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 21, 2004

An electrical arc detection solution developed by Schneider Electric that is increasing wafer yields at semiconductor fabrication plants across the country has been recognized by "Design News" in its 2004 Excellence in Design Awards. It was the only semiconductor industry innovation cited by the magazine in this year's design engineering awards program.

Schneider Electric's new electrical arc detection system can save semiconductor manufacturers millions of dollars every year in wasted materials by detecting damaged wafers earlier in the fabrication process. According to lead engineer Paul Buda of Schneider Electric's Industrial Applications team, the production of sensitive integrated circuits is especially vulnerable to small short circuits, called electrical arcs, which occur in the plasma processes used to build microprocessor chips.

Electrical arcs can cause damage that often remains undetected until after the fabrication process, which involves literally hundreds of steps, is completed. Schneider Electric's arc detection system was designed to weed out damaged wafers as they occur in the process, since early detection prevents wasted time, energy and materials.

"While most wafer fabs have some arc detection capability, traditional systems can only detect arcs that could drive a hole in the side of the processing chamber and not the small arcs that can still cause considerable damage," said Buda.

Schneider Electric's arc detection system involves power supply monitoring units, a sophisticated data acquisition system and tight integration with existing process monitoring tools, as well as eliminating interference from other equipment. The final system had to fit within existing process equipment, and it had to use industry-standard protocols to communicate with other devices, including a PLC.

Producing plasma to create microprocessors is a high-energy process concentrated in the radio frequency spectrum at around 13 MHz. Protecting equipment and processes from radio-frequency interference requires careful investigation and exacting design work.

The Schneider Electric solution focuses on voltage collapses at the switching power supplies that power the plasma. As the system detects these collapses, it alerts the operator to inspect a wafer for damage and remove it from the processing line if necessary. Samples are monitored every 33 nanoseconds to make sure every arc is detected and measured. The new arc detection system is now operating in about 50 semiconductor manufacturing tools.

In accepting the award, Buda noted the importance of design engineering in real-world environments. "Engineers need to get out and look at the problems they must solve." Rather than run simulations from a desk, Buda encouraged engineers to go out and "see what's happening and what you have to work with."

Buda is a member of Schneider Electric's highly specialized Microelectronics Engineering Services (SEMES) team that works with end-users and OEMs in the semiconductor industry to solve engineering problems and develop customer-specific solutions to improve throughput and yield.

Schneider Electric has established itself as a premier provider of Advanced Process Control (APC) solutions at major fab end-users for the past five years, booking a number of multi-million dollar orders for designing and installing APC solutions and consulting extensively on factory floor process issues in the wafer fabrication process.

For more information on Schneider Electric engineering solutions for the semiconductor industry, visit www.us.squared.com/iat or call 1-919-855-1100.

Headquartered in Palatine, Ill., the North American Operating Division of Schneider Electric had sales of $2.5 billion in 2003. The North American Operating Division is one of four geographic divisions of Schneider Electric, headquartered in Paris, France, and markets the Square D, Telemecanique and Merlin Gerin brand products to customers in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In the United States, Schneider Electric is best known by its flagship Square D brand, with Telemecanique becoming increasingly known in the industrial control and automation markets and supported by many Square D distributors. For 100 years, Square D has been a market-leading brand of electrical distribution and industrial control products, systems and services. Schneider Electric is a global electrical industry leader with 2003 sales of approximately $9.9 billion. Visit Schneider Electric at www.us.SquareD.com, www.us.telemecanique.com or www.us.schneider-electric.com.