Prof. Laxminarayan L. Raja, The Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, The University of Texas at Austin

"High-Fidelity Modeling of Equipment Scale Processes in Semiconductor Manufacturing"

Abstract: Rapid improvements in computing hardware, numerical algorithms, and modern software engineering practices have revolutionized the development of predictive simulation tools for a variety of engineering systems. Such tools have had the greatest impact in areas where the single physical or chemical processes need to be simulated. Examples being in aerodynamic flows, electromagnetics, and structural mechanics, where model governing equations are well established, and physical phenomena occurs over well-defined narrow range of length and time scales. The most critical processes in semiconductor manufacturing are unfortunately some of the most difficult phenomena to model and simulate. For example, etch/dep processing of single wafer systems can involve flow, plasma, electromagnetic wave, gas- and surface- chemistry, and heat-transfer phenomena occurring simultaneously; not to mention the increasingly important role of driving power supply circuits in the overall process control. This talk will provide an overview of some semiconductor manufacturing equipment simulation studies we have performed over the years. The role of computing hardware, algorithms, and hierarchical software engineering practices will be highlighted. Topics in the modeling and simulation of plasma and non-plasma processing for semiconductor manufacture will be discussed.