COMPLETED RESEARCH
USING A MODULAR DESIGN APPROACH IN THE EARLY PLANNING STAGE FOR SEMICONDUCTOR CLEANROOM PROJECTS
by
Bin Lu
ABSTRACT
A semiconductor cleanroom project is characterized by its aggressive schedule, fast-track nature, high degree of uncertainty, and expensive cost of facilities. How to make correct fab design decisions that meet the rigors of decreased project delivery time frames and provide improvements in the productivity turns into a major challenge for fab designers. A modular design approach using standard designed facility modules should be utilized instead of the conventional custom-design approach to keep the industry on the historic productivity curve.
According to the research report of the Construction Industry Institution (CII), the implementation of modularization for general industrial projects shows a significant improvement in the constructability and productivity. However, the particular nature of clean manufacturing facility projects makes the application of the modular design approach different from other general industrial projects.
The current study developed three types of standard facility design modules, a complete fab module, a tool-oriented module, and a process-oriented module, as potential design modules. Based on a survey conducted among the three major project players involved in semiconductor cleanroom projects, this research has identified that a modular approach is an attractive and possible approach to satisfy the semiconductor industry to design and build fabs in a better, faster, and more cost-effective way. According to the survey, a complete fab module and a tool-oriented module are the most feasible design modules that could be utilized in the modular design approach. Several basic factors of the evaluation and implementation of a modular design approach for semiconductor clean manufacturing facility projects are also presented.
