Semi Conscious
Photo gallery: Inside TI's RFAB
Dylan McGrath
7/1/2011 3:01 AM EDT
Representatives from Texas Instruments Inc. last week invited a few members of the media to Richardson, Texas, for a tour of RFAB—the semiconductor industry's first 300-mm analog fab and first LEED certified fab.
TI originally broke ground on the shell for RFAB in 2004. Work was completed by 2007, but the shell sat idle for more than two years until TI happened on a sweetheart of a deal—scooping up a boatload of 300-mm production equipment from bankrupt memory chip vendor Qimonda AG for the deeply discounted rate of $172.5 million.
According to Paul James Fego, vice president of worldwide manufacturing for TI's Technology and Manufacturing group, RFAB would have been a 200-mm analog fab—if not for the deal that was available on the Qimonda equipment. "We had the building built, we had an equipment opportunity," he said. "And we knew the breadth and the volume of our analog business could fill a 300-mm fab."
TI's 1.1-million square foot RFAB includes about 250,000 square feet of cleanroom space.
TI originally broke ground on the shell for RFAB in 2004. Work was completed by 2007, but the shell sat idle for more than two years until TI happened on a sweetheart of a deal—scooping up a boatload of 300-mm production equipment from bankrupt memory chip vendor Qimonda AG for the deeply discounted rate of $172.5 million.
According to Paul James Fego, vice president of worldwide manufacturing for TI's Technology and Manufacturing group, RFAB would have been a 200-mm analog fab—if not for the deal that was available on the Qimonda equipment. "We had the building built, we had an equipment opportunity," he said. "And we knew the breadth and the volume of our analog business could fill a 300-mm fab."
TI's 1.1-million square foot RFAB includes about 250,000 square feet of cleanroom space.
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dylan.mcgrath
7/1/2011 11:31 AM EDT
Here's a confession that is probably obvious given that TI is listed as the source of all photos: like every fab tour I've ever been on, taken photos or video while inside RFAB was strictly forbidden. These photos were supplied by TI. Obviously they don't want to give away too much about their operation (even though I think that the actual roster of equipment purchased from Qimonda is probably a matter of public record in the bankruptcy court). Anyway, RFAB had the biggest observation window of any fab I've ever been in, but even still I'm not photos I took (had I been allowed to take them) would reveal much more than what we see here.
It was pretty cool though. The first real modern state-of-the-art fab I've been in, and it was impressive.
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SudsSutherland
7/2/2011 1:08 AM EDT
Dylan,
We have to get you out more !
Cheers, Loren
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yalanand
7/5/2011 5:02 AM EDT
@dylan.mcgrath,
Thanks for the photos. Why can't you accompany some ee-time readers next time you go :). I am sure watching chip manufacturing unit will be unique experience for all of us.
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qerqwe
7/7/2011 6:40 PM EDT
MORE PICTURES PLEASE!
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dylan.mcgrath
7/11/2011 4:11 PM EDT
I wish we could get our hands on more pictures. Obviously fabs are kind of squeamish about photography of the operation, and I was pleasantly surprised that TI provided these few shots.
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przemek
7/1/2011 12:05 PM EDT
It's funny though that the equipment for this flagship, world-class semiconductor facility is second-hand. I think it's a sign of the times---the ultimate in green is recycling.
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dylan.mcgrath
7/1/2011 12:18 PM EDT
There is a thriving market in used semiconductor production equipment and I think you would find second-hand stuff in a lot of world class fabs. It makes a lot of sense to buy second hand tools if they are deemed sound. I'm not sure how much TI saved by buying the Qimonda equipment for $172 million, but I think it was very, very significant. What I found interesting is that even after getting the sweet deal on the Qimonda stuff, TI supplemented it with other equipment specific to the analog process, and even that stuff they bought second hand. The Value proposition was just too attractive to pass up.
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MClayton
7/1/2011 1:53 PM EDT
Then they picked up a second-hand chip company, National Semiconductor! Remember that National had picked up second-hand IP company Fairchild long ago (Fairchild was never a great manufacturing company at that time, but like TI had great IP for years like Jean Hoerni's Planar Process patent. Recycling is common in this industry.
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rick.merritt
7/1/2011 1:57 PM EDT
I guess President Obama will not be stopping here on his tour to tout manufacturing in America unless he wants to promote the idea of jobs for robots. Any idea how many people work here?
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joepaiii
7/1/2011 5:00 PM EDT
There were more than pictures with the article... actually over four paragraphs of text. Might help to actually read the article before spamming a political slant.
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dylan.mcgrath
7/1/2011 5:41 PM EDT
TI folks were kind of cagey about the number of employees. Initially they said they would hire 250 (in 2009). They are still hiring. All I could get the fab manager to say is that there are hundreds of people on site, including contractors and full time employees.
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BLinder
7/1/2011 6:15 PM EDT
Hats off to TI for their investment in the USA for a fab build-out. Their analog portfolio along with large format wafer site will for sure give them a competitive costing edge over the competition.... that is what business is all about!
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howardsaz3
7/3/2011 10:27 AM EDT
Yep those are all our tools.. T.I. would have saved a boat load of money just keeping them in virginia. They could have purchased the buildings and everything else for an additional 12 million. As far as cutting edge...no, those tools will only perform to about 35nm critical dimension without a signifcant upgrade to the steppers.. at 65 million each.
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GREAT-Terry
7/3/2011 9:29 PM EDT
TI has the ambition to be the leader in analog market. Yep it is already, but it seems they would like to expand even further! How terrible it is after it totally monopolize the market. Only-TI-analog era is coming!
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agk
7/4/2011 5:38 AM EDT
The clean room pictures are quite interesting to see.Are ceiling lights LED lights? Floor tiles are so good. The automatic conveyors looks charming.
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