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What makes APM different?
Over the years, it has become standard practice to automate the way materials moved within a fab. The technology is impressive, but it's only half the equation. It's far more difficult to automate the way decisions are made within the fab — literally, teaching the fab to think for itself. At AMD, we believe this approach is well worth the effort, paying off for our customers in hundreds of ways. APM (Automated Precision Manufacturing) has enabled automated decision-making in our fabs at a level that's setting new precedents for the industry.
As wafers travel throughout the fab on their way to becoming product, they pass through a series of tools. Each tool processes the wafers according to a master recipe, developed initially by the process-technology teams. What makes APM so unique is that any tool can alter the recipe used for each set of wafers it encounters, based upon information it receives from other tools in the fab. Through these tiny — but critical — recipe changes, the APM decision-making software is designed to simultaneously maximize yield for each wafer, plus optimize performance for the resulting products. This process also reduces waste in the fab and lowers costs.
The most marked differences between AMD's strategy and traditional approaches becomes apparent when you consider the intelligence built into APM's three core automation systems: Integrated Production Scheduling, Advanced Process Control, and Yield Management Systems.
Integrated Production Scheduling
Efficient Material Movement
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Advanced logistics and dispatching technology control the flow of materials throughout the fab, using logic-based decision-making and precision tracking. Dynamic, real-time dispatch enables material and product flow to be modulated according to current customer needs or in response to any issues that arise within the fab. And in AMD's next-generation fabs, APM will be able to anticipate problems and opportunities and adjust production proactively. For our customers, Integrated Production Scheduling helps ensure maximum productivity and cost savings that can be passed on in the form of competitive price points.
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Rapid Product Performance Improvement
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Using innovative software and an automated methodology, our advanced process control helps ensure that each tool in the fab is performing optimally at any given time. Currently, APM allows for control, fault detection, and diagnostics on a wafer-by-wafer basis. In the future, we plan to narrow that focus down to the die level — automatically pinpointing tiny areas on a wafer that could potentially reduce product performance, then adjusting tools throughout the fab to help keep that from happening.
Advanced process control also enables AMD to integrate transistor-level performance improvements into the fab recipes approximately once per quarter to continually optimize transistor performance, without slowing production. This means we can improve the performance of our products — and get those improvements to customers — as rapidly as possible.
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Minimization of Defective Die
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Tracking and problem-solving technology is used to identify potential variations or defects on each wafer. Intelligent decision-making software then advises operations of recommended changes to tool operation throughout the fab accordingly to minimize defective dies and increase the number of quality yields. This helps ensure performance for our customers, while reducing costs.
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