A Centralized Approach to Factory Simulation

This paper describes the goals, practices, and methodologies of the Siemens Semiconductor Division's Factory Modeling and Simulation team. The team's charter is to implement performance modeling capability (simulation, capacity analysis, and cost analysis) at factories throughout the division, both wafer fabrication and back-end operations. Findings of recent modeling activities are discussed, along with applications of simulation and a hierarchical modeling approach. The authors wish to use articles such as th is to initiate discussions with other organizations using modeling techniques to analyze factory performance.