WSMC Places Follow-On Order With Asyst Technologies

Asyst Technologies, a supplier of manufacturing automation and Standard Mechanical InterFace (SMIF) isolation solutions to the semiconductor industry, has received a follow-on order from Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (WSMC) in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

The order, for multiple Asyst SMIF-LPT (Load Port Transfer) systems, brings the total orders Asyst has received from WSMC to $10 million within one year. Installation of the Asyst-SMIF systems has already begun.

The follow-on order from WSMC further extends Asyst's capabilities as a global SMIF provider and as the SMIF provider to the growing Taiwanese foundry market. According to members of the Taiwanese Semiconductor Industry Association (TSIA), there are plans to invest nearly $80 billion over the next decade in the Taiwan integrated circuit (IC) industry-- including foundries-- to expand manufacturing and invest in new technologies.

The Asyst LPT resolves the robotics-transfer (I/O) challenges specific to vacuum loadlock and cluster wafer process tools while improving manufacturing ergonomics and reducing cycle times by as much as 60 percent. The LPT meets all SEMI standards and guidelines and integrates SMIF-Pod cassette loading and unloading into 150 mm and 200 mm wafer processing equipment.

WSMC is an IC foundry provider focused on deep submicron technology. The company offers design, maskmaking, VLSI wafer manufacturing, wafer probing, and assembly and final test services. WSMC's 8-inch wafer Fab1 is a 0.35 micron to 0.18 micron wafer fab capable of making 30,000 wafers per month. Fab1 is geared toward producing logic, mixed-mode, SRAM, Flash, embedded Flash, and embedded DRAM.