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FOA Surveys & Benchmarks

FOA Survey

FOA runs 30-40 focused surveys through the year, put together by individuals with several years of experience in areas like equipment engineering, process technology, maintenance management, HR, Industrial engineering, operational technology. The surveys are distributed to Device Maker members and results are only shared with participants.

Apart from the surveys, FOA facilitates benchmarks as well.

  • Light Ion Irradiation Survey
  • Inking Strategy
  • Cyber Security Survey
  • Emergency Response Team (ERT) Compensation
  • Spare Parts Inventory Turns
  • Technician Training
  • Monitoring for Mobile Ion Contamination
  • Solvent Spray Tools (Equipment)
  • Manufacturing Execution System (MES)
  • Drug screen response
  • FOA FabMAX Benchmark - This fab operations benchmarking survey covers over 200 metrics in fab operations.
  • HR metrics survey - covers several areas as compensation, talent development, training, benefits.
  • Reliability metrics survey: Participants provide their input for their fab’s efforts in driving towards zero defects. Key topics include quality systems, wafer inspection, failure analysis, standards used for audits.
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FOA Survey

Process

  • Focused surveys are often requested by specific DMs. The requestor puts together survey questions and a set of answers and shares with the  FOA staff, who then enter the survey into Surveymonkey and distribute it to members.
  • The distribution list is determined by the focus area of the survey and depending on the topic, the survey is often hosted by an FOA study group.
  • Putting the larger benchmarks together involves collaboration between members from several Device Makers. Often times the benchmarks are handled by an FOA study group where each member contributes Q&A sets on a focused area. If the topic does not align with an existing study group, a SMART team is brought together for the purpose of the survey.

 

“We get a lot of value from the FOA, and especially the surveys. Every year we find a golden nugget that guides us into an area where we want to deep dive into such as cycle time, cost and productivity. The results help us assess how we compare to fabs like our own in the device maker community. We use it internally to talk about where we want to focus our money and time.”
GF2
Dale Miller
Location Executive & Sr. Director, Fab 9 GLOBALFOUNDRIES

FOA FabMAX Benchmark

FOA FABMAX

A Vital Tool for FOA Fab Managers

The FOA Fab MAX Benchmark is a comprehensive benchmark especially designed for semiconductor manufacturing, covering over 200 metrics in fab operations. Device Maker members across the globe, who are part of the FOA  look forward to participating in this annual benchmark.

This annual benchmark covers fabs from multiple technologies, wafer sizes and geographies - Americas, Japan, and Europe.

  • General - Location, Area, Tool Count, Automation
  • Production - Fab Utilization, Shipments, Photo Alignments, WIP
  • Cycle Time - Lot Cycle Time, Theoretical CT, Delivery Compliance, Raw Wafers Lead Time
  • Technology - Technologies, Routes, Photo Layers, Metal Layers, Process Steps
  • Staffing - Engineering, Maintenance, Production, Support
  • Yield - Line Yield, Scrap, Misprocess, SPC Control
  • Cost - Wafer Cost, Cost per Layer, Resist Cost
  • Tool Performance - Tool Availability, Tool Utilization, Top Constraints
  • Materials for Management Meetings
  • Savings of $100k+ in some cases
  • “Deep Dives” on root cause analysis and improvements – e.g. cycle-time reduction, cycle time and on-time delivery variability.
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FOA FABMAX

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How can we participate in the  FOA FabMAX benchmark?

A: The distribution list for this benchmark includes primary contacts at Device Maker members and participants on the Industrial engineering team. Typically either member from these distribution lists co-ordinates completion of the survey within the fab since several metrics are covered and there could be specific subject matter experts responsible for filling particular parts of the benchmark. If you wish to be added to this specific benchmark, please let the FOA staff know so they can add you to the distribution list.

 

Q: How do we ensure that our data is not shared with other fabs for the FOA FabMAX benchmark in particular?

A: Each participating fab is identified by a unique alphanumeric identifier. For eg. If 25 fabs participate, fab names are replaced by codes, fab01, fab02…fab25. When results are shared with a participating fab, the fab only knows its own identifier, no information is shared about other identifiers and which fab the other identifier represents.

 

Q: How do we participate in FOA’s surveys?

A: Surveys are typically hosted by an FOA study team and the members of the team are included in the distribution list. In cases where a particular DM is not part of a study team, primary contact at that DM is added to the distribution list, so he or she can forward it to the appropriate individual. If you wish to be added to the list for surveys, please let the FOA staff know so they can add you to the distribution list.

 

Q: How are results shared?

A: FOA operates on a give to get model, hence results are shared only with those who participate in the survey.