| 摘要 |
Operator-related contamination in a semiconductor manufacturing plant is reduced by eliminating operator presence in most of the processing areas of a semiconductor manufacturing plant. To facilitate the reduction of operator presence, the fabrication facility is divided into two physically separate areas. Operators are present in an inspection and testing area within the fabrication facility, and the processing equipment which is best used manually is located within this area. Processing equipment which does not require manual operation or monitoring and which performs particularly sensitive processing operations is located in one or more processing areas physically separated from the areas in which operators are present. Semiconductor wafer transport, processing and process monitoring within the processing areas is completely automated. Reduced volumes can be obtained for these processing chambers, allowing higher levels of cleanliness to be obtained in the sensitive processing areas. Preferably, semiconductor wafers undergoing processing are passed between the operator area and the processing areas through chambers which act as buffers between the relatively cleaner processing environment and the relatively more contaminated operator environment. The buffers may have dedicated air filtration and circulation or other means for limiting the passage of contaminants from the operator area to the processing areas.
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