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Using an optimized queueing network model to support wafer fab design

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IIE Transactions

Abstract

We develop an Optimized Queueing Network (OQNet) capacity planning tool for supporting the design of new and reconfigured semiconductor fabrication facilities that makes use of queueing network approximations and an optimization routine. The basic problem addressed by this tool is to minimize the facility cost required to meet specified volume and cycle time targets. Features common to semiconductor environments, such as batch processes, re-entrant flows, multiple product classes, and machine setups, are incorporated into the model. Comparisons with simulation show that the queueing and other approximations are reasonably accurate. Tests of the optimization routine demonstrate that it can find good solutions quickly.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Wallace J. Hopp

  2. Factory Physics, Inc., 5107 Laurel Valley Court, Suite 200, c[College Station, TX, 77845, USA

    Mark L. Spearman

  3. Graduate School of Business, The University of Chicago, 1101 East 58th Street, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Sergio Chayet

  4. Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, 321 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Karen L. Donohue

  5. Department of Industrial Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-5906, USA

    Esma S. Gel

Authors
  1. Wallace J. Hopp
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  2. Mark L. Spearman
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  3. Sergio Chayet
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  4. Karen L. Donohue
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  5. Esma S. Gel
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Hopp, W.J., Spearman, M.L., Chayet, S. et al. Using an optimized queueing network model to support wafer fab design. IIE Transactions 34, 119–130 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011987712718

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