TI貌似还是要建新fab了

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http://www.eetimes.com/news/late ... articleID=220300408

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Analysis: TI fab ramp puts analog rivals on notice

(09/29/2009 9:09 PM EDT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Having finally announced its intent for a 300-mm fab in the United States, Texas Instruments Inc. is putting its analog rivals on notice.
TI's long-awaited move to announce the industry's first dedicated 300-mm analog fab on Tuesday (Sept. 29) is aimed to jump-start and extend its leadership position in analog share. Eventually, the company could also put pressure on its rivals with the new fab, especially in the power MOSFET arena, where it competes against Fairchild, IR, On Semiconductor and others, according to an analyst.

As reported, TI (Dallas) plans to open a 300-mm analog semiconductor fab in Richardson, Texas, the company said Tuesday. At the same time, the company also outlined its roadmap for mainstream analog processes and tipped a new 130-nm technology based on copper interconnects.

On the fab front, TI's new analog facility, dubbed RFAB, will be the first analog chip fab to use 300-mm wafers. TI has already moved to equip the fab by buying $172.5 million worth of chip production equipment from Qimonda AG's fab in Sandston, Va.

In effect, TI bought the entire 300-mm fab tool-set from Qimonda -- at a huge and stunning discount. Under the terms with Qimonda, TI bought 330 fab tools from the DRAM maker. The deal included i-line and 248-nm scanners from ASML Holding NV and Nikon Corp. To ramp up RFAB, TI will need to buy only 6 more tools, including epitaxial reactors and furnaces.

TI plans to move this equipment from Virginia to the Richardson fab. The company expects to begin equipping the facility next month and ship the first chips from the fab by the end of next year.

Initially, RFAB will produce chips based on TI's LBC7 process, its mainstream, workhorse analog technology. The 0.25-micron process is a high-power, BiCMOS technology.

Chips based on the LBC7 process account for 40 percent of TI's analog output. Over time, the fab will make chips based on TI's future analog processes, such as the yet-to-be-announced LBC8 (0.18-micron technology) and LBC9 (130-nm).

RFAB enables TI to expand its worldwide analog capacity and bring ''us cost scaling,'' said Kevin Ritchie, senior vice president of the Technology and Manufacturing Group at TI.

The fab will give TI a leg up on its rivals. In fact, the company's analog competitors have not announced a new fab in several years. Most analog fabs produce 8-inch wafers and below, it was noted. In contrast, "TI is the only vendor that can bring 300-mm to analog,'' said Doug Freedman, an analyst with Broadpoint AmTech.

Initially, a 300-mm analog fab could be advantageous--and could the lower the cost--for ''large-die'' products like MOSFETs, Freedman said. Earlier this year, TI acquired Ciclon Semiconductor Device Corp., a supplier of power MOSFETS and RF-based LDMOS power transistors.

''The MOSFET makers might have the most to worry about'' with TI's 300-mm fab announcement, he said. Leading power MOSFET suppliers include Diodes, Fairchild, International Rectifier, Ixys, On Semiconductor, Vishay and others, he said.

One of the challenges for TI is clear: photomask costs. A 300-mm mask-set is more expensive than 200-mm (and below) reticles, he said. To get a return for a 300-mm mask-set in analog will be challening at best.

Overall, TI remained the No. 1 analog chip vendor in 2008, despite seeing its market share decline to 14.1 percent from 14.4 percent, according to Databeans Inc. The No. 2 analog player, Europe's STMicroelectronics Inc., grew its analog business 1 percent from $3.8 billion in 2007 to $3.9 billion in 2008, thanks largely to the weakening of the dollar and consolidation of the ST and NXP wireless businesses, Databeans said.

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The roadmap

To boost its share, TI hopes to ramp RFAB by next year. The Richardson fab has been on TI's drawing board for some time. TI originally broke ground on the 1.1-million-square-foot facility in 2004. The fab was originally targeted for leading-edge logic production, but TI switched gears and moved towards a ''hybrid'' outsourcing strategy.
Some of TI's digital chip production is done in-house. But for the most part, TI's leading-edge digital production is handled by the silicon foundries, as part of an outsourcing strategy announced several years ago.

At the 45-nm node, the company's digital devices are made by its three primary foundry partners: Chartered, TSMC and UMC. At 28-nm, TI's foundry partners will include the same vendors: Chartered, TSMC and UMC, Ritchie said.

In contrast to digital, TI develops its analog processes in-house. And it also produces the bulk of its analog chips within its own fabs. In fact, many analog integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) prefer to manufacturer their products in-house, because these processes are largely proprietary in nature and difficult to outsource.

In any case, TI's recent outsourcing or ''hybrid'' strategy raised questions about the RFAB, which remained empty for some time. In recent times, TI dropped hints that it would turn RFAB into an analog fab, but there were no announcements, that is, until now.

There were also ongoing rumors that TI would sell RFAB. Over the years, IM Flash (Intel-Micron flash venture), Samsung and others were reportedly looking at buying RFAB. TI was approached by chip makers to sell the fab, but TI itself never intended to sell RFAB, Ritchie said.

This week, TI decided to announce its intent for RFAB--by turning the plant into an in-house, analog fab. There were two factors in the sudden announcement. First, it became apparent that the IC downturn is largely over and the analog market is looking up, he said. Second, TI was able to secure cheap 300-mm gear to equip RFAB.

Asked if TI did not secure the 300-mm gear, Ritchie said the company would have eventually opened RFAB as an analog fab -- with 200-mm wafer capabilities instead of 300-mm.

As a 300-mm plant, RFAB will give TI a strategic advantage in high-volume production. The 300-mm fab more than doubles the number of die on the more commonly used and smaller 200-mm wafer plants.

Initially, RFAB will be used for ''delta capacity,'' Ritchie said. TI plans to ship the first chips from this facility by the end of 2010. When the first phase of equipment is ramped and producing at full capacity, the facility will be capable of shipping more than $1 billion worth of analog chips per year. Hiring will begin immediately for 250 jobs in RFAB.

RFAB will produce chips based on LBC7, a high-power BiCMOS process. TI also claims to have 40 other processes in analog. At present, TI has two fabs making chips based on LBC7: DMOS5 and Miho, Japan. DMOS5 is an 8-inch fab located in Dallas. Miho is an 8-inch fab.

TI is in the qualification stage for the next process, dubbed LBC8, a 0.18-micron technology. Chips based on LBC8 will be made in DMOS5 and RFAB.

The company is also quietly developing LBC9, a 130-nm process based on copper. LBC7 and LBC8 are based on aluminum interconnects. Chips based on LBC9 will be made in DMOS6 in Dallas and RFAB.

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The analog (fab) wonders

In addition to RFAB, TI now has following analog fabs:
*SFAB--Located in Sherman, Texas, the fab is a 6-inch plant. It makes 2- to 1-micron products.
*HFAB--Located in Houston, Texas, the fab is a 6-inch plant. It makes 1.5- to 0.72-micron products.
*DFAB--Located in Dallas, the fab is a 6-/8-inch plant. It makes 1- to 0.5-micron products.
* Freising, Germany--The fab is an 8-inch plant. It makes 1- to 0.18-micron products.
*Miho--Located in Japan, the fab is an 8-inch plant. It makes 0.35- to 0.25-micron products.
*Hiji--Located in Japan, the fab is an 6-inch plant. It makes 1.5- to 1.3-micron products.
*DMOS5--Located in Dallas, the analog fab is an 8-in plant.
*DMOS6--Located in Dallas, this is a 300-mm digital fab that supports 130- to 65-nm designs. It is targeted to run LBC9.

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Texas rocks