Adopt Automation for Flexible and Future-Proof Semiconductor and Consumer Electronics Manufacturing

Across industries, the future of manufacturing lies in automation (Figure 1). With the right equipment in place designers can scale flexibly to address challenges such as supply chain logistics, labor shortages, staff turnover, retraining, safety, increased product demand, and continuous product design changes. At the same time, they can reduce manual processes, lower costs, and enhance productivity. All this can be accomplished without compromising quality. In fact, as manufacturers adopt automation systems, those systems become even more capable, flexible, and efficient, simplifying the iterative process of quality improvement.

Figure 1: Across industries such as semiconductors and consumer electronics, advances in automated and additive manufacturing are reshaping the future. (Image source: Getty Images)

While many companies and designers are already migrating to automation as they rethink their global manufacturing strategies, the rate of adoption varies. In many cases, it boils down to education and assistance in understanding what’s possible now.

Let’s take a look at how automation, robotics, and ready access to cutting-edge additive manufacturing techniques can benefit the semiconductor and consumer electronics industries. Along the way, we’ll look at some of the automation and control technologies already available to help you get started.

Automation in semiconductor manufacturing

The rigors of semiconductor manufacturing make it a challenging environment for workers, given the cleanroom dress code and protocols, and the lack of daylight to prevent wafer damage. At the same time, many processes in the semiconductor industry are already designed for maximum precision, so automation solutions are already in use. The combination of working conditions and precision manufacturing makes semiconductors a target-rich environment for further automation. Specific areas that offer opportunities for automation include:

Material handling: This is still being done by hand in many fabs. Since the chips must be handled with great care, manual transport holds certain risks, as even faint vibrations can lead to defects. This is where mobile robots and/or collaborative robots (cobots) can provide support. Cobots are industrial robots that are typically seen working side-by-side with workers in the production process with protective cages or other devices, ensuring worker safety. Cobots can also be mobile for transportation purposes.

Lighting: The need for artificial lighting in wafer fabs requires modern fab lighting systems with intelligent automated control.

Cooling: Automated cooling process control is increasingly important. This requires a close look at liquid level and flow control units.

Vision: Automation in many steps of production, from product handling to inspection, is not feasible without machine vision.

Robotics brings flexibility

Robotics is a way to automate or process a task, making industrial robots essential to modern manufacturing. They execute a vast array of functions like material handling, while also coordinating tasks with other forms of automation. A major advantage of robotics over fixed or "hard" automation is its flexibility. A robot can be assigned a new task in a relatively short time and at low cost. In contrast, with "hard" automation, even a small change to the product or process can be expensive and difficult to implement and may require worker retraining.

Robots and cobots from DigiKey can be configured to support various automation tasks in semiconductor and consumer electronics production. To get started, you’ll need a detailed specification of the semiconductor production tasks. Then, you need to determine a flexible, reprogrammable solution for those ever-changing task definitions as they are integrated into both new and legacy production lines.

To experiment with robotics, try the Ned cobot from Niryo (Figure 2). This is a six-axis cobot based on open-source technology that is specifically designed for education.

Figure 2: As with the adaptive gripper Ned robot from Niryo, robots provide flexibility in that they can be quickly reprogrammed for different tasks. (Image source: Niryo)

In robotics, an end effector, such as the Adaptive Gripper from Niryo (Figure 3), is the device at the end of a robotic arm that is designed to interact with the environment. The exact nature of this device depends on the application. In the strict definition, which originates from serial robotic manipulators, the end effector means the last link (or end) of the robot. The wide variety of end effectors makes it easy to find the right solution for a given application.

Figure 3: The Adaptive Gripper is the end effector for the Niryo gripper robot. (Image source: Niryo)

As you would expect, there is an abundance of robot accessories, from proximity switches to holders and joints.

Consumer electronics manufacturing

Consumer electronics manufacturing is becoming more complex as the size of components and circuits continue to shrink. High component density, small pitches, multiple layers, and small, delicate parts that require precise placement are just a few of the issues manufacturers encounter. Increasingly, the reconfigurability of robotic work cells is being relied upon to adapt in order to produce new consumer electronics offerings. Systems comparable to those used in semiconductor manufacturing are also used in consumer electronics manufacturing, including robots, cobots, and machine vision systems.

Additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing using 3D printers facilitates early-stage conceptualization and prototyping. It’s also useful when you urgently need parts, fixtures, tooling, and handling accessories. However, not everyone has a 3D printer and the associated materials. Instead, you can upload your 3D model, and Jabil will print it for you and ship it out within five business days.

Conclusion

Future-proof automated manufacturing production lines for semiconductor and consumer electronics have to be highly flexible to be used for more than one production generation and to handle increasingly complex and sophisticated components and circuits. By partnering with DigiKey, designers of leading-edge production lines can be assured of a comprehensive line of automation and control solutions to help meet their requirements.