The mission of Selete is to develop process technologies and semiconductor devices that can be produced at reasonable cost. It also promotes the development of production equipment and materials for device manufacturers.

He placed its formation in the context of other industry consortia in the semiconductor industry. The first was the “very famous” Association of VLSI Technologies Development, which functioned from 1976 to 1980. During the 1980s there was virtually no collaboration among industries, but in the 1990s activity accelerated rapidly. In 1994 SIRIJ (Semiconductor Industry Research Institute of Japan), the think tank for the semiconductor industry in Japan, was formed. In 1995 came STARC, a university-industry collaboration. In 1996 came the formation of Selete, ASET, and VDEC, or Chip Implementation of Systems Designed by Universities. They were followed quickly in 1998 by VSAC, Support of System LSI Development, and STRJ, and the Semiconductor Technology Roadmap Committee.

Based on the proposals of SIRIJ, Selete was established as a program with three objectives: The first was to promote and evaluate technologies, especially manufacturing equipment and materials for 300-mm wafers. The second was to develop advanced technologies, such as lithography and mask programs and technology CAD. The third was to carry out special projects, such as reduction of Per Fluoro Compounds (PFC) emissions. Regarding the first objective, in Phase 1, from 1996 to 2000, it worked on up to 180-nm technology and in Phase 2, from 2000 to 2001, up to 130-nm technology materials. Metrics were set up to be as specific as possible. The first year was devoted to process performance, the second year to productivity performance, and the third year to service performance. Selete also worked with suppliers to encourage development from the supplier side.

Selete worked in collaboration with the tool suppliers. In this work Selete’s first responsibility was to set up tool performance metrics, including performance metrics for process, reliability, and productivity. Its second responsibility was tool evaluation through a module process and data feedback. Its third responsibility was to supply processed wafers to tool suppliers.

Next, Dr. Morino discussed fabrication productivity improvement. Phase 1 included equipment or automatic material handling systems, communications, and control between the various production tools. In the first phase, 193-nm li-