Tokyo--Toshiba Corporation today announced a major investment in new facilities at its Oita Operations semiconductor production plant that will see construction of a new annex building and expanded wafer fabrication lines. In a 30-billion yen investment in fiscal year 2000, the company will construct a new clean room --the Annex-- that will allow Oita to significantly expand the production capacity of leading-edge system LSIs that features a lithography level of 0.18 micron or finer. While further investment programs are undetermined, the cumulative investment in the new facilities and equipment is expected to exceed 100 billion yen in the future.

The Annex will be constructed adjacent to Building No.150, a facility currently devoted to production of high-end system LSIs. The present building currently houses wafer personalization and wafer diffusion process in the same facility. Once the Annex is completed, it will become home to a larger personalization line, and the diffusion process line will be enlarged on the present site, moves that will secure Toshiba sufficient production capacity for introduction of advanced process technology and increased output of advanced system LSI.

The Annex will have a key role in taking mass production of advanced system LSI by 0.18μm and beyond, and raising the share of such devices to approximately 40 percent of Toshiba's total system LSI output in 2002. This will support a forecast increase in system LSI annual sales from around 400 billion yen in 1999 to some 700 billion yen in 2002.

Construction of the Annex will start in July 2000 and it will start operation in April 2001. Once on line, it will raise monthly wafer capacity from 12,500 8-inch wafers to 17,500 wafers. Eventually, the total capacity of the Annex, when fully loaded, may reach 35,000 wafers a month.

Supporting Advanced LSI

With the investment program, Toshiba will achieve a new facility dedicated to personalized wafer process and secure production capacity to meet rapidly growing demand for the highly integrated system LSI required for such applications as MPEG-4, Bluetooth, DVD-ROM drives, and for mobile products and digital home appliances.

Personalized Wafer Process Technology

Personalized wafer process technology supports complex system LSIs, with the several layers connected by metal wire. This design enhances device integration and operating speeds and performance, and supports the increased functionality and performance levels required in today's electronic products. Toshiba's investment secures capacity and technological capabilities in mobile devices and digital consumer electronics products market segment seeing rapid advances in levels of integration and market demand.

Special Features of the Annex

• The ballroom structure for the clean room realizes the most efficient alignment of processes, improvement of space efficiency by 30% and huge reduction in turn-around time.
• The Standard Integrated Mechanical Interface system (SMIF) transports wafers between processes in a cassette tray, enhancing protection from dust particles. Each tray is itself the equivalent of a class-1 clean room in terms of cleanliness, and as a result, a class-10000 clean room offers sufficient dust control and achieves significant savings in air-conditioning costs.

  *Class-1 ---	one particle of dust with a diameter of 0.03μm or more in one cubic foot of air.
  *Class-10000 ---	10000 particles of dust with a diameter of 0.1μm or more in one cubic foot of air.

Outline of Oita Operations

• Site Area: approximately 275,000 square meter
• Employees: approximately 3,600
• Products: Integrated circuits