Risk Production

Stages

8. Process Reliability Qualification^A
9. Risk Production (this stage)^O
10. High-Volume Manufacturing^DA

Business and customers milestones

• First customer tape-outs (FT)
• Risk production start (RP)
• Production PDK release (PR)

Technology milestones

• Technology qualified (TQ) (technical readiness review TR3)
• Volume production release (HVM)
• Ramp complete (RC)

Disciplines

• Technology business and roadmap^A
  • Process Reliability Qualification: maturity v0.9, Pre-production kit. Customer agreements and risk production terms negotiated as product designs start on the pre-production kit.
  • Risk Production: maturity v1.0, Production kit. Risk production agreements signed and the capacity commitment set as the production kit is released.
  • High-Volume Manufacturing: maturity HVM, In volume production. Node in volume production: its roadmap position and refresh reviewed, then discontinuance and last-time buys planned and announced.
• Device engineering and modelling^A
  • Process Reliability Qualification: maturity v0.9, Pre-production kit. Models extracted across corners and statistics and correlated to test chip silicon for the pre-production kit.
  • Risk Production: maturity v1.0, Production kit. Models released with the production kit and correlated to risk production silicon.
• Process module engineering^A
  • Process Reliability Qualification: maturity v0.9, Pre-production kit. Modules supporting test chip, customer and qualification lots, with fixes going through baseline change control.
  • Risk Production: maturity v1.0, Production kit. Production recipes prepared for volume while risk production runs.
  • High-Volume Manufacturing: maturity HVM, In volume production. Production recipes released for volume and modules improved under change control.
• Process integration^A
  • Process Reliability Qualification: maturity v0.9, Pre-production kit. Integration issues closed and the process baseline released at technology qualification.
• Test chips and electrical test^A
  • Process Reliability Qualification: maturity v0.9, Pre-production kit. Test chip results final and test structures monitored on customer and qualification lots.
  • Risk Production: maturity v1.0, Production kit. Parametric data final on risk production lots and monitoring handed to the production line.
• Yield, defects and process control^D
  • Process Reliability Qualification: maturity v0.9, Pre-production kit. Defect density and yield model confirmed at yield readiness and tracked through qualification.
  • Risk Production: maturity v1.0, Production kit. Ramp yield and process control run on risk production lots.
  • High-Volume Manufacturing: maturity HVM, In volume production. Process control plan released for volume, with yield reports and improvement plans under change control.^DA
• Process reliability and quality^A
  • Process Reliability Qualification: maturity v0.9, Pre-production kit. Technology qualification run and passed, with reliability design rules handed to the kit.^A; Qualification pass
  • Risk Production: maturity v1.0, Production kit. Qualification report approved and the reliability monitor plan prepared for volume.
  • High-Volume Manufacturing: maturity HVM, In volume production. Reliability monitored in volume and every process change qualified and notified.
• PDK development and release^A
  • Process Reliability Qualification: maturity v0.9, Pre-production kit. Pre-production kit released with final rules and decks for product designs at an agreed risk.
  • Risk Production: maturity v1.0, Production kit. Production kit released on qualified models and rules for production tape-outs.; Production kit under change control
  • High-Volume Manufacturing: maturity HVM, In volume production. Kit updates released under change control as process changes are notified.
• Foundation IP and libraries^O
  • Process Reliability Qualification: maturity v0.9, Pre-production kit. Libraries final on the pre-production kit and validated on first customer silicon.
  • Risk Production: maturity v1.0, Production kit. Libraries released with the production kit and validated on silicon.
• Customer design enablement and ecosystem^A
  • Process Reliability Qualification: maturity v0.9, Pre-production kit. Reference flow and shuttle schedule out, first customer tape-outs taken in and their product qualification planned.
  • Risk Production: maturity v1.0, Production kit. Customer designs supported on the production kit through risk production.
  • High-Volume Manufacturing: maturity HVM, In volume production. Production design support closed out at the volume release, with the support log final.
• Manufacturing operations and capacity^O
  • Process Reliability Qualification: maturity v0.9, Pre-production kit. Fab readiness prepared alongside qualification and the capacity plan updated.
  • Risk Production: maturity v1.0, Production kit. Risk production run and its data handed to the production kit.
  • High-Volume Manufacturing: maturity HVM, In volume production. Volume ramp and output reporting, then the final wafer starts and the process archive at end of life.^DA
• Equipment and materials supply^A
  • Process Reliability Qualification: maturity v0.9, Pre-production kit. Tools and materials qualified for production alongside technology qualification.
  • Risk Production: maturity v1.0, Production kit. Tool set and materials qualified for risk production.
  • High-Volume Manufacturing: maturity HVM, In volume production. Production tool set and materials under change control, and end-of-life supply planned when the node is discontinued.