Infineon Austria Receives the Industrial Excellence Award Austria

Infineon Austria has been awarded the Austrian Industrial Excellence Award by WU Vienna for product innovation, testing, and launch successes; the virtual factory concept; sustainability impact, and the relentless drive for zero defects using AI, process automation, and continuous improvement practices.

The Villach plant of Infineon Austria has recently launched the 300-mm thin-wafer technology, developed silicon-carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) wafers for energy efficiency, and focuses on new wafers for quantum computing. Investing regularly in an own accelerator has proven effective, as, for example, MEMS microphones moved from zero to becoming the global market leader in 2023.

Innovations by Infineon Austria have an energy savings impact ratio of 1 to 30 meaning that a reduction in energy input required by INFINEON devices allows the user/customer to harness (on average) a 30-fold benefit, thus, leading to decarbonization through digitalization (e.g. server farms).

The Next Level of Zero Defects initiative has resulted in a 0 PPB (defects measured in parts per billion) performance. Process automation, the use of Artificial Intelligence, and a continuous improvement/Lean Six Sigma-culture have contributed to this success. In parallel, a classical, i.e., hierarchical, project organization is replaced by a technology and a process innovation organization that operates in Scrum mode. This helps Infineon to master the next wafer technology, and tool base platform faster than the competition.

The “virtual factory” concept promises customers that, independent of the selected manufacturing location, products are produced on identical machines, using the same process, and using the same raw materials. This achieves global manufacturing competitiveness. Having R&D facilities and manufacturing co-located makes the Villach plant a strategic asset within Infineon's global manufacturing network.

Quality, productivity, and speed are the main pillars of Infineon Austria's production system, supporting Operational and Innovation Excellence. Detection management has been perfected by continuously monitoring materials, clean room facilities, process and equipment, and the product. Staistical process control and control plans (i.e., how to react when parameters are out of the specification limits) build the foundation of INFINEON’s manufacturing excellence.