On July 1st, Toshiba Corporation's Semiconductor Company and Storage Products Company consolidated to form Semiconductor & Storage Products Company.This page describes reliability information of semiconductor products.

Organization and Procedural Flow

[As of April, 2011]

Figure 1 shows an organization chart and Figure 2 shows a procedural flow for the quality assurance activities of Toshiba that are related to semiconductor products.
Figure 1 shows how each manufacturing department tries to maintain and improve the process quality of the manufacturing division, as stated in the Toshiba motto “Build quality into the process.” For all products that have been placed under its control by the engineering department, Operations Quality Assurance Department is responsible for assuring the quality of incoming parts and materials, assuring the quality of the manufacturing processes, assuring quality and reliability at the time of shipment, providing quality services after shipment, and managing the measurement instruments that are used in the factory, and holds operations quality assurance meetings chaired by the operations general manager, making every effort to improve product quality and reliability.
Within each division, the Reliability Technology Department is responsible for all planning related to the quality and reliability of semiconductor products manufactured by the division; testing and evaluation of the reliability of products developed in cooperation with engineering departments; assuring the quality of newly distributed products; organizing quality and reliability materials; preparing specifications for customers; providing quality assurance agreements and quality services; and promoting the training and discipline relevant to quality and reliability. In addition, the President also holds a Semiconductor Company quality assurance conference attended by division managers and technology executives in a continuous effort to maintain and improve semiconductor quality and reliability at all levels.

Figure 1 Semiconductor Product Quality Assurance System Organization

As shown in Figure 2, Toshiba makes every effort to understand customer needs and incorporate into product design the quality and reliability required by the conditions under which the products will be used by customers. In the design review (DR) phase, the products are checked by each department, paying due attention to factors such as product safety and product liability.
For products under development, Toshiba conducts a quality and reliability evaluation based on Toshiba reliability test standards compliant with standards such as JIS, JEITA, IEC, ANSI and JEDEC, and conducts a Design Assurance Test (DAT).
If a product passes the Design Assurance Test (DAT), the Engineering Department standardizes the parts and materials as well as the process and inspection plans. In addition, detailed operations standards regarding the work to be performed are developed in the operations where the products are to be made in mass production. A Quality Approval Test (QAT) is then conducted to evaluate the quality and reliability of sample products manufactured based on these standards. If the product quality and reliability are approved, the operations will be put in charge of quality assurance for the actual production process.
During mass production, the Manufacturing Department carries out process, environment and facility management, and the Reliability Engineering Department carries out acceptance inspections, change control, measurement control, regular reliability confirmation and process audits. Departments such as the Manufacturing Engineering and Production Engineering Departments also join in problem solving and in improvement and automation of manufacturing processes.
If any modification is made on products after produced in volume, A Production Approval Test (PAT) is conducted and the result is returned to the manufacturing process.
In addition, new operators, supervisors and engineers continually get education and training in quality and reliability.
At the time of shipment, Toshiba products undergo initial quality inspection as well as reliability testing and monitoring by the Quality Assurance Department. Furthermore, in customer related quality services such as the development of specifications, the holding of quality and reliability meetings, and the investigation and reporting of complaints and related products, Toshiba continually strives to satisfy its customers based on the motto of "Quick Action."

DR; Design Review, DAT; Design Approval Test, QAT; Quality Approval Test, CS; Check Sheet
PAT; Production Approval Test

Figure 2 Semiconductor Product Quality Assurance Procedural Flow

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