At 2:47 a.m. on March 19,　a fire broke out from an ignition process at the plating apparatus on the ground floor of Renesas Electronics Naka Factory N3 Building (300mm), and it was extinguished at about 8:12 a.m. on 20th. There was no human casualties, but it caused a great deal of damages in the production facilities and gas-related equipment.
The plating apparatus of ignition source and casing are said to be less resistant comparatively against heat causing over current, but any detail of the cause and the process to break out fire is still under investigation.
In the fire, a clean room of 600 square meter (5% of 1,2000 sq.mt out of N3 clean room) disappeared with the damages of 23 facilities including the burnout of 11 apparatuses and 12 relative equipment affected. Some other facilities like the pure water device and air conditioning units were also damaged.
Renesas anticipates a possibility of delay to restart operations because of the expected delay in part of the procurement of equipment although the company scheduled the recovery of clean room in the middle of April. Generally it is presumed to take three or four months for restarting operation.
The fire also affected the gas supply system and materials. Such facilities as pipes, valves, gas detecting alarms or gas boxes for equipment were affected with a direct exposure to the fire.
Furthermore, in connection with the removal from the burnt equipment the pipes supplying each gas of nitrogen, hydrogen, forming gas (a mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen) and CO2, dangerous works must be implemented such as the removal work and degassing of the residual specialty gases in the chamber or cylinder cabinet.
As for the procurement and scheduling of the equipment and materials for replacement, elaborate arrangements and checking are required. However, the current operation rate of the semiconductor-related manufacturers of gas supply equipment and materials is so high that the situation is not so easy to respond to the emergency caused by the fire.
Even if the procurement of equipment and materials is completed, arrangements for recovery will start at that moment. Due to the shorthanded situation it is unknown whether the gas-related work will be quickly proceeded. Some gas companies are so pessimistic to say, “The damage may be much more serious than that experienced at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake.” Although the fire broke out only at the first floor of N3 Wing, the floor functions as a production line for the automobile industry. So, it is feared that the influence may spread and accelerate the global shortage of semiconductors for the automobile production.
On October 20 last year, a fire broke out in the semiconductor plant (Prod. Center 2nd Dept.) of Asahi Kasei Electronics (Nobeoka City, Miyazaki). The production line was burnt out and discontinued the production of millimeter wave sensor and so on. Therefore, automobile manufacturers asked Renesas and Fuji Electric for the production of millimeter wave sensors, and they have been just making arrangements for their production system.
It is not known to what extent the fire affects Renesas’ alternative production system, but it is bound to exert great influences upon automobile manufacturers which would be forced to make underproduction. However, should it keep the automobile industry from the recovering trend, influences to the gas and related business market will be immeasurable.
In the midst of the coronavirus crisis it is worried that there have been some fire accidents in succession concerning semiconductor plants and specialty gaw since last September. Should the accidents be attributed to negligence of investment to safety and security including a personnel matter, the anxiety of influence may spread more also to the fields other than semiconductor.