In this paper, an inherent saturation of the fuzzy proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller is revealed due to the finite fuzzy rules used. An equivalent structure and model of the fuzzy rule base is derived to show a saturation property. The bandwidth of the fuzzy PID control system can be adjusted by changing saturation parameter. Parameters of the fuzzy PID controller can be designed based on the inherent saturation. Compared with the conventional PID controller, the fuzzy PID controller has two advantages because of the inherent saturation: (1) without the additional filter, it can prevent impulse signal effectively; (2) without the additional anti-windup structure, a robust performance can be maintained when the input saturation occurs. The fuzzy PID controller is applied to an integrated circuit curing process. The simulation and experiment results demonstrate these effects of the inherent saturation, and its influence to the robustness of fuzzy PID controller. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.