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Home > Semiconductor device fabrication

A wafer is made out of extremely purified silicon that is grown into mono-crystalline cylindrical ingots, using the Czochralski process. These ingots are then sliced into 0.5 mm thick wafers and polished to obtain a very regular and flat surface.

Once the wafers are prepared, a large number of process steps are necessary to produce the desired semiconductor integrated circuits. In general the steps can be grouped into four areas:

• Front End Processing
• Back End Processing
• Test
• Packaging.

Front End Processing refers to the most crucial steps in the fabrication. In this stage the actual semiconductor devices or transistors are created. A typical front end process includes the following: preparation of the wafer surface, patterning and subsequent implantation of dopants to obtain the desired electrical properties, growth or deposition of a gate dielectric, and growth or deposition of insulating materials to isolate neighboring devices.

Once the various semiconductor devices have been created they must be interconnected to form the desired electrical circuits. This "Back End Processing" involves depositing various layers of metal and insulating material in the desired pattern. Typically the metal layers consist of aluminium or more recently copper. The insulating material was traditionally a form of SiO₂ or a silicate glass, but recently new low-K materials are being used. The various metal layers are interconnected by etching holes, called "vias" in the insulating material and depositing tungsten in them.

Once the Back End Processing has been completed, the semiconductor devices are subjected to a variety of electrical tests to determine if they function properly.

Finally, the wafer is cut into individual die, which are then packaged in ceramic or plastic packages with pins or other connectors to the outside world.

• Wafer fabrication
  • Wet clean s
  • Photolithography
  • Ion implantation (in which dopantA dopant is an impurity that is added in small amounts to a pure substance to change its properties. Examples Boron, arsenic, and antimony, among other substances, are used as dopants when added to a pure semiconductor material to alter its electrical chas are embedded in the wafer creating regions of increased ( or decreased ) conductivity)
  • Dry Etching
  • Wet Etching
  • Plasma ashingIn semiconductor manufacturing plasma ashing is the process of removing the photoresist from an etched wafer. Using a plasma source, a monatomic reactive specie is generated. Oxygen or fluorine are the most common reactive specie. The reactive specie comb
  • Thermal treatments
    • Rapid thermal annealRapid thermal anneal (RTA) is a process used in semiconductor device fabrication which consist of heating a single wafer at a time in order to affect its electrical properties. Unique heat treatments are designed for different effects. Wafers can be heate
    • Furnace annealFurnace anneal is a process used in semiconductor device fabrication which consist of heating multiple semiconductor wafers in order to affect their electrical properties. Heat treatments are designed for different effects. Wafers can be heated in order ts
    • Oxidation
  • Chemical vapor depositionChemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) is a chemical process for depositing thin films of various materials. In a typical CVD process the substrate is exposed to one or more volatile precursors, which react and/or decompose on the substrate surface to produce th (CVD)
  • Physical vapor deposition(PVD)
  • Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)
  • Electroplating
  • Chemical mechanical polish (CMP)
  • Wafer testing (where the electrical performance is verified)
  • Wafer backgrinding (to reduce the thickness of the wafer so the resulting chip can be put into a thin device like a smartcard or PCMCIA card.)
• Die preparation
  • Wafer mounting
  • Die cutting
• IC packaging
  • Die attachment
  • IC Bonding
    • Wire bonding
    • Flip chip
    • Tab bonding
  • IC encapsulation
• IC testing

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Topics: Semiconductor Device Fabrication Wafer *** Processing Devices...

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