Transistors at Work

What a transistor is
How it works
How it’s put together
Special Thanks to Elena Sipe, Patrick Kimball, and Steve Behbahany

Image courtesy http://www.yuanlei.com/hardware/specs1/i850e_chips.jpg

 What is a Transistor?
 The main components of microprocessors.
 Microprocessors are vital to many of the
products we use in every day life:
Televisions Radios
Cars home appliances
computers

http://vista.pca.org/yos/Porsche-911-Turbo.jpg

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/ MOSFET Transistor, courtesy of

mobilephones/overview/x1?cc=us&lc=en http://info.tuwien.ac.at/theochem/si-srtio3_interface/mosfet.jpg
How does it work?
 Transistors are miniature
electronic switches.
 Transistors have two
operating positions
On
Off
 Binary functionality of
transistors enables the
processing of information in a
computer or other system.
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Conductors, Insulators, and Semi-
conductors
 Conductors - allow
electrical current to flow
 Insulators - do not allow
electrical current to flow
 Pure silicon, the base
material of most
transistors, is a
Semiconductor - its
conductivity can be
modulated by the
introduction of impurities.
http://intel.com/education/transworks/flat5.htm

http://www.intel.com/education/transworks/flat5.htm
The On/Off States of a Transistor

 Step A
Transistors consist of
three terminals:
 Source
 Gate
 Drain.
http://intel.com/education/transworks/flat7.htm

http://www.intel.com/education/transworks/flat7.htm
 Step B
 n-type transistor - source and drain
are negatively charged and sit on a
positively charged well of p-silicon.
http://intel.com/education/transworks/flat7.htm

 A very small quantity of boron or

gallium, which have one less
valence electron than silicon, is
implanted into the silicon base
(creating p-type silicon).

 A trace amount of
phosphorous or
arsenic, which
contain one more
valence electron than
silicon, is implanted
in the source and
drain areas (creating
n-type silicon).
http://www.intel.com/education/transworks/flat7.htm

Periodic table: http://www.dayah.com/periodic/Images/periodic%20table.png

Step C

 When positive voltage

is applied to the gate,
positively charged
holes are repelled
from the gate which
forms an electron
channel between the
source and the drain,
allowing a clear path
for electricity to flow.
http://intel.com/education/transworks/flat7.htm

http://www.intel.com/education/transworks/flat7.htm
Step D

 Electrons are able to

flow through the
transistor. This
completes the circuit;
the transistor is now
“on”.
http://intel.com/education/transworks/flat7.htm

http://www.intel.com/education/transworks/flat7.htm
Step E

 If the voltage at the

gate is removed,
holes are not repelled
from the area
between the source
and drain. The
pathway is broken
and the transistor is
turned off.
http://intel.com/education/transworks/flat7.htm

http://www.intel.com/education/transworks/flat7.htm
How a Transistor Handles Information

 The transistor's "on" state

is represented by a 1,
and the "off" state is
represented by a 0.
Specific sequences and
patterns of 1's and 0's
generated by multiple
transistors can represent
letters, numbers, colors,
and graphics. This is
known as binary notation.
http://intel.com/education/transworks/flat3.htm

http://www.intel.com/education/transworks/flat3.htm
Making Microprocessors

On a wafer, billions of transistors are housed on a single square chip. One

malfunctioning transistor could cause a chip to short-circuit, ruining the chip.
Thus, the process of creating each microscopic transistor must be very precise.

Wafer image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/fr/thumb/2/2b/PICT0214.JPG/300px-PICT0214.JPG

What size do you think an
individual transistor being
made today is?
Size of Transistors

One chip is made of millions or billions of transistors

packed into a length and width of less than half an
inch. Channel lengths in MOSFET transistors are
less than a tenth of a micrometer. Human hair is
approximately 100 micrometers in diameter.

Scaling of successive generations of MOSFETs into the nanoscale regime (from Intel).
 Transistor: MOS

We will illustrate the process sequence of

creating a transistor with a Metal Oxide
Semiconductor(MOS) transistor.

½” to ¾“

Source Gate Drain

conductor Insulator

n-Si n-Si
p-Si

Image courtesy: Pro. Milo Koretsky

Chemical Engineering Department at OSU
 IC Manufacturing Process
IC Processing consists of selectively
adding material (Conductor, insulator,
semiconductor) to, removing it from or
modifying it
Wafers

Photo/

Clean
Clean

Deposition / Ion Implant /

Oxidation Pattern Etching / CMP
Anneal
Transfer

Loop

(Note that these steps are not all the steps to create
a transistor. Some steps are skipped. This is purely to
show the various stages in the loop to create a transistor.)

Graphics copy-write Pro. Milo Koretsky

Chemical Engineering Department at OSU
Making a Transistor: Starting Silicon Wafer
Wafers

Clean
Deposition /
Oxidation
Transfer
Pattern
Photo/
Loop

Etching /
CMP

Si
Ion Implant /
Anneal

Graphics copy-write Pro. Milo Koretsky

Chemical Engineering Department at OSU
Clean substrate
Clean

Polished Silicon Wafer

Deposition /
Oxidation
Transfer
Pattern
Photo/
Loop

Etching /
CMP

Si
Ion Implant /
Anneal

Graphics copy-write Pro. Milo Koretsky

Chemical Engineering Department at OSU
Chemical Vapor Deposition: Si3N4
Clean
Deposition /
Oxidation
Transfer
Pattern
Photo/
Loop

Etching /
CMP

Si
Ion Implant /
Anneal

Graphics copy-write Pro. Milo Koretsky

Chemical Engineering Department at OSU
Spin Coating of Photoresist
Clean
Deposition /
Oxidation

mask
Transfer
Pattern
Photo/
Loop

Etching /
CMP

Si
Ion Implant /
Anneal

Graphics copy-write Pro. Milo Koretsky

Chemical Engineering Department at OSU
Develop Photoresist
Clean
Deposition /
Oxidation
Transfer
Pattern
Photo/
Loop

Etching /
CMP

Si
Ion Implant /
Anneal

Graphics copy-write Pro. Milo Koretsky

Chemical Engineering Department at OSU
Plasma Etch Si3N4
Clean
Deposition /
Oxidation
Transfer
Pattern
Photo/
Loop

Etching /
CMP

Si
Ion Implant /
Anneal

Graphics copy-write Pro. Milo Koretsky

Chemical Engineering Department at OSU
Plasma Etch: Strip Photoresist
Clean
Deposition /
Oxidation
Transfer
Pattern
Photo/
Loop

Etching /
CMP

Si
Ion Implant /
Anneal

Graphics copy-write Pro. Milo Koretsky

Chemical Engineering Department at OSU
Ion Implantation
Clean

IONS IONS IONS

Deposition /
Oxidation
Transfer
Pattern
Photo/
Loop

Etching /
CMP

Si
1.75 u
Ion Implant /
Anneal

1/50th of a human hair

Graphics copy-write Pro. Milo Koretsky

Chemical Engineering Department at OSU
Anneal
• Clean before anneal
Clean

Activate (& diffuse) the dopant

Deposition /
Oxidation

HEAT HEAT HEAT

Transfer
Pattern
Photo/
Loop

Etching /
CMP

Si
Ion Implant /
Anneal

Graphics copy-write Pro. Milo Koretsky

Chemical Engineering Department at OSU
The Final Steps…a completed transistor

Gate: +

Source - Drain: +

e- e- Si

Graphics copy-write Pro. Milo Koretsky

Chemical Engineering Department at OSU
Economy of Transistors

~$300 /chip
X ~200 chips/wafer
http://www.nitride.co.jp/english
X 200 wafers/furnace /products/wafer.html

load =

$12 Million
per furnace
load http://www.dvhardware.net/article16696.html
Additional helpful websites

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/electromag/jav
a/transistor/
http://jas.eng.buffalo.edu/education/fab/N
MOS/nmos.html