Device:a thing made for a particular purpose; an invention or

contrivance, especially a mechanical or electrical one.

Although semiconducting materials have been used in electronics since the early decades of this century, it was the invention of the transistor in 1948 that set the stage for what would become one of the greatest technological advancements in all of history. Transistors: regulates current or voltage flow and acts as a switch or gate for electronic signals. Microelectronics have played an ever-increasing role in our lives since integrated circuit technology became the foundation for calculators, wrist watches, home appliances and many more. An IC is a small wafer, usually made of silicon, that can hold anywhere from hundreds to millions of transistors, resistors, and capacitors. The major advantage of todays ICs are their small size and cost. As fabrication technology becomes more advanced, The size of devices decreases; consequently, more components can be put onto chip. Chip: a small piece of semiconducting material on which the circuit is fabricated. In addition, mass processing and process automation have helped to reduce the cost of each completed circuit. The components fabricated include transistors, diodes, resistors and capacitors. @ Typical chips produced today have sizes that range from 3mm x 3mm to more than 50mm X 50mm. In the past, no more than 100 devices could be fabricated on a single chip. New technology, however, allows densities the range of 10 million devices per chip while most advanced chips today contains more than 100 million. This magnitude of integration has been termed very large scale integration(VLSI). Microelectronic devices are fabricated in extremely clean rooms because of its minimum scale.Those rooms should contain a maximum number of 0.5-um particles per cubic foot compared to hospital rooms that contains in the order of 10,000 particles per cubic foot. SEMICONDUCTORS AND SILICON Semiconductor materials have electrical properties that lie between those of conductors and insulators. Semiconductors have become the foundation for electronic devices because their electrical properties can be altered when controlled amounts of selected impurity atoms are added to their crystal structures. These impurity atoms also known as dopants have either one more valence electron (n-type or negative dopant) or one less valence electron (p-type or positive dopant) than the atoms in the semiconductor lattice( An open framework made of strips of metal, wood, or similar material overlapped
or overlaid in a regular, usually crisscross pattern). For silicon,which is a group IV element, typical n-type and p-type dopants include phosphorous(group V) and boron(group III), respectively . The electrical operation of semiconductor devices can be controlled through the creation of region of different doping types and concentration.

Although the earliest electronic devices were fabricated on germanium, silicon has become the industry standard because of the abundance of alternative form of silicon. Silicopns main advantage over germanium is its large energy gap(1.1 eV)compared to the germanium(0.66 eV) . This energy gap allows silicon based devices to operate at temperatures about 150 C higher than devices fabricated on germanium (about 100 C) Silicons important processing advantage is that its oxide (silicon dioxide) is an excellent insulator and can be used for both isolation and passivation purposes. Conversely, germanium oxide is water soluble and unsuitable for electronic devices.

However, silicon has some limitations, which have encouraged the development of compound semiconductors, specifically gallium arsenide. Its major advantage over silicon is its ability to emit light, allowing fabrication of devices such as lasers and light emitting diodes(LEDs). It also has a larger energy gap(1.42eV) and therefore a higher maximum operating temperature (about 200 C) Devices fabricated on gallium arsenide also have much higher operating speeds than thos fabricated on silicon. Some of gallium arsenides disadvantages include its considerably higher cost, greater processing complications, and the difficult of growing hight quality oxide layers (the need for which is emphasized throughout this chapter).

Crystal Growing and Wafer Preparation Silcon occurs naturally in the forms of silicon dioxide and various silicates. It must undergo a series of purification steps in order to become the high quality, defect-free, single-crystal material that is required for semiconductordevice fabrication. The process begins by heating silica and carbon together in an electric furnace, which results in a 95% to 98% pure polycrystalline silicon. This material is converted to an alternative form, commonly trichlorosilane, which in turn is purified and decomposed in a hightemperature hydrogen atmosphere. The result is extremely high-quality electronic-grade silicon(EGS). The most widely used crystal-growing method in the semi conductor industry is the Czochralski process, illustrated in figure5.2, in which a single crystal ingot, called a boule, is pulled upward from a pool of molten silicon. -The setup includes a funace, a mechanical apparatus for pulling the oule, a vacuum system, and supporting controls. -The furnace consists of a crucible and heating system contained in a vacuum chamber. The crucible is supported by a mechanism that permits rotation during the crystal-pulling procedure. -Chunks of EGS are placed in the crucible and heated to a temperature slightly above the melting point of silicon. -Heating is by induction or resistance, the latter being used for large melt sizes. -The molten silicon is doped(table 5.1) prior to boule pulling to make the crystal either p-type or n-type.

-to initiate crystal growing, a seed crystal silicon is clipped into the molten pool and then withdrawn upward under carefully controlled conditions. -At first the pulling rate (vertical velocity of the pulling apparatus) is relatively rapid; this causes a single crystal of silicon to solidify against the seed, forming a thin neck. -The velocity is then reduced, causing the neck to grow into the desired larger diameter of the boule while maintaining its single crystal structure. -In addition to pulling rate, rotation of the crucible and other process parameters are used to control boule size. -Single-crystal ingots of diameter=200mm or greater and up to 3m long aree commonly produced for subsequent fabrication of microelectronic chips. It is important to avoid contamination of the siicon during crystal growing,since contaminants, even in small amounts, can dramatically alter the electrical properties of Si. To minimize unwanted reaction with silicon and the introduction of contaminants at elevated temperatures of crystal growing, the procedure is carried out either in an inert gas(argon or helium) or a vacuum. Choice of crucible material is also important; fused silica(SiO2)although not perfect for the application, represents the best available material and is used almost exclusively. Gradual dissolution of the crucible introduces oxygen as an unintentional impurity in the silicon boule. Unfrotunately, the level of oxygen in the melt increases during the process, leading to a variation in concentration of the impurity throughout the length and diameter of the ingot. Nest, the crystal is sliced into individual wafers by using an inner diameter blade. In this method a rotating blade with its cutting edge on the inner ring is utilized. While the substrate depth needed for most electronic devices is no more than several microns, wafers are typically but to a thickness of about 0.5mm thickness provides the necessary physical support for the absorption subsequent fabrication.finally,the wafers must be polished and cleaed to remove surface damage caused by the sawing process. Fabrication takes place over the entire water surface, and many identical circuits are generated at the same time. Because of decreasing device sizes and larger wafer diameters, Thousands of individual circuits can be put on one wafer. Once processing is finished, the wafer is sliced into individual chips, each containing one complete integrated circuit. Summarizing the preceeding discussion, the production of silicon based integrated circuits consists of the following stages, portrated in figure 5.6. 1.Silicon processing, in which sand is reduced to very pure slicon and then shaped into wafers. 2.IC fabrication, consisting of multiple processing steps that add, alter, and remove thin layers in selected regions to be processed on the surface of the wafer; and

3.IC packaging, in which the wafer is tested, cut into individual dies (IC chips), and the dies are encapsulated in an appropriate package. FILM DEPOSITION Films of many defferent types, particularly insulating and conducting films, are used extensively in microelectronic device processing. Common depositing films include polysilicon , silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, tungsten, titanium, and aluminum. In some instances, the wafers serve merely as a mechanical support on which custom epitaxial layers are grown. Epitaxy is defined as the growth of a vapor deposit in which the crystal orientation of the deposit is directly related to the crystal orientation in the underlying crystalline substrate.The advantages of processing on these deposited films, instead of on the actual wafer surface, include fewer impurities (notably carbon and oxygen), improved device performance, and the tailoring of material properties, which cannot be done on the wafers themselves. Some of the major functions of deposited films are masking, for diffusion or implants, and protection of the semiconductor surface. In masking applications, the film must effectively inhibit the passage of dopants and concurrently display an ability to be etched into patterns of high resolution.upon completion of device fabrication,f films are applied to protect the underlying circuitry. Films used for masking and protection include silicon dioxide, phosphosilicate glass(PSG), and silicon nitride. Each of these materials has distinct advantages, and they are often used in combination. Other films contain dopant impurities and are used as doping sources for the underlying substrate. Conductive films are used primarily for device interconnection. These films must have a low resistivity, be capable of carrying large currents, and be suitable for connection to terminal packaging leads with wire bonds. Generally, aluminum and copper are used for this purpose. Increasing circuit complexity has required up to six levels of conductive layers, which must all be separated by insulating films. a. One of the most simplest and oldest methods is evaporation, which is used primarily for depositing metal films. In this process the metal is heated to its point of vaporation in a vaccum. Upon evaporation, the metal forms a thin layer on the substance surface. The heat for evaporation s usually generated by a heating filament or electron beam. b. Another method of metal deposition is sputtering and entails bombarding a target with highenergy ions, usually argon(Ar), in a vacuum. Sputtering systems usually include a dc power source to obtain the energized ions. As the ions impinge on the target atoms are knocked off and subsequently deposited mounted within the system. Although some argon may be trapped within the film, this technique results in very uniform coverage. Advances in this field include using a radio-frequency power source (RF sputtering) and introducing magnetic-fields (magnetron sputtering) c. In one of the most common techniques, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), film depositing is achieved by way of the reaction and/or decomposition of gaseous compounds. Using this technique, silicon dioxide is routinely deposited by the oxidation of silane or a chlorosilane. Figure 5.7a shows a continuous CVD reactor that operates at atmospheric pressure.

Similar method that operates at lower pressures, referred to as low pressure chemical vapor deposition(LPCVD), Is shown in the figure 5.7b.Capable of coating hundreds of wafer at a time, this method results in a much higher production rate than that of atmospheric-pressure CVD, and provides superior film uniformity with less consumption of carrier gases. This technique is commonly used for depositing polysilicon, silicon nitride, and silicon dioxide. d. Plasme-enchanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) involves the process of wafers in an RF plasma containing the source gases. This method has the advantage of maintaining low wafer temperature during deposition. Silicon epitaxy layers, in which the crystalline layer is formed using the substrate as a seed crystal can be grown using a variety of methods. If the silicon is deposited from the gaseous phase, the process is known as vapor-phase epitaxy(VPE). In another variation, the heated substrate is brought into contact with a liquid solution containing the material to be deposited (liquid-phaseepitaxy, or LPE). Another high-vacuum process utilizes evaporation to produce a thermal beam of molecules that are deposited on the heated substrate. This process, called molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), results in a very high degree of purity. In addition, since the films are grown one atomic layer at a time, it is possible to have excellent control over doping profiles. This level of control is especially important in gallium arsenide technology. Unfortunately, MBE suffers from relatively low growth rates compared to other conventional film-deposition techniques. Oxidation Recall that the term oxidation refers to the growth of an oxide layer as a result of the reaction of oxygen with the substrate material. Oxide films can also be formed using th previously described deposition techniques. The thermally grown oxides described in this section display a higher-quality substrate. However, deposition methods must be used if the composition of the desired film is different from that of the substrate material. Silicon dioxide is the most widely used oxide in IC technology today, and its excellent characteristics are one of the major reasons for the widespread use of silicon. Aside from its effectiveness in dopant masking and device isolation, silicon dioxides most critical role is that of the gate oxide material. Silicon surfaces have an extremely high affinity for oxygen, and a freshly sawed slice of silicon will quickly grow native oxide of 30 A-40A. Modern IC technologies requires oxide thicknesses from the tens to the thousands of angstrom. a. Dry oxidation is relatively simple process and is accomplished by elevating the substrate temperature typically to 750 C-1100 C, in an oxygen-rich environment. As a layer of oxide forms, the oxidizing agents must be able to pass through the oxide and reach the silicon surface where the actual reaction takes place. Thus, an oxide layer does not continue to grow

on top of itself, but rather it grows from the silicon surface outward. Some of the silicon substrate is consumed in th oxidation process(figure 5.8). The ratio of oxide thickness to amount of silicon consumed is found to be 1:0:44. Therefore, to obtain an oxide layer 1000A thick, roughly 440A of silicon will be consumed. This does not present a problem, as substrates are always grown sufficiently thick. One important effect of this consumption of silicon is rearrangement of dopants in the substrate near the interface. As different impurities have different segregation coefficients in silicon dioide, some dopants deplete away from the oxide interface while others pile up. Hence, processing parameters must be adjusted to compensate for this effect.