Chapter10

Fundamentals of Integrated
Circuit Fabrication

Dr.Debashis De
Associate Professor
West Bengal University of Technology
Outline

10-1 Introduction
10-2 Fundamentals of Integrated Circuits
10-3 Types of Integrated Circuits
10-4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Integrated Circuits
10-5 Scale of Integration
10-6 Crystal Growth and Wafer Preparation
10-7 Epitaxial Growth
10-8 Oxidation for Isolation
10-9 Photolithography for Pattern Transfer
10-10 Etching for Design
10-11 Diffusion for Doping
10-12 Ion Implantation for Doping
10-13 Metallization for Interconnection
10-14 Testing for Reliability
10-15 Packaging Protection
10-16 IC Symbols
10-17 Fabrication Steps for Different Circuits
10-18 Real-Life Applications
Objectives
 This chapter deals with the fundamentals of integrated circuit
fabrication.
 In the field of nanotechnology, this basic idea of fabrication
is very important from the point of view of semiconductor device
engineering.

 Semi- conductor device fabrication is the process used to

create chips for devices that are a part of our everyday use. It is a
multiple-step sequence of photographic and chemical processing
during which electronic circuits are gradually created on a wafer
substrate made of pure semi-conducting material.
 The topics include : 1) electronic fundamentals, 2) crystal
growth 3) wafer types, 4) transistor types, 5) basic design concepts, 6)
mask making, 7) wafer processing, 8) materials used for fabricating the
wafer, 9) equipments used for processing the wafer, 10) clean room
standards, 11) testing and reliability control, 12) assembly 13) packaging,
and different IC types.
 INTRODUCTION:
 In the world of semiconductor devices and integrated
circuits, silicon is the commonly used semiconductor material, and it is
mostly used as a substrate material.
 For example, solar cells made of silicon wafers are cheaper
and can be used for practical applications by common people.
 Of late, it has been observed that GaAs fabrication has
advanced compared to silicon due to its greater thermal stability, direct
band gap and higher electron mobility. However, GaAs fabrication is a
difficult process and the cost is also very high.
 Today compound semiconductors are the main point of
attraction. IV–IV, III–V and II–VI are the common compound
semiconductors used in research and industry.
 Among these the compound semiconductor III–V is widely
used as it has multiple applications in LED, LASER, etc. gallium arsenide
(GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), gallium phosphide (GaP) and gallium
nitride (GaN) and aluminum nitride (AlN)—are the III–V compound which
are widely used. Optoelectronic devices using III–V compound.
FUNDAMENTALS OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS:
The fabrication of integrated circuits is an art. From the age of LSI (large-
scale integration) to VLSI (very-large-scale integration), the device dimension has
reduced by a large amount, but at the same time 100% of its switching speed has increased.
ULSI (ultra-large-scale integration) is used for low-dimensional nanostructure devices.
Nowadays, the use of MBE(molecular beam epitaxy), MOCVD (metal-
organic chemical vapour deposition) and CBD (chemical bath deposition), make it
possible to fabricate the nanostructure semiconductor devices in the form of Quantum Well,
Quantum Wire and Quantum Dot.
Nano devices are typically 1–100 nm (in each direction) in dimension. The
smaller the devices, greater is the challenge of fabrication.

As shown in Fig. 10-1, there has

been a shift from the bipolar technology to
the MOS technology.
A projection up to the year 2010
shows that an approximate 95 percent of
the market will be composed of MOS
devices, and the remaining 5 percent will
be bipolar. The bold arrowhead line shows
the average trend line in the figure.
 FUNDAMENTALS OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS:

With devices getting smaller and smaller, the number of their

components/chips has been increasingly getting bigger and bigger with time.

A plot in Fig. 10-2 projected up to year 2010 shows the number

of components/chip vs. time (year). The bold arrowhead line shows the average
trend line in the figure. Figure 10-3 shows the drop in feature size projected up to
the year 2010. The bold arrowhead line shows the average trend line in the figure.
TYPES OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS:

1. Monolithic IC:
In the Monolithic IC the entire circuit is built into a single
piece of semiconductor chip, which consists of active and passive
components. The most commonly used integrated circuits,
microprocessors, memories, etc., are all monolithic.
2. Hybrid IC:
In Hybrid IC the electronic circuit is generally integrated in
the ceramic substrate using various components and then enclosed in
the single package. The hybrid IC consists of several monolithic ICs con-
nected by metallic interconnects mounted on a common substrate.

Hybrid IC technology bonds various substrates either at

the die level or at the wafer level. This technology streamlines the
connections between different semiconductor chips by replacing wire
bonding.
This process achieves an accelerated, streamlined and
less costly process. Hybrid IC allows increase in communication
bandwidth and facilitates higher system yield.
 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS:

The advantages of integrated circuits are as follows:

1. Small in size due to the reduced device dimension
2. Low weight due to very small size
3. Low power requirement due to lower dimension and lower threshold
power requirement
4. Low cost due to large-scale production
5. High reliability due to the absence of a solder joint
6. Facilitates integration of large number of devices
7. Improves the device performance even at high-frequency region

 The disadvantages of integrated circuits are as follows:

1. IC resistors have a limited range
2. Generally inductors (L) cannot be formed using IC
3. Transformers cannot be formed using IC
SCALE OF INTEGRATION:

 Historically, the first semiconductor IC chips held one

diode/transistor. Advancement of technology enabled us to add
more and more transistors.
 The first to arrive was small-scale integration (SSI), then
improvements in technique led to devices with hundreds of logic
gates—large-scale integration (LSI)

 Present day micro- processors have millions of logic

gates and transistors. Intel co-founder, Gordon E. Moore, in 1965
published a paper on the future projection of IC technology.
 Moore’s Law is responsible for “smaller, cheaper and
more efficient IC”. Gordon Moore’s empirical relationship is cited in
a number of forms, but its essential thesis is that the number of
transistors that can be manufactured on a single die will double
every 18 months.
Types of IC Chips:
Analog: Analog chips are small transistor count precision circuits. Amplifiers,
filters, sensors, etc. fall into this category.
ASIC or application specific integrated circuits:
ASIC brings a lot more of functionality into the same area. These are
IC’s that are created for specific purposes—each device is created to do a
particular job. The common application area for this is Digital Signal
Processing—signal filters, image compression, etc.
SOC chips are highly complex mixed signal circuits (digital and analog
all on the same chip). A network processor chip or a wireless radio chip is an
example of a SoC.
The planar technology for IC fabrication consists of the following processes:
1. Crystal growth of the wafer
2. Epitaxial growth
3. Oxidation
4. Photolithography
5. Etching
6. Diffusion
7. Ion implantation
8. Metallization
9. Testing and packaging
CRYSTAL GROWTH AND WAFER PREPARATION:

 Crystal growth and wafer preparation is the most fundamental step in

device fabrication. Various crystal growth techniques are used to form the bulk
crystal.
 One of the methods is the Czochralski process.
 A small seed crystal of silicon is attached to the top of a rod and lowered
into a crucible of molten silicon to which acceptor impurities have been added. As
the rod is very slowly pulled out of the ‘melt’ under carefully controlled conditions,
we find that a single p-type or n-type crystal ingot of the order of several inches
has grown.
The ingot is subsequently sliced into round wafers to form the substrate
on which all integrated components are fabricated. One side of each wafer is
lapped and polished to eliminate surface imperfections before proceeding with the
next process.
Czochralski process:

Czochralski process
EPITAXIAL GROWTH:

 Epitaxy, derived from Greek epi ‘upon’ and taxis ‘arrangement’,

refers to the growth of crystals on a crystalline substrate that determines
their orientation.
 Epitaxy involves the extension of the substrate lattice by the
overgrowth of a layer of identical material. This is known as homoepitaxy or
autoepitaxy. For example,Si on Si or Ga As on Ga As.
If the epitaxial layer and the substrate are chemically and often
crystallo graphically different, then this is called heteroepitaxy. For
example, Si (diamond lattice) on sapphire (hexagonal) or Ga As on Si.
 The epitaxial process is used to form a layer of single-crystal
silicon on an existing crystal wafer of the same or different material.
 Epitaxial growth is performed in a special furnace called the
reactor. Silicon wafers are inserted in the reactor and heated to a
temperature of 900–10000C. The temperature varies from substrate to
substrate.
 EPITAXIAL GROWTH:
Epitaxial growth technology uses the hydrogen reduction of gases like
silane (SiH4) or silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) as the source for the silicon to be
grown. Silane has two advantages. It requires a lower temperature and has a
faster growth rate than silicon tetrachloride.
The chemical reaction for the hydrogen reduction of SiCl4 is:
1200 0C
SiCl4 + 2H2 Si + 4HCl
And that for SiH4 is:
H2 atmosphere, 10000C
SiH4 Si +2H2
For example, an n-type epitaxial layer, typically from few
nanometre to few micrometre thick, is grown into a p-type substrate having
resistivity of approximately few cm.
Since epitaxial growth requires the production of epitaxial
films of impurity concentrations, it is essential to introduce impurities, such as
Phosphine (PH3) for n-type doping or Diborane (B2H6) for p-type doping into the
OXIDATION FOR ISOLATION:

Silicon technology has the natural ability to grow an oxide

layer on the SiO2 layer.As a passivating layer SiO2 has the following
characteristics:

1. The impurities that are used to dope the silicon do not penetrate n-type
Si wafer.Thus, when used with the masking techniques,selective
doping of specific regions of the chip is accomplished.

2. It is capable of being etched by hydrogen fluoride (HF).

Thermal oxidation of silicon is achieved in the presence
of water vapour; this process is called wet oxidation. The chemical reaction
for this process is:
Si + 2H2O → SiO2 + 2H2
Dry oxidation of oxygen:
Si + O2 → SiO2
The thickness of the oxide layers is generally in the order of
0.02 mm to 2 mm.Process temperature, impurity concentration, and processing
time are several of the factors that influence the thickness of the SiO2 layer.
EPITAXIAL GROWTH ON Si WAFER:
PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY FOR PATTERN
TRANSFER:

 Photolithography is the optical process of transferring

geometric shapes on a mask to the surface of a silicon wafer.
The steps for the photolithographic process are: photo resist
coating, soft-baking, mask alignment, UV exposure and
development, and hard-baking.

 In the starting of the photolithographic process, the wafer

is coated with a uniform film of a photosensitive emulsion.
 The photo resist is slightly hardened by soft-baking and
then selectively removed by projection of UV light through mask.
 The monolithic fabrication technique requires the selective
removal of the insulator layer of SiO2 to form openings through which
impurities can be diffused.
PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY FOR PATTERN TRANSFER:
Photolithography processes using negative and positive
photoresist:
Mask Alignment and UV Exposure:

The most important step in the Photolithography

process is mask alignment. In general, photo-mask is a plastic or
glass plate with a pattern of emulsion.
The mask is aligned on the top surface of the wafer, so
that the pattern can be transferred on it. Once the mask has been
accurately aligned with the pattern on the wafer’s surface, the photo
resist is exposed through the pattern on the mask with a high intensity
ultraviolet light.

There are three primary exposure methods:

 Contact Printing
 Proximity Printing
 Projection Printing
 Contact printing:

In this technique the

resist-coated silicon wafer is brought
into physical contact with the photo-
mask, as shown in Fig. 10-8(c).
The wafer is held on a
vacuum system. The system is
exposed with UV light from the top of
the mask as the wafer is in contact
position with the mask. As the photo
resist and the mask are in direct
contact, a high resolution is
possible in contact printing.
But the disadvantage
with contact printing is that the dust
trapped between the resist and the
mask can damage the mask and
cause defects in the pattern.
 Proximity printing:

This technique is almost

similar to contact printing
technique except that a small
(10–15 mm) gap is maintained
between the mask and the
wafer [see Fig 10-8(d)].

It is very important
to note that the gap minimizes,
but may not eliminate the
damage to the mask.
 Projection printing:

Projection printing is the most

advanced technique, it avoids mask
damage. An image of the patterns on the
mask is projected onto the resist-coat
which is a certain height away as shown in
Fig. 10-9. To achieve high resolution only a
small portion of the mask is imaged. This
small region image field is scanned over
the surface of the wafer.
Projection printers that step the
mask image over the wafer surface are
called step-and-repeat systems having
several nano-metre resolution.
Figure 10-10 (a) shows
response curves for negative and positive
resist after the exposure and development.
Photolithography process:
ETCHING FOR DESIGN:
Etching selectively removes layers of SiO2,
metals, and poly-silicon, according to the desired patterns
delineated by the resist. The two major methods of etching
are wet chemical etching or dry etching.

The windows are created by the

photolithographic process and subsequent etching
process in the desired pattern implemented by the
masking process .
Different Types of Etching:

1. Wet Chemical Etching:

Wet etching is accomplished by partial
submersion of the wafer in an acid bath having some definite
concentration. Etching solutions are housed in a
temperature-controlled baths.
Different Types of Etching:
2. Dry Chemical Etching:
Dry processing effectively etches desired layers
through the use of gases, using either, a chemically reactive
gas, or through physical bombardment of argon atoms. Dry
etching is commonly used due to its ability to better control
the etching process and decrease contamination levels.

3. Chemical Plasma Etching:

Plasma etching systems have been developed
that can effectively etch silicon, silicon dioxide, silicon
nitride, aluminium, gold, glass, etc. The barrel or cylindrical,
and the parallel plate or planar are the two kinds of plasma
etching reactor systems are generally used. The typical
reactor consists of a vacuum reactor chamber
Different Types of Etching:

4. Chemical Plasma Etching:

Different Types of Etching:
5. Ion Beam Etching:
Ion beam etching is similar physical etching
processes which use a beam of low-energy ions to remove
material. By an electrical discharge the ion beam is
extracted from an ionized gas such as argon or
argon/oxygen or plasma. An electrical discharge creates an
ion plasma with the energy of a few hundred electron volts.
6. Reactive Ion Etching:
Reactive ion etching (RIE) is a combination
of chemical and physical etching. During RIE, a wafer is
placed in a chamber with an atmosphere of chemically
reactive gas either CF4 or CCl4 at a low pressure. The ions
strike the wafer surface vertically.
Table representation of Common etching solutions
DIFFUSION FOR DOPING:

 Diffusion is a process of introduction of impurities into

the substrate layer in the planar process.
 The introduction of controlled impurity concentrations is
performed in a diffusion furnace at a temperature of about 1000C over
several hours for silicon substrate.
 ION IMPLANTATION FOR DOPING:

 In Ion implantation the ionized particles are

accelerated through an electrical field and targeted at the
semiconductor wafer.
METALLIZATION FOR INTERCONNECTION:
 TESTING FOR RELIABILITY:

 After all the fabrication processes are done successfully, the

semiconductor device is tested thoroughly
through the different characterization processes. IC’s are fabricated by
the batch process ,so some of the IC may not perform according to
standard.
 An electronic tester presses tiny probes against the chip to
check its functional property.
 For example, checking of truth table for digital logic gates.ICs
are often designed with “self testability features” for example, built-in
self-test (BIST) for speed testing.
 These processes reduce test.costs and time. The standard
checking can be done by the reliability testing process by an IC tester.
 PACKAGING PROTECTION:

 The last step of this process is packaging.

 Packaging is done according to the dimension of the product
type, and the requirements of the manufacturer. The wafer is certified
then the wafer is broken into small individual dies.

 Small wires are bonded to connect pads to the external

connection pins. The most common packaging is dual input packaging
or DIP, mostly used in digital IC.
 Pin grid array (PGA) and leadless chip carrier (LCC)
packages are used in modern VLSI design. After testing and packaging,
the product is sent to the market for sale.
IC SYMBOLS:
IC SYMBOLS:
IC SYMBOLS:
FABRICATION STEPS FOR DIFFERENT CIRCUITS:

1. Fabrication of Resistors in Integrated Circuits:

Resistors in IC can be made by the base diffusion

method. The resistor is made up of a p-layer within one
n-type island or the reverse, as shown in Fig. 10-17.

Resistance R =row *LlA

where, r is the resistivity,
l =length and A =area.
Resistance value
depends on l, A and r.
Difference between OHOMIC contact and SCHOTTKY contact:

Schottky diode or contact

is a metal-semiconductor diode or
contact having characteristics similar to a
p–n junction. When the metal is deposited
directly on the Semiconductor surface, the
SCHOTTKY CONTACT is produced.

The junction of the metal

semiconductor, the same metal-doped
layer, produces a linear behavior, i.e.,
Ohomic behavior. The junction that
follows OHM’s LAW, i.e., linear nature in
I–V characteristics forms an OHOMIC
CONTACT (see Fig. 10-19).
 Electron availability is very high in the metal as
the Schottky diode is made with the directly deposited
metal on semiconductor surface.

The applications of SCHOTTKY contact:

Electron availability is very high in the metal as

the Schottky diode is made with the directly deposited metal on
semiconductor surface.
Schottky diode is a majority carrier device. As
the time of injection of the electrons from conduction band to
metal decreases, the switching becomes faster. This diode has low
reverse and forward impedances. So, it is used in high-speed
switching devices.
 Steps of Fabrication of Capacitors:

 In ICs, capacitors are fabricated using the depletion region

capacitance of a Reverse bias p–n junction, or by MOS structure.
 In case of junction capacitance, the magnitude depends on
the dimension and type of the junction, and the applied bias. A depletion
capacitance can be formed using MOS structure. A parallel plate
capacitor is obtained by MOS technique.

 A pair of n layers is deposited to form source (S) and

drain (D),as shown in Fig. 10-20. A thin silicon dioxide (SiO2) layer
acts as the dielectric layer.
 The heavily doped n-region and the Al layers act as
the two plates of the capacitor. The magnitude of the capacitance is
generally very small, in the order of pico-farad.
Steps of Fabrication of the Transistor Circuit:

 A step-by-step process will now be followed for the

fabrication of a transistor circuit, as shown in Figs.10-21(a) and 10-21(b).

Step I: On the p-type substrate a layer of n-type semiconductor is

formed.
Steps of Fabrication of the Transistor Circuit:

Step II: Photolithographic process using UV ray source.

Steps of Fabrication of the Transistor Circuit:

Step III: The p diffusion at the window region is done by ion

implantation technique or by chemical deposition.
Steps of Fabrication of the Transistor Circuit:

Step IV: Again, to form a p-region within an n-region, another set

of masks are used, and the second step of photolithography is
performed.
Steps of Fabrication of the Transistor Circuit:

Step V: The third-level mask is used to get the pattern, as shown in

Fig. 10-21(f). Multiple types of masks and subsequent photolithography
is done to achieve the desired complicated circuit.
Steps of Fabrication of the Transistor Circuit:

Step VI: Before metallization, the metal mask of the desired pattern
is used. In the mask, the blank space is kept where we want to go for
metallization [see Fig. 10-21(g)].
Steps of Fabrication of the Transistor Circuit:

Step VII: Metal interconnections for different contact points are

used, as shown in Fig. 10-21(h).
Metallization is performed at a very low pressure, at about
106 torr. Total metallization is preformed in a closed chamber and the
room should be clean. High pure gold or Al is used for metallization.
Purity is 99.9999%.
The Schottky Diode:

In Fig. 10-22, terminal 1 forms the ohmic contact, because Al is

deposited on the n region and not on the n– region, but terminal 2 forms
the Schottky contact.The Schottky contact together with the two
terminals forms the Schottky diode.
Schematic Diagram of a CMOS Circuit:

Figure 10-23(b)shows that

one nMOS and one pMOS are
placed on a common substrate. It
looks like two tubs are placed on
a same base. The source, gate
and drain are indicated by S, G
and D respectively.
 CMOS Circuit:

With the help of twin-tub method, a complete CMOS

can be realized.
REAL-LIFE APPLICATIONS:

In our daily life Integrated Circuits are

applied everywhere. In addition to their wide use in
computers and mobile phones, ICs are mostly used in
optoelectronic devices— LED, LASER, Modulator,
Demodulator, Set-Top box, etc. Even a Calling Bell uses
an IC with music encoded in it.
 POINTS TO REMEMBER:
 1. In monolithic circuits, the entire circuit is built into a single piece of
semiconductor chip consisting of passive and active components; physical
properties of the semiconductor determine performance of the circuit.
 2. Hybrid integrated circuits are devices that apply standard semiconductor
processing technology to individual ICs, and fuse them together to
simultaneously form an electrical, mechanical, and thermal bond.
 3. Hybrid integrated circuit offers a new a paradigm in integrated circuit and
system designs and architectures by permitting:
(a) Increase in communication bandwidth
(b) Modular chip design process
(c) Higher system yields with more reliability
 4. Integrated circuits have the following advantages:
(a) Small in size due to the reduced device dimension
(b) Low weight due to very small size
(c) Low power requirement due to lower dimension and lower
threshold power requirement
(d) Low cost due to large-scale production
 5. The Czochralski process is used to grow ingot and subsequently to design
the wafer.
 POINTS TO REMEMBER:
 6. The epitaxial process is used to form a layer of single-crystal silicon on an
existing crystal wafer of the same or different material.
 7. Thermal oxidation of silicon is achieved in the presence of water vapour;
this process is called wet oxidation.
 8. The process for pattern definition by applying thin uniform layer of viscous
liquid photo resist on the wafer surface is the photolithography process.
9. The composite drawing of the circuit is partitioned
into several levels called masking levels, used in fabricating the chip.
10. Etching is the process of removing the unwanted portion of the layer or
region from the surface during the fabrication process.
Etching can be of two types:
(a) Dry etching
(b) Chemical etching
 11. Diffusion of impurities into substrate layer is the basic step in the planar
process.
 12. The ionized particles are accelerated through an electrical field and
targeted at the semiconductor Wafer.
 13. The metallization process is used to form the interconnections of the
components on the chip.
 14. IC testing is performed before packaging.