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Chapter 3 Fabrication

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28 views

Chapter 3 Fabrication

Uploaded by

Alemayehu Guta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CHAPTER THREE

VLSI DEVICE
FABRICATION
Outline

• Chip fabrication materials

• Transistor fundamentals

• Details of fabrication process

• Design rules
1. Chip fabrication materials

• Silicon:
• The primary material used to make semiconductor chips

• Extracted from sand, melted into ingots, sliced into wafers, and polished

• Germanium
• A semiconductor and metalloid

• Used to make transistors and integrated circuits.


Cont.…

• Boron and phosphorus: Impurities used for doping

• Metals: Used for interconnects

• Insulators: Used for isolation

• Chemicals: Used for cleaning and etching


2. Transistor fundamentals

• Transistor-transistor logic (TTL)


• Digital logic design that uses BJTs and resistors to create logic gates

• Transistors act as electronic switches

• Control the flow of current based on the input signals


3. MOS (nMOS, pMOS, CMOS)
• Why MOS?

• Two type of MOS transistor:


• NMOS: has free electrons
• Uses p-type substrate and n-type channel

• Conducts when a voltage is applied to the gate

• PMOS: has free holes


• Uses n-type substrate and p-type channel

• Conducts when the gate voltage is absent


What is a Silicon Chip?

• A pattern of interconnected switches and gates on the surface of a


crystal of semiconductor (typically Si)

• These switches and gates are made of:

• areas of n-type silicon, p-type silicon, and insulator


• lines of conductor (interconnects) joining areas together
IC Fabrication Process

• Wafer preparation • Etching

• Deposition (Epitaxial growth) • Ion Implantation (Doping)

• Masking • Metallization

• Lithography • Assembly and packaging


1. Wafer production
• Main steps to prepare wafer:

• Crystal growth and doping


• Ingot trimming and griding
• Ingot slicing
• Wafer polishing and cleaning
1. Wafer production

• Wafer (substrate) preparation: wafer is


a thin piece of semiconductor material,
such as crystalline silicon

• Seed crystal is placed in contact with


molten silicon
Cont.…
• Seed crystal is slowly pulled away to produce
large cylindrical boule (single crystal ingot) Boule

• Boule: a pure silicon crystal

• Silicon atom is deposited at the bottom


Wafers

Cont.…

• The boule is thinly sliced into wafers

• Polishing the wafer to eliminate


impurities and scratches, leaving a good
base for fabricating chips
2. Deposition (Epitaxial growth)

• A thin non-conducting layer of


silicon dioxide is grown or
deposited on the wafer surface

• Silicon dioxide is serves as an


insulating layer

• Oxidation – the process of adding


Silicon dioxide
3. Masking (Photoresist Coating)

• Masking: Coating wafer with


photosensitive and light
resistance material

• Protecting part of wafer while


working on the other parts by
applying a protective layer
(photoresist)
Cont.….

• Photoresist: a light-sensitive material that changes the chemical


properties of the wafer to make it suitable for circuit printing

• Based on their ultraviolet light (UV) reactivity there are 2 type of


photoresist
• Positive: when exposed to UV light, it becomes soluble, dissolving exposed part
and leaving unexposed part remaining.

• Negative: harden when exposed to UV light

• Now wafer is ready for circuit printing


4. Lithography
• The process of drawing a circuit design • The area exposed to the light are
onto a wafer is called photolithography hardened

• Wafer enter a lithography machine • Transfer a pattern from a photomask


onto the surface of the wafer
• Exposed to UV light containing the chips
blueprint
5. Etching

• After printing the circuit diagram on the wafer, remove unwanted


material from the wafer

• Un-exposed area are then etched away by hot gases

• Anisotropic (Dry etching): removal of material in specific direction –


using gases or plasma
• Isotropic (Wet etching): Common for silicon wafers – use chemicals
6. Doping – ion implantation
• The process of adding impurities to the silicon wafer to change its
electrical properties.

• Impurity used:

• Boron – create p-type semiconductors


• Phosphorus – create n-type semiconductors

• Dopant can be increased in specific areas of the wafer by diffusion


process
7. Metallization
• Depositing a patterned layer of metal on top of the device to create
interconnects between transistors and other components
7. Assembly and Packaging
• Placing a protective metal container with a cooling system, on top
of the chip to ensure it doesn’t overheat.

• The electronic components are packaged into a final product that


can be used in electronic devices
DESIGN RULES

• Mask-making rules

• A communication link between circuit designer and process engineer

• Define feature sizes (width rules), separations (spacing rules), and


overlaps

• Two popular design rule approaches


• Micron (µ) and lambda(λ)
CONT…
• Micron rules: Most popular approach (Industry Standard)

• Given as a list of minimum feature sizes and spacings for all masks
• e.g. minimum gate length = 0.25µm

• lambda(λ )-based rules:


• Base on a single parameter, λ, which characterizes the linear feature
• λ = L/2; L = The minimum feature size of transistor

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