Basic fabrication steps in VLSI

The basic fabrication steps in VLSI are:

1.oxidation
2.photolithography and etching
3.diffussion and implantation
4.mettallization
1. oxidation
The oxidation process is one of the most important processes in VLSI fabrication. The
development of high quality silicon dioxide has helped to establish the dominance of
si in the production of commercial ICs. generally Sio2 functions as an insulator in a
number of device structures or as a barrier to diffussion or implantation during device
fabrication.
There are two types of Sio2 growth methods:
1. dry oxidation
2.wet oxidation
dry oxidation is generally used to form thin oxides in a device structures because of its
si-sio2 interface characteristics. It is implemented in processes such as the gate
dielectric growth, the quality of which is extremely important for the scaling and
performance of today's integrated circuit technology. An oxidation concentration
versus oxidation layer thickness figure is plotted almost instantaneously after the users
specify the necessary parameters and conditions. The slope of the curve depicts the
oxidation flux. The oxidation process is simulated after one click on the web interface,
while all the complicated details and equation-solving procedures are hidden behind
the scene. The interactive interface of the module and its simplicity of usage
demonstrates the module's educational value in that it helps students and engineers
build intuition into the oxidation process with minimum learning curve. Insightful
comparison, such as one between thin and thick oxide growth, can be done easily.
Moreover, the module can be used as a handy and efficient "oxidation flux
calculator".