IC Technology

Books:
** The Science and Engineering of Microelectronic Fabrication Stephen A. Campbell VLSI Technology - S.M.Sze VLSI Fabrication Principles - Sorab K. Gandhi

Lecture # 1

IC Technology Ms. Neha Singh

Syllabus- 7EC4 IC TECHNOLOGY

UNIT1:INTRODUCTION TO TECHNOLOGIES- Semiconductor Substrate-Crystal defects, Electronic Grade Silicon, Czochralski Growth, Float Zone Growth, Characterization & evaluation of Crystals; Wafer Preparation- Silicon Shaping, Etching and Polishing, Chemical cleaning. UNIT2:DIFFUSION & ION IMPLANTATION- Ficks diffusion Equation in One Dimension, Atomic model, Analytic Solution of Ficks Law, correction to simple theory , Diffusion in SiO2. Ion Implantation and Ion Implantation Systems Oxidation. Growth mechanism and Deal-Grove Model of oxidation, Linear and Parabolic Rate co-efficient, Structure of SiO2, Oxidation techniques and system, Oxide properties. UNIT3:CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION AND LAYER GROWTH- CVD for deposition of dielectric and polysilicon a simple CVD system, Chemical equilibrium and the law of mass action, Introduction to atmospheric CVD of dielectric, low pressure CVD of dielectric and semiconductor. Epitaxy-Vapour Phase Expitaxy, Defects in Epitaxial growth, Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition, Molecular beam epitaxy. UNIT4:PATTERN TRANSFER- Introduction to photo/optical lithography, Contact/ proximity printers, Projection printers, Mask generation, photoresists. Wet etching, Plasma etching, Reaction ion etching. UNIT5:VLSI PROCESS INTEGRATION- Junction and Oxide Isolation, LOCOS methods, Trench Isolation, SOI; Metallization, Planarization. Fundamental consideration for IC Processing, NMOS IC Technology, CMOS IC Technology, Bipolar IC Technology.
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Integrated Circuit (IC) Technology

IC Technology Ms. Neha Singh

Objectives
After the class, you will be able to: 1. Understand semiconductor manufacturing process. 2. Explain the crystal structure and the major defects in silicon crystal.

IC Technology Ms. Neha Singh

Semiconductor Manufacturing Processes

Design Wafer Preparation Front-end Processes Photolithography Etch Cleaning Thin Films Ion Implantation Planarization Test and Assembly
IC Technology Ms. Neha Singh Wafer Preparation Design Thin Films Front-End Processes

Photolithography

Ion Implantation

Etch

Cleaning

Planarization

Test & Assembly

Design Process : VLSI Design

Wafer Preparation Design

Establish Design Rules Circuit Element Design Interconnect Routing Device Simulation Pattern Preparation

Thin Films

Front-End Processes

Photolithography

Ion Implantation

Etch

Cleaning

Planarization

Test & Assembly IC Technology Ms. Neha Singh 6

Wafer Preparation
Wafer Preparation Design

Polysilicon Refining Crystal Pulling Wafer Slicing & Polishing Epitaxial Silicon Deposition

Thin Films

Front-End Processes

Photolithography

Ion Implantation

Etch

Cleaning

Planarization

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Test & Assembly 7

Wafer Diameter Trends

300 mm

200 mm 150 mm 125 mm

100 mm
75 mm

8
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Increase in Number of Chips on Larger Wafer Diameter

88 die 200-mm wafer 232 die 300-mm wafer

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Yield of a Wafer

Yield =

66 good die = 75% 88 total die

Reduction in defect density is a critical aspect for increasing wafer yield.

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Basic Process Steps for Wafer Preparation

Crystal Growth

Wafer Lapping and Edge Grind

Cleaning

Shaping

Etching

Inspection

Wafer Slicing

Polishing

Packaging

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Why Si?
Because:
No problem of decomposition as with compound semiconductors. Thus, with Ge, it can be subjected to variety of processing steps. Si has wider energy gap than Ge thus, can be used at higher temperatures. Si lends itself readily to surface passivation (formation of SiO2) treatment. But Si has indirect band-gap, so it is not suitable for applications like lasers, LEDs, photovoltaic devices etc.
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Compound Semiconductor
Mostly used compound semiconductor: GaAs Properties of GaAs:
Higher electron mobility i.e. majority carriers are faster. Lower saturation field i.e. low power delay product. It can be made semi-insulating i.e. devices and interconnects made in the substrate have lower parasitic capacitances which increases the speed(3-4 times approx.). The lattice structure matches to that of AlAs (energy gap 2.16eV) so ternary alloys AlxGa1-xAs are formed easily with a wide range of composition (energy gaps). Thus, AlGaAs compounds are used for heterostructure devices such as Lasers.
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Crystal Structure
Amorphous Materials Unit Cells Polycrystal and Monocrystal Structures Crystal Orientation

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Atomic Order of a Crystal Structure

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Amorphous Atomic Structure

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Unit Cell in simple cubic (SC) 3-D Structure

Very few crystals exhibit this structure. Eg: Polonium (for a narrow range of temperature)

Unit cell
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Faced-centered Cubic (FCC) Unit Cell

This structure is exhibited by a large number of elements. Eg: copper, gold, nickel, platinum and silver.

Body-centered Cubic (BCC) Unit Cell

Eg: Molybdenum, tantalum and tungsten.

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Silicon Unit Cell: FCC Diamond Structure or Zincblende or Sphalerite Structure

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Polycrystalline and Monocrystalline Structures

Polycrystalline structure

Monocrystalline structure

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Axes of Orientation for Unit Cells

Z
1

1
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Coordinates for Zincblende cubic structure

Coordination number (number of neighboring atoms) is 4. Distance between two neighboring atoms is (3/4)a, where a is lattice constant. For Si a=2.351 angstrom.

(1/4,1/4,1/4)
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(1/4,/4,1/4) 22

Miller Indices of Crystal Planes

Y X (100) X (110)

Y X (111)

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Crystal Orientation
The processing characteristics and some material properties of silicon wafers depend on its orientation. The <111> planes have the highest density of atoms on the surface, so crystals grow most easily on these planes and oxidation occurs at a higher pace when compared to other crystal planes. Traditionally, bipolar devices are fabricated in <111> oriented crystals whereas <100> materials are preferred for MOS devices.
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Crystal Defects in Silicon

A crystal defect (microdefect) is any interruption in the repetitive nature of the unit cell crystal structure. These may occur during manufacturing process. Three general types of crystal defects in silicon: 1. Point defects - Localized crystal defect at the atomic level 2. Dislocations - Displaced unit cells 3. Planar or - Defects in crystal structure area defects
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Point Defects

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Dislocations in Unit Cells

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Dislocation Movement

Dislocation moves along slip plane.

Climb of an edge dislocation

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Planer Defects : Twins and Grain boundaries

Twinning

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