PHYSICAL ELECTRONICS (MTE 310)
3.0 Integrated Circuit Technology
An integrated circuit (IC) is a miniature, low-cost electronic circuit consisting of
active and passive components fabricated together on a single crystal of silicon.
The active components are transistors and diodes and passive components are
resistors and capacitors.
Classification of ICs
Below is the classification of different types of ICs basis on their chip size.
SSI: Small scale integration: 3 – 30 gates per chip.
MSI: Medium scale integration: 30 – 300 gates per chip.
LSI: Large scale integration: 300 – 3,000 gates per chip.
VLSI: Very large scale integration: More than 3,000 gates per chip.
Types of Integrated Circuits
Based on the method or techniques used in manufacturing them, ICs can be
categorized into three classes:
1. Thin and thick film ICs
2. Monolithic ICs
3. Hybrid or multichip ICs.
Thin and thick film ICs: in thin or thick film ICs, passive components such as
resistors, capacitors are integrated but the diodes and transistors are connected
as separate components to form a single and a complete circuit. Thin and thick
film ICs that are produced commercially are merely the combination of
integrated and discrete (separate) components.
In monolithic ICs, the discrete components, the active and the passive and also
the interconnections between then are formed on a silicon chip. The word
monolithic is actually derived from two Greek words “mono” meaning one or
single and Lithos meaning stone. Thus, monolithic circuit is a circuit that is built
into a single crystal.
Hybrid or Multi chip ICs: as the name implies, “multi”, more than one individual
chips are interconnected. The active components that are contained in this kind
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of ICs are diffused transistors or diodes. The passive components are the diffused
resistors or capacitors on a single chip.
Structure of IC
In an integrated circuit, the die is a part of semiconductor material like silicon.
The transformation of this can be done to a functional circuit through a
fabrication process like doping, metallization chemical-deposition of vapour &
photolithography. Actually, this process generates multiple circuits composed of
a wafer, after separated through dicing. The die can be enclosed within a package
& connecting wires using electrical connections among the terminals of the
package which is known as pins as well as the equivalent nodes of the die on IC.
All integrated circuits are polarized, where each pin of the IC is unique in both
function & location, that is, the package has to include some technique to
communicate. Most of the ICs will utilize either a dot or a notch to specify which
pin is the primary pin. When the primary pin is identified, the rest of the pin
numbers will increase in counter-clockwise order in the region of the chip.
The process of manufacturing integrated circuit may be broken up into five major
steps shown in Figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1: Process of manufacturing integrated circuit
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Figure 3.2: An integrated circuit
The procedure for integrated circuit production is explained below;
Wafer production
The big single crystal of silicon, shaped like a long solid pipe is sliced into thin
discs (about the size of a compact disc) called wafers. The wafers are marked out
in a lot of identical square or rectangular areas, each of which will build up a
single silicon chip (sometimes called a microchip). Thousands, millions, or billions
of apparatus are then produced on each chip by doping dissimilar areas of the
surface to turn them into n-type or p-type silicon. Doping is completed by a
multiplicity of different processes. In one of them, known as sputtering, ions of
the doping material are fired at the silicon wafer just like bullets from a gun. One
more procedure called vapour deposition involves introducing the doping
material as gas and letting it concentrate such that the impurity atoms generate
a thin film on the surface of the silicon wafer.
Masking
To protect some area of wafer when working on another area, a process
called photolithography is used. The process of photolithography includes
masking with a photographic mask and photo etching. Then, a photoresist film
is applied on the wafer when the wafer is aligned to a mask using photo aligner.
Etching
This is a process where materials are selectively removed from the surface of
wafer to create patterns. The pattern is defined by etching mask. Either wet
(chemical) or dry (physical) etching can be used to remove the unmasked
material. To carry out etching in all directions at same time, isotropic etching
is preferred because isotropic etching is faster in one direction. Wet etching uses
liquid solvents for removing materials. It is not suited to transfer pattern with
submicron feature size. It does not damage the material. Dry etching uses gases
to remove materials but it is less selective. It is suited to transfer pattern having
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small size. The remaining photo resist is finally removed using additional
chemicals or plasma. Then the wafer is inspected to make sure that the image is
transferred from mask to the top layer of wafer.
Doping
To alter the electrical characteristics of silicon, atom with one less electron than
silicon such as boron and atom with one electron greater then silicon such as
phosphorous are introduced into the area. The P-type (boron) and N-type
(phosphorous) are created to reflect their conducting characteristics. p and n
regions are created by adding dopants into the wafer. The wafers are placed in
an oven which is made up of quartz and it is surrounded with heating elements.
Then the wafers are heated at a temperature of about 1500-2200°F. The dopant
and gas are passed through the wafers and finally the dopant will get deposited
on the wafer.
Metallization
Metallization is done to create contact with silicon and to make interconnections
on chip by a thin layer of aluminium deposition on the whole wafer. Aluminium
is selected because it is a good conductor, has good mechanical bond with silicon,
forms low resistance contact and it can be applied and patterned with single
deposition and etching process.
The process such as masking, etching, doping will be repeated for each successive
layers until all integrated chips are completed. Between the components, silicon
dioxide is used as insulator and aluminium deposited to make contact pads. For
electrical and physical isolation, a layer of solid dielectric is surrounded in each
component which provides isolation and allows the possibility of fabricating PNP
and NPN transistor in the same silicon substrate. To avoid damage and
contamination of circuit, final dielectric layer is deposited. After that, the
individual IC will be tested for electrical function, functionality of each chip on
wafer and the chips that are not passed in the test will be rejected.
Assembly and packaging
Each of the wafers contains hundreds of chips. These chips are separated and
packaged by a method called scribing and cleaving. The chips that failed the
electrical test are discarded before packaging while the remaining chips are
observed under microscope. The good chip is then mounted into a package. Thin
wire is connected using ultrasonic bonding. It is then encapsulated for protection.
Before delivered to customer, the chip is tested again. There are three
configurations available for packaging. They are metal can package, ceramic flat
package and dual in line package. For military applications, the chip is assembled
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in ceramic packages. The complete integrated circuits are sealed in anti-static
plastic bags.
Advantages of integrated circuit
The advantages of the integrated circuits include the following:
Small size
less power consumption
It is reliable because there are no soldered joints.
Its cost of production is low
Less weight
Replacement can be done very easily
Improved operating speed & performance
It operates at high temperatures
Appropriate for small signal operation
Disadvantages
The disadvantages of the integrated circuits include the following:
Integrated circuit handles simply a limited amount of power.
The power dissipation is restricted to 10 watts
High rating PNP assembly is not achievable.
High voltage operation & less noise are not simply obtained.
A low-temperature coefficient cannot be achieved
Applications of Integrated Circuits
The applications of an IC include the following:
Radar
Wristwatches
Televisions
Juice makers
Computers
Video processors
Audio amplifiers
Memory devices
Logic devices
Radio frequency encoders and decoders
