Microelectronic Products
Semiconductor devices control their operation
PDA
XBox
MP3
Laptop
Hard Disk Handphone
Vacuum Tubes
• With contacts, current can flow across the vacuum
• First used as a diode in 1904
• Later acted as a current amplifier
Transistor and Integrated Circuit
First Integrated
Circuit by Jack Kilby,
Texas Instruments
(1958)
First patent
Integrated Circuit
First point-contact by Robert Noyce,
transistor by Schockley, Fairchild
Bardeen & Brittan, Bell Semiconductor
Laboratories (1947) (1961)
Moore’s Law
Number of
transistors
doubles every
1.5 to 2 years
State-of-the-art Technology
Aluminum interconnect
(metal wiring) system
NMOS transistor
with minimum
channel length
International Technology Roadmap
for Semiconductors
• Limits of semiconductor
technologies are
approaching
• Technical requirements
and challenges need to be
identified
• ITRS allows worldwide
collaboration in research,
development and
production
http://public.itrs.net/
Semiconductor Devices
diode capacitor transistor resistor
All active or passive devices can be made in the same
piece of semiconductor material (eg. Si)
Ag
Si Solar Cells
Fig. Schematic of a screen-printed
cell on a Cz Si wafer. Eff = 15-16%
++ on large wafers.
n
TiOx
p-Si plated metal
Al/Ag
Front finger Inverted pyramids
(Ti-Pd-Ag) Oxide
n+ SiO2
p+ n++ p-Si
p-silicon
n++ Oxide metal
n+
p+
Fig. Schematic of a buried-contact cell
Rear point contact
p+
p+
on a p-type Cz Si wafer. Eff = 17-18%
Rear electrode
(Aluminium) on large wafers.
MOS system
Fig. Schematic of a PERL (or LBSF) cell on a p-
type Fz Si wafer.
Semiconductor Manufacturing Process
005)
Design Stage
Program Code
function Example
% Example of code
for m = 1 to 3
Logic Design
if Answer = 1;
c = c + 5;
…… Circuit Design
end
……
end
Design Stage
Physical Layout Design
e.g. inverter
h
h
Dimensions of Transistor
Bulk Crystal Growth
Conversion of raw
materials into single-
crystal silicon wafers
ready for processing
into microelectronics
devices.
2005)
Fabrication Steps of CMOS
Epitaxy – growth of a layer
of single crystal Si
Oxidation – oxidize in O2
(dry) or H2O (steam) to
form a layer of SiO2
Lithography – pattern
transfer from mask design
to wafer
n 2005)
Definition of Active Regions
Diffusion – Pre-deposition
of dopants and drive-in
through annealing
Fabrication of Polysilicon Gate
Chemical Vapour Deposition – growth of different
film through decomposition of various gases
()
Definition of Source/Drain Regions
Ion Implantation – high
precision doping of
substrates through
control of ion energy
and dosage
Back-End Processes
Etching – selective
removal of materials
through chemical or
physical processes
Sputter Deposition –
deposition of a film by
physical removal from
a target material
Packaging and Testing
(2005)an 2
Other Devices Fabricated Using
Semiconductor Processes
• Memory devices - DRAM
• Photonic devices
• Bio-applications
• MEMS
– Micro-gears
– Micro-mirrors
Si Nanowire Devices
(C. Lieber, et al.)
Carbon Nanotube (CNT) FET
