Microelectronic Fabrication

Unit 1

Introduction to semiconductor fabrication – scaling trends of semiconductor devices; crystal structure of semiconductor materials, crystal defects, phase diagrams and solid solubility; physics of Czochralski growth of single crystal silicon, Bridgeman method for GaAs, float zone process; diffusion science: Ficks laws of diffusion, atomistic models of diffusion, dopant diffusion mechanisms; kinetics of thermal oxidation, Deal-Grove Model, nitridation of silicon, structure and characteristics of oxides, effect of dopants on oxidation kinetics, dopant redistribution;

Unit 2

Physics of ion implantation: Coulombic scattering and projected range, nuclear and electronic stopping, channeling, implantation damage removal, dopant activation by rapid thermal annealing; principles of optical lithography – optics and diffraction, light sources and spatial coherence, physics of pattern transfer, nodulation transfer function; chemistry of lithographic processes: organic and polymeric photoresists, developing and exposure, contrast; principles of non-optical lithography: electron beam, X-ray lithography, resists, sources; etching: Chemistry of wet etching, plasma physics, chemistry of plasma etching and reactive ion etching; chemical mechanical polishing.

Unit 3

Vacuum science: Kinetic theory of gases, gas flow and conductance, vacuum pumps and seals; deposition of thin films: physics of sputtering and evaporation, step coverage and morphology of deposited films, chemical vapor deposition:chemical equilibrium and law of mass action, gas flow and boundary layers, types of CVD, plasma assisted CVD; thermodynamics of epitaxial growth, types molecular beam epitaxy, isolation and contact formation – LOCOS and trench, silicides, metallization with Al and Cu; process Integration: CMOS, bipolar process flow.