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TN 423: Vlsi Circuits: Silicon Wafers

The document discusses the process of producing silicon wafers for integrated circuits. Single crystal silicon ingots are grown using the Czochralski process, which involves melting high-purity silicon and pulling a seed crystal up slowly to form a cylindrical ingot. The ingot is sliced into thin wafers about 0.75mm thick using diamond cutters. The wafers are polished, etched, and cleaned. They undergo processing such as doping and deposition of materials to build transistors and interconnects. The wafer is diced into individual dies, each containing one copy of the circuit.

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Bernard Mkumbwa Jr.
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47 views23 pages

TN 423: Vlsi Circuits: Silicon Wafers

The document discusses the process of producing silicon wafers for integrated circuits. Single crystal silicon ingots are grown using the Czochralski process, which involves melting high-purity silicon and pulling a seed crystal up slowly to form a cylindrical ingot. The ingot is sliced into thin wafers about 0.75mm thick using diamond cutters. The wafers are polished, etched, and cleaned. They undergo processing such as doping and deposition of materials to build transistors and interconnects. The wafer is diced into individual dies, each containing one copy of the circuit.

Uploaded by

Bernard Mkumbwa Jr.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TN 423: VLSI CIRCUITS

Lecture 3

SILICON WAFERS

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 1


Silicon Preparations…
Crystal Growth
ΩEGS has very small impurity levels
ΩEGS is polycrystalline material
ΩUsed in the preparation of single crystal silicon
ΩPolycrystalline silicon rods (EGS) are converted
to even purer and defect free single crystals
ΩTwo techniques are used in the growth
i. Czochralski (CZ) technique
ii. Float Zone (FZ) technique

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 2


Silicon Preparations…
Czochralski (CZ) Process
Ω The Czochralski process is a method of crystal growth
used to obtain single crystals of semiconductors (e.g),
metals (e.g. palladium, platinum, silver, gold), salts and
many oxide crystals ( LaAlO3, YAG, .and GGG etc )
Ω Named after J. Czochralski (a Polish Chemist) who
determined the crystallization velocity of metals by
pulling mono- and polycrystals against gravity out of a
melt which is held in a crucible.
Ω The most important application may be the growth of
large cylindrical ingots, or boules, of single crystal
silicon.

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 3


Silicon Preparations…
Ω The puller consists of three main components:
1. a furnace, which includes a fused-silica crucible, a
graphite susceptor, a rotation mechanism (clockwise as
shown), a heating element, and a power supply;
2. a crystal-pulling mechanism, which includes a seed
holder and a rotation mechanism (counter-Clockwise);
and
3. an ambient control, which includes a gas source (such
as argon), a flow control and an exhaust system.

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 4


Silicon Preparations…
Ω A schematic diagram of a Czochralski-Si grower, called
puller, is shown.

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 5


Silicon Preparations…
Ω High-purity, semiconductor-grade silicon (only a
few parts per million of impurities) is melted
down in a crucible , which is usually made of
Quartz.

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 6


Silicon Preparations…
Ω Dopant impurity atoms such as boron or phosphorus can be added
to the molten intrinsic silicon in precise amounts in order to dope
the silicon, thus changing it into n-type or p-type extrinsic silicon.
Ω This influences the electrical conductivity of the silicon.
Ω A seed crystal, mounted on a rod, is dipped into the molten silicon.
Ω The seed crystal's rod is pulled upwards and rotated at the same
time.

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 7


Silicon Preparations…
 The growth of Silicon crystal depends on
➢ The pulling rate of the seed
➢ Melt temperature
➢ The counter clockwise rotation rate of the
seed
Ω This process is normally performed in an
inert atmosphere, such as argon, and in
an inert chamber, such as quartz.

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 8


Silicon Wafer Preparations…
• Thin silicon wafers
are cut from these
ingots (typically about
0.75 mm thick) and
polished to a very
high flatness to be
used for creating
integrated circuits.
•

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 9


Silicon Wafer Preparations
Crystal Shaping
Ω Si crystal obtained from CZ and FZ processes
is called an ingot
Ω Ingot is hard and brittle
Ω Ingots are then shaped and sliced through
mechanical processes to form wafers.

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 10


Silicon Wafer Preparations…
Silicon wafers

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 11


Silicon Wafer Preparations…
Ω A wafer is a thin slice of semiconductor
material, such as a crystalline Silicon,
used in electronics for the fabrication of
ICs
Ω Diamond is used in cutting and shaping Si
Ω After cutting and polishing, the Si wafers
are packed
Ω The packed wafers are ready to be used
in the fabrication of ICs
VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 12
Silicon Wafer Preparations…
Ω CMOS transistors are fabricated on silicon wafer
Ω It is also called a slice or substrate
Ω The wafer serves as the substrate for microelectronic
devices built in and over the wafer and undergoes many
micro fabrication process steps such as
✓ doping or ion implantation,
✓ etching,
✓ deposition of various materials, and
✓ photolithographic patterning.
Ω Finally the individual microcircuits are separated (dicing)
and packaged.

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 13


Silicon Wafer Preparations…
Ω A wafer is the base material for IC
manufacturing process
Ω Diameter of wafer is between 4-12 inches (10-
30 cm) and a thickness of at most 1 mm
Ω Wafers are obtained by cutting a single-crystal
ingot into thin slices
Ω The surface of a wafer is doped more heavily
and a single crystal epitaxial layer of the
opposite type is grown on the surface

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 14


Silicon Wafer Preparations…
Wafer Etching and Polishing
Ω Mechanical shaping of wafers leads to surface
damage and contamination
Ω Damage and contamination can be removed by
chemically etching the wafers
Ω Chemical etching of wafer in two types:
✓ Acid etching and
✓ alkali etching
Ω Acid etching: wafers introduced into an acid
sink

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 15


Silicon Wafer Preparations…

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 16


Silicon Wafer Preparations…
Ω The wafer is cut (diced) into many pieces,
each containing one copy of the circuit.
Ω Each of these pieces is called a die.
Ω A die is a small block of semiconducting
material, on which a given functional
circuit is fabricated.

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 17


Silicon Wafer Preparations…
Ω Si wafer showing dies

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 18


Silicon Wafer Preparations…
Ω Magnified scribe lines and Dies

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 19


Silicon Wafer Preparations…
Ω Dies are used in the assembly of ICs

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 20


Silicon Wafer Preparations…
Ω Bonding pads

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 21


Silicon Wafer Preparations…
Ω Packing of IC chips

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 22


Lecture 4

IC FABRICATION TECHNIQUES

VLSI CIRCUITS UDOM 23

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