Semiconductors

What is semi-conductor

 electrical properties that are intermediate between the electrical

conductors and insulators
 a material that allows some electricity or heat to move through it and
that is especially used in electronic devices
 it made possible the advent of integrated circuitry that has totally
revolutionized the electronics and computer industries (not mention to
our lives) over the past two decades
Properties of Semi-conductor

 lesser power losses

 smaller in size and possess less weight
 its resistivity is higher than conductors, but lesser than insulators
 its resistance decreases with the increase of temperature and vice-
versa
What is Electronics?

 Electronics is the study of how to control the flow of electrons. It deals with
circuits made up of components that control the flow of electricity.
Electronics is a part of physics and electrical engineering. Electrical
components like transistors and relays can act as switches.
History
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History of Semiconductors
The birth history of semiconductors can be traced back to the invention of the rectifier (AC-DC converter) in
1874. Decades later, Bardeen and Brattain at Bell Laboratories in the US invented the point-contact
transistor in 1947, and Shockley invented the junction transistor in 1948. This heralded the arrival of the
transistor era. In 1946, the University of Pennsylvania in the US built a computer using the vacuum tubes.
The computer was so large that its vacuum tubes occupied the entire building, and it consumed a huge
amount of electricity and produced a lot of heat. Later, the innovative transistor calculator (computer) was
developed, and since then computers have grown by leaps and bounds. In 1956, the Nobel Prize in Physics
was awarded jointly to Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain for their contribution to semiconductor research and
the development of the transistor.
The semiconductor industry grew rapidly following the invention of the transistor. In 1957, it already
exceeded the scale of 100 million dollars. In 1959, the bipolar integrated circuit (ICs) was invented by Kilby
of Texas Instruments and Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor in the US. This invention had a major impact on
the history of semiconductors, and it marked the dawn of the IC era. Being small in size and light in weight,
the IC was widely used in a variety of electric appliances.
In 1967, Texas Instruments developed the electronic desktop calculator (the calculator) using IC. In Japan,
electronic equipment manufacturers released calculators one after another, and fierce “calculator wars”
continued until the end of the 1970s. IC integration advanced even further, and the large-scale integrated
circuit (LSI) was developed. The technologies continue to advance. The VLSI (from 100 thousand to 10
million electronic components per chip) was developed in the 1980s, and the ULSI (more than 10 million
electronic components per chip) was developed in the 1990s. In the 2000s, the system LSI (a multifunction
LSI with multiple functions integrated in a single chip) was put into full-scale production. As IC progresses
toward high performance and multiple functions, its field of application is expanding broadly.
Semiconductors are now used in every corner of our society and support everyday life.
History of Electronics

Year
July 1, 1827 - Joseph Nicephore Niepce made the first photographic image with a camera obscura. Prior to
Niepce people just used the camera obscura for viewing or drawing purposes not for making photographs.
Jan 1, 1835 - Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage.
Sep 20, 1859 - George B. Simpson. is awarded US patent #25532 for an 'electro-heater' surface heated by an
platinum-wire coil powered by batteries.
Jan 1, 1867 - Patented in 1867 by William Lincoln, moving drawings or photographs were watched through a
slit in the zoopraxiscope.
Mar 10, 1876 - Bell's experiments with his assistant Thomas Watson, on the telephone, finally proved
successful on March 10, 1876, when the first complete sentence was transmitted: "Watson, come here; I want
you.".
Jan 1, 1879 - The electric light, one of the everyday conveniences that most affects our lives, was invented by
Thomas Alva Edison.
Jan 18, 1895 - Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian inventor, proved the feasibility of radio communication
Jan 1, 1896 - Guglielmo Marconi pioneered the development of the wireless telegraph.
Jan 1, 1918 - Edwin Armstrong invented the "super-heterodyne receiver" that could select among radio signals
or stations and could receive distant signals.
Jan 1, 1927 - Philo Farnsworth's invention of the television in 1927.
Jan 1, 1930 - The "frying pan" was the first electric guitar ever produced. The instrument was created in 1930
by Adolph Rickenbacker, and subsequently manufactured by Rickenbacker Electro
Nov 16, 1936 - Konrad Zuse invented the Z1 Computer, the first freely programmable computer.
Jan 1, 1956 - The first practical, commercial broadcast quality video recorder was released by Ampex in 1956.
May 16, 1960 - Theodore Maiman made the first laser operate on 16 May 1960 at the Hughes Research Laboratory
in California, by shining a high-power flash lamp on a ruby rod with silver-coated surfaces.
May 24, 1972 - The Magnavox Odyssey is the world's first home video game console. It was first demonstrated on
May 24, 1972 and released in August of that year, predating the Atari Pong home consoles by three years.
Apr 1, 1973 - Dr Martin Cooper, a former general manager for the systems division at Motorola, is considered the
inventor of the first portable handset and the first person to make a call on a portable cell phone in April 1973.
Jan 1, 1981 - The Osborne 1, released in 1981, used the Zilog Z80 and weighed 23.6 pounds (10.7 kg)
Oct 1, 1982 - On October 1, 1982 Sony introduced the CDP-101, the first Compact Disc audio CD player on the
market at a retail price of about $900.
Jan 1, 1989- The World Wide Web was developed in 1989 by English computer scientist Timothy Berners-Lee for
the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).
Mar 1, 1998 - The world's first mass-produced hardware MP3 player was Saehan's MPMan, sold in Asia starting in
the late spring of 1998.
MOLTEN SILICON
BACKGROUND
 Second only to oxygen, silicon is the most abundant element in Earth's
crust. It is found in rocks, sand, clays and soils, combined with either
oxygen as silicon dioxide, or with oxygen and other elements as silicates.
Silicon's compounds are also found in water, in the atmosphere, in many
plants, and even in certain animals.

 When silicon is purified and doped with such elements as boron,

phosphorus and arsenic, it is used as a semiconductor in various
applications. For maximum purity, a chemical process is used that reduces
silicon tetrachloride or trichlorosilane to silicon. Single crystals are grown
by slowly drawing seed crystals from molten silicon.
HISTORY
 Silicon was first isolated and described as an element in 1824 by a Swedish chemist, Jons
Jacob Berzelius. An impure form was obtained in 1811. Crystalline silicon was first produced
in 1854 using electrolysis.
 The type of furnace now used to make silicon, the electric arc furnace, was first invented in
1899 by French inventor Paul Louis Toussaint Heroult to make steel. The first electric arc
furnace in the United States was installed in Syracuse, New York in 1905. In recent years,
furnace technology, including the electrodes used for heating elements, has improved.
 Raw Materials
 Silicon metal is made from the reaction of silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2)
and carbon materials like coke, coal and wood chips. Silica is typically
received in the form of metallurgical grade gravel. This gravel is 99.5%
silica, and is 3 x 1 or 6 x 1 in (8 x 3 cm or 15 x 3 cm) in size. The coal is
usually of low ash content (1-3% to minimize calcium, aluminum, and
iron impurities), contains around 60% carbon, and is sized to match that
of the gravel. Wood chips are usually hardwood of 1/2 x 1/8 inch size (1
x. 3 cm size). All materials are received as specified by the
manufacturer.
 The Manufacturing Process
 The basic process heats silica and coke in a submerged
electric arc furnace to high temperatures. High
temperatures are required to produce a reaction where
the oxygen is removed, leaving behind silicon. This is
known as a reduction process. In this process, metal
carbides usually form first at the lower temperatures. As
silicon is formed, it displaces the carbon. Refining
processes are used to improve purity.
The Reduction Process

 The raw materials are weighed and then placed into the furnace through the top
using the fume hood, buckets, or cars. A typical batch contains 1000 lb (453 kg)
each of gravel and chips, and 550 lb (250 kg) of coal. The lid of the furnace, which
contains electrodes, is placed into position. Electric current is passed through the
electrodes to form an arc. The heat generated by this arc (a temperature of 4000°
F or 2350 ° C) melts the material and results in the reaction of sand with carbon to
form silicon and carbon monoxide. This process takes about six to eight hours. The
furnace is continuously charged with the batches of raw materials.
 While the metal is in the molten state, it is treated with oxygen and air to reduce
the amount of calcium and aluminum impurities. Depending on the grade, silicon
metal contains 98.5-99.99% silicon with trace amounts of iron, calcium and
aluminum.
Cooling/Crushing

 Oxidized material, called slag, is poured off into pots and cooled. The silicon
metal is cooled in large cast iron trays about 8 ft (2.4 m) across and 8 in (20
cm) deep. After cooling, the metal is dumped from the mold into a truck,
weighed and then dumped in the storage pile. Dumping the metal from the
mold to the truck breaks it up sufficiently for storage. Before shipping, the
metal is sized according to customer specifications, which may require a
crushing process using jaw or cone crushers.
Packaging

 Silicon metal is usually packaged in large sacks or wooden boxes weighing up

to 3,000 lb (1,361 kg). In powder form, silicon is packaged in 50-lb (23-kg)
plastic pails or paper bags, 500-lb (227-kg) steel drums or 3,000-lb (1,361-kg)
large sacks or boxes.
Silicon
Molten silicon
Thermophotovotaic
Polished Silicon Wafer
 Before a semiconductor can be built, silicon must turn into a wafer. This
begins with the growth of a silicon ingot. A single silicon crystal consists of
atoms arranged in a three-dimensional periodic pattern that extends
throughout the material. A polysilicon crystal is formed by many small single
crystals with different orientations, which alone, cannot be used for
semiconductor devices
Polycrystaline Single Crystaline Slicing Beveling
Silicon Silicon Pulling

Polishing Annealing Etching Lapping

Cleaning Inspection Picking and

Complete
Shiiping
Surface Mounting
Surface Mount Electronic Components
and their Types
 Surface Mount Technology (SMT) is quite similar to components for Through-
hole Technology in terms of function; however, they are comparatively better
in terms of electric performance. The components used in electronics are not
always available for SMT, however, this can be solved by using mix-and-match
surface mount assembly.
Availability of SMCs:
 The use of components, lead configurations, and package types to form a product is not exactly
simple; Particularly in SMT, the use of components is complex due to the range of requirements.
For example, they should withstand high temperature, they should be properly placed and
soldered so the product meets the demands. There are many standards of different components
to sort out from while some may not have any at all. Some are available with the discount while
others are of the best quality. The SMT field is constantly evolving and changing to help resolve
the various issues that arise from the standardization of components and economic and technical
issues included.
 There are two basic types, active and passive surface mount electronic components.
Passive Surface Mount Electronic
Components (SMCs):
 Components that do not provide any additional power gain to the circuit or
device are called passive components. Their use is somewhat simpler in SMT.
Their shapes are usually either rectangular or cylindrical. Passive surface
mount resistors and capacitors also come in various case sizes so they can be
used in all kinds of applications.
1: Surface Mount Discrete Resistors:

 These are of two main types, thick film, and thin film.
 Thick surface mount resistors are built by screening a resistive film onto a flat
alumina surface. The resistance value is then obtained by checking the variance
between the composition of resistive paste before screening and after screening
along with laser trimming of the film.   
 Thin film resistors are built with the resistive element on a ceramic base with a
protective coating on top. It also has soldered terminations on its sides which have
an adhesion layer on the ceramic substrate and nickel underplating followed by
solder coating. The nickel underplating helps to preserve the solderability of
terminations.  
2: Surface Mount Resistor Networks:

 Also known as R-packs, these are commonly used as replacements for a series
of discrete resistors i.e. a combination of several resistors. The body
dimensions may vary. Generally, they come in 16-20 pins.
3: Surface Mount Ceramic Capacitors:

 A ceramic capacitor is a fixed value capacitor in which the ceramic material

acts as a dielectric. They are ideal for high-frequency applications and are
also used in decoupling applications.  They are very reliable and have been
used in automotive, military and aerospace applications.
4: Surface Mount Tantalum Capacitors:

 The dielectric used here can be ceramic or tantalum. They offer higher
efficiency and reliability. The plastically molded tantalum capacitors have
leads instead of terminations, do not require soldering and there are no
placement concerns. Their capacitance varies from 0.1-100 µF and from 4-50
V. They can also be custom made.
5: SMT Tubular Passive Components:

 Metal electrode leadless face (MELFs) is a type of cylindrically shaped device.

It is used for resistors, capacitors, and diodes. Its metal ends are used for
soldering. They are less expensive and are color-coded to show different
values. The diodes are known as MLL 41 and MLL 34. The resistors are
distinguished as 0805, 1206, 1406 and 2309.
Active Surface Mount Electronic Components:

There are two main categories of active surface mount

electronic components.
Leadless Ceramic Chip Carriers

 These chip carriers do no lave any leads, but have gold plated terminations
that help to operate at higher frequencies. They are distinguished on the
basis of the pitch of the package. Common are 50 mil, 40 mil, 25 mil etc.
Ceramic Leaded Chip Carriers
 These are available in both preleaded and postleaded formats. The preleaded chip carriers the
manufacturer attaches copper alloy or Kovar leads while the postlead chip carriers have leads
attached to the castellations of the leadless ceramic chip carriers by the customer.
Semiconductor
Manufacturing
Processing

 In semiconductor device fabrication, the various processing steps fall into four
general categories: deposition, removal, patterning, and modification of
electrical properties.
Processing: Deposition

 Any process that grows, coats, or otherwise transfers a material onto the
wafer. Available technologies include physical vapor deposition (PVD), 
chemical vapor deposition (CVD), electrochemical deposition (ECD), 
molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and more recently, atomic layer deposition
 (ALD) among others
 Deposition can be understood to include oxide layer formation, by 
thermal oxidation or, more specifically, LOCOS.
Processing: Removal

 Any process that removes material from the wafer; examples include etch
processes (either wet or dry) and chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP).
Processing: Patterning

  Shaping or altering of deposited materials, and is generally referred to as 

photolithography
 Photolithography, also called optical lithography or UV lithography, is a
process used in microfabrication to pattern parts on a thin film or the bulk of
a substrate (also called a wafer
Processing: Modification of electrical properties

  These doping processes are followed by furnace annealing or, in advanced

devices, by rapid thermal annealing (RTA); annealing serves to activate the
implanted dopants
Types of Processing:
a.Front End Of The Line (FEOL)

  FEOL processing refers to the formation of the transistors directly in the 

silicon.
 The raw wafer is engineered by the growth of an ultrapure, virtually defect-
free silicon layer through epitaxy
 Once the epitaxial silicon is deposited, the crystal lattice becomes stretched
somewhat, resulting in improved electronic mobility
Types of Processing:
b. Back End Of The Line (FEOL)

 Second portion of semiconductor fabrication where the individual devices

(transistors, capacitors, resistors, etc.) get interconnected with wiring on the
wafer.
 BEOL generally begins when the first layer of metal is deposited on the wafer
   Stage contacts (pads), interconnect wires, vias and dielectric structures are
formed during this process.
Quality Checking of Wafers
The demands on quality assurance
in the production of semiconductors
are very high. The wafers for
manufacturing the chips have an
extremely homogenous surface, and
any faults in this surface give rise to
high costs.
Wafer Testing

is a step performed during semiconductor device fabrication.

All individual integrated circuits that are present on the wafer are tested for
functional defects by applying special test patterns to them. The wafer testing is
performed by a piece of test equipment called a wafer prober.
Wafer prober
A wafer prober is a system used for electrical
testing of wafers in the semiconductor
development and manufacturing process.
In an electrical test, test signals from a
measuring instrument or tester are transmitted to
individual devices on a wafer via probe needles
or a probe card and the signals are then returned
from the device.
A wafer prober is used for handling the wafer to
make contact in the designated position on the
device.

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