Microelectronics Devices

Yao-Joe Yang

Outline
Basic semiconductor physics
Semiconductor devices

Resistors
Capacitors
P-N diodes
BJT/MOSFET

Type of Solid Materials

Solid materials may be classified as follows:
Amorphous
no ordered atomic arrangement
Polycrystalline
short range atomic order usually in small crystalline grains
(10 - few m)
Crystalline
long range, ordered, atomic arrangement, repeating unit cell

All important semiconductor devices are based on

crystalline materials (Si especially) because of their
reproducible and predictable electrical properties
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Amorphous Structure

Polycrystalline Structure

Grain
Boundary
Grain

Single Crystal Structure

What Are Semiconductors?

Group IV and Group III-V compounds
Silicon(Si), Germanium(Ge), Gallium arsenide (GaAs)
Covalent bond, no free electrons
their energy gaps (~ 1 eV) are not too high
free electrons are generated under light and thermal
agitation
after electrons escape, holes are formed and can be treated
as positive electrons
these electrons and holes provides certain electrical
conductivity
the conductivity becomes higher as temperature increases
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Terminology
Intrinsic semiconductor: undoped semiconductor
electrical properties are native to the material

extrinsic semiconductor: doped semiconductor

electrical properties controlled by the added impurity

donor
impurity atom that increases the electron concentration
group V

acceptor
impurity atom that increases the hole concentration
group III
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Terminology
n-type material:
semiconductor containing more electrons than holes in thermal
equilibrium

p-type material:
semiconductor containing more holes than electrons in thermal
equilibrium

majority carrier:
in n-type material: electrons
in p-type material: holes

minority carrier:
in n-type material: holes
in p-type material: electrons
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Intrinsic Silicon
Perfect covalent bond
Some bonds will be free at temperature T, create
free electrons and holes
concentration of free electrons/hole is a function
of temperature

ni = 3.9 1016 T 3 / 2 e 0.605eV / kT cm 3

ni (300 K ) = 1.5 1010 cm 3

law of mass action

np = ni2

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Properties of Crystalline Silicon

Crystal structure:
diamond or double FCC
5 1022 cm-3 (density = 2.33)

Cubic structure
3 material constants
E: 132 - 188 Gpa
: 0.07 - 0.28

Energy gap: 1.1 eV

valance band to conduction band
Dielectric constant: 11.7

Resistivity of pure silicon at RT = 2.3105 .cm

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Crystalline Silicon
Other mechanical properties

expansion coefficient 2.6m/mK

melting point 1412 C
fracture toughness ~ 1MPam
brittle-ductile transition point ~ 550 C

Strength strongly depends on surface quality

Poly silicon has similar elastic constant and mechanical
properties as crystalline silicon. However, residual
strength, toughness, and electrical properties are quite
different
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Extrinsic Semiconductors
In all important electronic devices, dopant are
purposely added to control the electronic
properties
n-type semiconductor
add phosphorus or arsenic to provide excess electron
carriers

p-type semiconductor
add boron, gallium, or indium into silicon to provide
additional vacancies or holes

The mass-action law is still valid

np = ni2

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Doping
All semiconductor devices are fabricated LOCALLY
introducing controlled number of n- and p-type dopant

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Semiconductor Conductivity
The conductivity((.cm)-1) is determined by the
mobility and concentration of both electrons and
holes

= qnn + q p p

where is the mobility, for silicon

n = 1350 cm2/V.s
p = 480 cm2/V.s
q = 1.609 10-19 C
temperature decreases, conductivity increases
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Resistivity Vs. Doping Concentration

Resistivity =
1/conductivity

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Semiconductor Device Overview

VLSI are consisted by many transistors, capacitors,
diodes, and resistors. However, the transistor
fabrication can cover the other three
One need to know the basic definition, working
principle, and fabrication routes for these basic
elements

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Resistors
A resistor can be defined as a device in which the
applied electric potential and measured current
exhibit a certain relationship, i.e., V = f(I)
For linear device, we have V = RI, where R is
called the resistance of the resistor
Consider a resistor with length L and crosssectional dimension W and d, R can be expressed
as
W
d
L
L
=
R=
Wd d W
L
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Diodes
A diode is a device made of p-n junction
Can be used for rectification
Mathematical model of diodes at forward bias

I D = I S ( eVD / VT 1)
VT =

T
11600

~ 2 for silicon
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p-n Junction

Forward bias
reduce the junction barrier and eliminate the depletion zone

Reverse bias
enhance the junction barrier and increase the depletion zone
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Capacitors
Capacitor is a device in which the charge and
electric potential can be defined, i.e., V = f(Q).
In linear element, we can express the above
relationship as Q=CV. Where C is the capacitance
of the capacitor.
For parallel plate,
C = A/d.
Where is the dielectric constant of dielectric, A is the
overlapped area and d is the separation of two parallel
plates.
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Transistors
Transistors are widely used for switching and
amplification
replace vacuum tubes

Two major transistors

Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
collector, emitter, base
current controlled
Field Effect Transistor (FET)
source, drain, gate
voltage controlled
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Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT)

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Field Effect Transistors (FET)

FET is the most
popular transistor at
this moment
incorporate with
MOS process
Can be divided into
two catalog
MOSFET
depletion
enhancement
JFET

24

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Symbols of FET

FETs are unipolar devices

for switch operation, usually we use NMOS or CMOS
technology to further reduce power consumption and
increase the device density
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CMOS IC

n+ Source/Drain

p+ Source/Drain

Gate Oxide
Polysilicon

p-Si

STI
Balk Si

n-Si

USG

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CMOS Chip
with 4 Metal
Layers

Passivation 2, nitride
Passivation 1, USG
Metal 4

Tantalum
barrier layer

Lead-tin
alloy bump

Copper

FSG
Metal 3

Copper

FSG

Nitride etch
stop layer

FSG
Metal 2
Tungsten plug

Nitride
seal layer

Copper
FSG

M1

Cu

Cu

Tantalum
barrier layer

FSG
FSG

Tungsten local
Interconnection

PSG
STI

T/TiN barrier &

adhesion layer

Tungsten
n+

n+
USG
P-well
P-epi
P-wafer

p+

p+

N-well

PMD nitride
27 layer
barrier

From Basic Elements to a IC Chips

Analog
basic devices (transistors, resistors) to OPAMP
OPAMP to analog circuit
The designer may start from basic devices

Digital
basic devices to basic logic elements, e.g., NAND gate
from basic logic element to logic devices, e.g., FlipFlop
from logic device to logic circuit
e.g., register, memory, adder, .
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Fab Cost

Fab cost is very high, > $1B for 8 fab

Clean room
Equipment, usually > $1M per tool
Materials, high purity, ultra high purity
Facilities
People, training and pay

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Wafer Yield

YW =

Wafers good
Waferstotal
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Die Yield

YD =

Dies

good

Dies total
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Packaging Yield

YC =

Chips good
Chips total
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Overall Yield

YT = YWYDYC
Overall Yield determines whether a fab is
making profit or losing money
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