IC TECHNOLOGY PRACTICAL

TRAINING (EEP788)

Submitted By: Submitted To:

Arun Singh Professor

Professor Sudhir Chandra
Indian Institute Of
Technology, New Delhi

1
 Contents

1. Inspection of processed wafer and understanding of Al-gate and Si-gate MOS

process

2. Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP)

3. Thermal Evaporation of Aluminum

4. Reactive and Ion Etching

5. RF Sputtering

6. Wafer cleaning and Thermal Oxidation

7. Boron Diffusion

8. Photolithography

9. Etching of Sio2 and Al layer

2
 Inspection of processed wafer and understanding
of Al-gate and Si-gate MOS process
The fabrication process steps of Al Metal Gate technology and Self-aligned Silicon Gate
technology were studied. The wafers were then inspected under optical microscope.
Optical microscope available in the lab provides up to 400 times optical magnification.
SEM microscope can be used to see depth of any layer of active devices. The following
structures were observed under an optical microscope.
1. Metal Gate PMOS
2. A total of four masks are used to make a PMOS transistor in Metal Gate
technology.
a. Mask #1: To define source and drain
b. Mask #2 : To define gate
c. Mask #3 : To make contact window
d. Mask #4 : Metallization
3. Silicon Gate self-aligned NMOS
4. The Stripe Track was inspected. This is used to separate various parts on the chip.
5. Two metal gate Op-Amp structures were observed. The Op-Amp was having
transistors of various sizes. Large size transistor was fabricated by bending the
active area to utilise the available silicon area.
6. Mos capacitor was observed and examined. It was observed that a large value of
capacitance was obtained by using an array of small unit capacitors rather than
one big capacitor.
7. Bonding pads were observed. They were connected to the external pins with
Aluminum wires.
8. Some alignment marks were observed on the chip. The alignment marks are used
for aligning the mask properly during various fabrication steps.

3
 Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP)
In CMP process the wafer is placed face down in a polishing machine and the upper
surface is polished flat using high-PH silica slurry. CMP uses a combination of
mechanical grinding and wet chemical process to polish the wafer surface. The wafer is
polished under pressure and is rotated in the polishing machine in slurry consisting of a
suspension of fine Sio2 particle in an aqueous solution of NAOH. The rotation and
pressure generate heat that drives chemical reaction in which OH- radicals from NAOH
oxidize the silicon. The sio2 particles abrade the oxide away. This results in defect free
and mirror finish surface suitable for IC fabrication.
Process Description: Both mechanical and chemical process of CMP is described
below.

1. Mechanical Polishing: The main steps of mechanical polishing are described

below:
I. Wax is used to fix the wafer on jigs. A jig is heated up to 160 0 C to fix the
wafer on the jigs. Xylene is used to remove the wax. DI water is used for
cleaning the wafer.
II. Lapping is the first step of mechanical polishing. In lapping two surfaces are
rubbed together with an abrasive between them. Sic of 10 µ m size is first
used to planarise the wafer.
III. Next step is coarse mechanical polishing using diamond paste (diamond
particle size of 5 µ m) on zins cloth. Diamond paste is a type of polishing
compound made from finely powdered diamond particle. Machine oil is
used as lubricant. CMP machine is rotated at 90 rpm.
IV. Next step is fine polishing using diamond paste (diamond particle size of 1
µ m) on velvet cloth.
2. Chemical Polishing: In this step colloidal silica is used and CMP machine is
rotated at 50 rpm. Colloidal silica is suspension of fine amorphous, nonporous and
typically spherical silica particles in a liquid phase. Here care should be taken so
that wafer should not be in contact to stationary solution for long time, because it
degrades the quality of polished surface. After finishing chemical polishing, wafer
is put in DI water.

4
 Thermal Evaporation of Aluminum

In this process the source material (Aluminum) is heated in a vacuum chamber (10-6
Torr). Melting point of Aluminum is 6600 C. Evaporated atoms from the source condense
on the surface of the wafers. In high vacuum system very little gas phase scattering of
evaporated atoms occur and mean free path is very long. So atoms travel in straight lines
from source to the wafers. Deposited film using this method is very pure because
deposition is done in high vacuum (there are no gases or particles to get incorporated in
the film). There is little damage caused to the wafers because wafers are not subjected to
energetic particles. Major disadvantage of thermal evaporation deposition system are –
tungsten, alloy and compound films are difficult to evaporate.

Process Description: Tungsten filament is used for heating the Aluminum wire
source. For heating the powdered source there is tungsten boat available. Major
processing steps are described below:
1. Vacuum of 10-3 Torr is required in the backing line before starting the diffusion
pump. So first Backing Valve is opened and a vacuum of 10 -3 Torr is created with
the help of Rotary Pump. During this time Roughing Valve is closed.
2. Next Backing Valve is closed and Roughing Valve is opened. Now Diffusion
Pump is switched on. It takes 30 minutes for heating the Silicone Oil.
3. Liquid Nitrogen cold trap is used that condenses insoluble gas into a liquid or
solid. It prevents oil vapours from following from diffusion pump into the
chamber.
4. After 30 minutes Roughing valve is closed and Backing Valve is opened. Now
High Vacuum Valve is opened to create ultimate vacuum (10 -6 Torr) in the
chamber.
5. After one hour vacuum of 10-6 Torr was created and 240 V input power source
was applied to evaporate the Aluminum source.

5
 Reactive and Ion Etching
In RIE system both physical and chemical etching takes place. Ionic species causes
physical etching and neutral reactive species causes chemical etching. Physical etching
provides anisotropy and chemical etching provides selectivity. In RIE system energy is
supplied by an RF generator operating at 13.56 MHz. Plasma is created by applying high
electric field across the two electrodes. RIE system operates at high vacuum of 10-6 Torr.
Vacuum unit: Rotary Pump is the primary pump and Diffusion Pump is the secondary
pump. Diffusion Pump is one of the most common types of pump for high vacuum
application. It can create vacuum down to 10-6 Torr. Diffusion pump begins to operate at
vacuum level of 10-3. Diffusion pump can not operate at full atmospheric pressure inside
the chamber. First a rotary pump is used to bring diffusion pump chamber down to about
10-3 Torr. At this point diffusion pump takes over to create a high vacuum ranging from
10-3 to 10-6 Torr.

Fig1: Block diagram of Vacuum Unit

Observations and Results: Forward RF power measured = 100 W. Reflected RF
power = 0 W. Light pink colour plasma was created. O2 gas flow = 0 to 25 sccm
(Standard cubic centimeter). SF6 gas flow = 0 to 50 sccm. Dial meter gauge was used to
measure the thickness of wafer. Before etching Wafer + thin film thickness = 0.52 mm.
After RIE wafer thickness = 0.50 mm.

6
 RF Sputtering
In RF sputtering system argon inert gas is fed into the chamber at low pressure (10-6
Torr). RF voltage at 13.56 MHz is applied across the two electrodes and plasma is
created. Plasma contains neutral argon atoms, roughly equal numbers of positive ions and
free electrons. In magnetron sputtering, magnets are used to increase the percentage of
electrons that take part in ionization.

Vacuum Unit: In vacuum unit Rotary Pump is the primary pump and Diffusion Pump
is the secondary pump. Diffusion Pump is one of the most common types of pump for

Fig2: Diffusion Pump block diagram

high vacuum application. It can create vacuum down to 10-6 Torr. Diffusion pump begins
to operate at vacuum level of 10-3. Diffusion pump can not operate at full atmospheric
pressure inside the chamber. First a rotary pump is used to bring diffusion pump chamber
down to about 10-3 Torr. At this point diffusion pump takes over to create a high vacuum
ranging from 10-3 to 10-6 Torr.
Diffusion pump is made from stainless steel chamber. It has cone shaped jet
assemblies. In diffusion pump low vapour pressure oil (e.g., Silicone Oil) is used. The oil
is boiled using electric heater. The vapourised oil move upward. Chilled water is used
outside the chamber to cool the chamber. This is called diffusion pump because oil

7
vapours diffuse in the air of the chamber and displace air from upper portion of the
chamber. The displaced air is finally removed from the chamber using roughing pump.
The diffused oil vapour condenses when come in contact with the cooled chamber wall
and falls by gravity to start the next cycle.

Observations and Results: Forward RF power measured = 300 W. Reflected RF

power = 0 W. Light pink colour plasma was created. Argon gas passed at the pressure of
20 mTorr in the chamber with vacuum valve opened partially (known as throttle
position). Four types of thin film (Chromium, Silicon, PSG and gold) can be deposited
using RF sputtering system available in the microelectronic lab. Pirani Gauge used to
measure pressure upto 10-3 Torr and Penni Gauge to measure pressure upto 10-6 Torr.
Magnetron sputtering was used for Si deposition to increase deposition rate. Diode
sputtering can be used for Au deposition.

8
 Wafer Cleaning and Thermal Oxidation

Cleaning must remove particles, PR, contaminations of any other elements present on the
wafer surface. Followings are main wafer cleaning steps.
1. Wafer to be cleaned are dipped in IPA solution and put on ultrasonic vibration for
5 minutes to remove finger print, oil, grease etc.
2. Next IPA1, IPA2 and IPA3 bath and ultrasonic vibration of wafers for 5 minutes
in each case. IPA2 and IPA3 are recovered from IPA1.
3. Next wafers are dipped in DI water to remove IPA and to make wafers ready for
further processing.
4. Dip in 5% HF solution for 30 seconds to remove wet oxide.
5. Wafer rinsing in DI water for 5-6 times.
6. H2SO4 + H2O2 (1:1 by volume) dip for 15 minutes.
7. Wafer rinsing in DI water for 5-6 times.
8. Dip in 5% HF solution for 30 seconds.
9. Wafer rinsing in DI water for 5-6 times.
10. H2SO4 + H2O2 (1:1 by volume) dip for 15 minutes.
11. Wafer rinsing in DI water for 5-6 times.
12. Wafers spin dry and the wafers are ready for oxidation.

Wet oxidation of wafer: Wet oxidation was carried out in Mini-Brute furnace at
10500 C. Furnace consists of front part, centre part and rear part. To carry out oxidation at
10500 C, temperature setting of furnace is 5300 C (front part), 7650 C (centre part) and
5100 C (rear part). Furnace is heated through resistive coil heating.
Procedure:
1. Wafers are kept on the mouth of furnace for 5 minutes.
2. Push time of wafer boat from mouth of the furnace to the centre of the furnace is
3 minutes.
3. During this time N2 is passed at the rate of 1 liter/min to create inert environment.

9
4. Dry oxidation is carried out for 10 minutes. Quality of dry oxide is very good and
it acts as screen during wet oxidation process. O2 flow during this time is 1
liter/min.
5. Next wet oxidation is carried out for 1 hour to grow 0.5 µ m oxide. Water vapour
is passed in the furnace using bubbler.
6. Finally dry oxidation is carried out for 10 minutes.
7. Annealing is the last steps in N2 ambient to remove pin holes that might be
formed on wafer surface during wet oxidation process.

Fig3: Block Diagram of Wet Oxidation system

10
 Boron Diffusion

To create PN junction and to make active devices, we need to introduce dopant atoms in
Si crystals. Predeposition is used to controllably introduce a desired dose of dopant atoms
in Si crystals. The maximum amount of dopant atoms that can be dissolved in Si under
equilibrium condition is termed as solid solubility. After predeposition wafer is subjected
to high temperature drive in to create large junction depth. Impurities diffuse in wafer
following concentration gradient.

Procedure:
1. For boron diffusion Tempress furnace was used.
2. N2 is passed at 3 liter/min and O2 is passed at 100 CC/min in the diffusion
furnace. Oxygen was used to dilute BSG formed during diffusion process.
3. If required dummy wafer can be used to protect backside of wafer from doping.
4. BBr3 (Boron Tribromide) boron source was used.
5. Diffusion was carried out at 10500 C for 30 minutes to create sheet resistance of
0.6 Ohms per square.
6. During cooling of wafer after diffusion, O2 flow was stopped and N2 flow was
reduced to 1 liter/min.
7. Wafers are kept for two minutes on the mouth of furnace before taking it out. This
was done to make smooth change of wafer temperature.

Results: For 30 minutes boron diffusion at 10500 C, junction depth measured was 0.05
µ m. Sheet resistance was measured using four point probe method. Sheet resistance was
found to be 0.6 Ohm per square.

11
 Photolithography

Photolithography is the process used in IC technology to selectively remove parts of the

thin film of a substrate. In this process light is used to transfer geometric pattern from
mask to resist. The pattern in the resist is created by exposing it to light. Photolithography
is the most common process of IC fabrication. Wafer undergoes through this step several
times during fabrication.

Process:
1. Photolithography was performed on glassline and Si wafer.
2. Positive PR (Shipley 1400-27) was used.
3. PR was spin coated at 600 rpm.
4. Pre-bake was done at 950 C for 45 minutes.
5. Dark field mask was used.
6. Contact lithography was performed.
7. Wafer was exposed to UV light for 18 second.
8. PR was developed for 1 minute.
9. Wafer rinsing in DI1 and DI2 for 30 seconds.
10. Spin dry of wafer.
11. Post-bake at 1350 C for 45 minutes.

12
 Etching of Sio2 and Al layer
Etching can be of two types: Dry etching and wet etching. Wet etching involves use of
liquid etchants. Dry etching involves the use of gas phase etchants in plasma. Wet etching
provides selectivity. Wet etching is faster than dry etching and it is isotropic in nature.
Process:
Oxide etching:
1. Buffered Hydrofluoric Acid (BHF) was used as etching solution.
2. Solution composition used was HF: NH4F = 49%: 40% by weight. The most
commonly used ratio is HF: NH4F = 1: 6.7 by volume.
3. Etching was performed at room temperature.
4. EKC Burmer 712D Universal Photoresist Stripper (phenol) was used for stripping
PR.

Aluminum etching:
1. Solution composition used was HNO3 (Nitric Acid): CH3COOH (Acetic
Acid):H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide):H3PO4 (Orthophosphoric Acid) = 1 part: 1 part:
1 part: 18 part by volume.
2. Temperature of etching solution was kept at 400 C.
3. EKC Burmer 712D Universal Photoresist Stripper (phenol) was used for stripping
PR.

13