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Basic Unit Processes

• Deposition (Material addition)
– Spin coating, PVD (evaporation, sputtering), CVD,
thermal oxidation

• Lithography (Pattern transfer)

Overview of microfabrication – Photolithography with various wavelengths, ebeam
lithography

• Etching (Material removal)

– wet chemical etching, dry plasma etching, cleaning

• Packaging
– adhesion, wire bonding

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Overview of Micro Fabrication Procedure

start Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3 Cycle 4 Cycle 5 Cycle 6

Starting
Device
wafer

subtracting Pattern transfer

(etching)

Adding
(deposition)

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Optical Lithography

Unit process of microfabrication

(Lithography)

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Spin Coating Spin Coating (cont’d)

• A thin film is coated onto the wafer by dispensing liquid material and
spinning the wafer.

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Spin Coating (cont’d) Methods of optical lithography

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAFE6pZBT9c

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Methods of optical lithography (cont’d) Contact lithography

Split Screen Video
> Projection Alignment System
• Projection lithography, especially when Dual Microscopes with Quintel Q170/15 UV
combined with an optical imaging Video Cameras Exposure System
system that reduces the image size, is
used for high-resolution patterning
(submicron to very submicron)

• Larger mask features, no contact with

Mask Clamp
mask
Complex Joystick
• Wafer steppers expose one die at a
time, assuring good focus and
registration
Substrate Chuck
Programmable
Logic Controller
Substrate Tray Load
Manual Operator
Control Buttons

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Projection lithography Other lithographic techniques

• Electron beam lithography

– High resolution (tens of nanometers)
– NEMS (NanoElectroMechanical Systems)
– A slow, serial process

• Soft lithography
– Using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, a rubber material) as a
The true complexity of a wafer stepper is apparent in this
system drawing. (Courtesy of ASM Lithography, Inc.)
physical mold to replicate structures
– Advantages
• Patterning cured surfaces
Concept of lens systems for a wafer
stepper. • Rapid, inexpensive fabrication

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Etching
• The process of selectively removing unneeded material from
the wafer by using either chemical or physical means.

Etching • Etching process

– Wet etching (chemical etching)
– Dry etching (physical or chemical etching)

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Isotropic and Anisotropic Etching Wet Etching

• Wet etching
– A chemical etching process performed with a
liquid etchant on a wafer
– Material removal reactions occur in the liquid
phase

– A chemical etching process performed with a

liquid etchant on a wafer
– Material removal reactions occur in the liquid phase

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• Dry etching
Dry Etching Dry etcher
– A family of methods by which a solid surface is etched in the gas or
– RIE
vapor phase, physically by ion bombardment, chemically by a chemical
reaction through a reactive species at the surface, or by combined
physical and chemical mechanisms
– Material removal reactions occur in the gas phase, usually by a plasma
(ionized gas)

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Thermal oxidation
• Why? Silicon Dioxide
– Electrical insulator
– Dopant diffusion barrier
– Sacrificial layer
Thermal oxidation
• Dry oxidation: O2, slow, high quality, used for thin oxide
– Si (solid) + O2 (gas)  SiO2 (solid)

• Wet oxidation: O2 + H2O, fast, used for thick oxide

– Si (solid) + 2H2O (steam)  SiO2 (solid) + 2H2 (gas)

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Oxidation furnace
Principle of thermal oxidation

(a) (b)
Figure 3.11 Furnaces used for oxidation and diffusion
(a) A three-tube horizontal furnace with multizone temperature control
(b) Vertical furnace (Courtesy of Crystec, Inc.)

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Oxidation furnace
Heating Elements
Fused Silica Tube
Input Gas
Valve

SiC Boat
Bubbler 90 °C water SiC
Cantilevered
Paddle

http://fabweb.ece.uiuc.edu/gt/gt/gt7.aspx

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Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD)

• Remove material from a solid source, transport to substrate, and
deposit on substrate

• A rapid and low temperature processes

Deposition (Physical vapor
deposition) • PVD techniques
– Sputtering
– Evaporation
– Spin-coating

• Differences among PVD techniques

– How material is removed from source
– Directionality when it arrives at substrate

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Fundamental of evaporation E beam evaporation

• Early technique, less common in
industry today

• Operation performed in high vacuum

• The material to be evaporated is heated

in an evacuated chamber so that it
attains a gaseous state. Vapor of this
material traverse the space from the
source to the substrate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN7NZYXGSbk

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Evaporation Sputtering
Bell jar

Planetarium

• More versatile than vacuum evaporation: (a) ability to deposit a wide variety
of metals and insulators, as well as their mixtures, (b) the replication of target
composition in the deposited film, and (c) the capability for in-situ cleaning of
Charge Shutter the substrate prior to film deposition.

• Unreactive ions (i.e. Ar) sputter material off a target by momentum transfer

Vacuum and • Low pressure, but not high vacuum

deposition controller
• Less directional than evaporation

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Sputtering target Sputtering system

Single sputtering target Sputtering materials Multiple sputtering

target

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Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)

• Reactants are transported to the substrate, a chemical

reaction occurs, and the products deposit on the substrate to
form the desired film.
Deposition (Chemical vapor
deposition) • CVD techniques
– Thermal oxidation
– Low pressure CVD, Atmospheric pressure CVD, Plasma enhanced CVD
– Epitaxy

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Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)

• SiN, Oxide, poly Si, etc
• Lower temp. than thermal oxide
• Structural layer

Patterning

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Patterning Patterning procedure

• Subtractive patterning F. Photoresist strip

– Etch-Back (Deposition  Lithography  Etching) E. Al etched with Al etchant

D. Exposed photoresist removed

UV Light
by developer
C. Exposure Glass Plate
Opaque Pattern

• Additive patterning B. Lithography preparation

Exposed PR Unexposed PR Exposed PR
Positive photoresist coat (1-2 μm) Positive Photoresist
– Lift-off (Lithography  Deposition  Removal) A. Al deposition Al (~100nm)

Starts with a pure silicon wafer Silicon wafer

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Etch-Back Lift-Off

• Photoresist is applied overtop of the layer to be patterned • Patterned layer is deposited over top of the photoresist
• Unwanted material is etched away • Unwanted material is lifted off when resist is removed

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