Academic year 2021/2022

Course: “Electronic materials and technologies”

Instructor: Prof. Lucio Pancheri

Course objectives and learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to present electronic devices and technologies commonly used for manufacturing
devices, sensors and large-scale integrated circuits of common use for industrial and ICT applications. The
course also introduces software tools used in the development of electron devices, emphasizing both the
technological and design aspects.

At the end of the course, the students are expected to be familiar with the terminology and the problems
commonly found in the field of semiconductor device physics and technology. They should be able to
qualitatively describe the working principle and fabrication process of the semiconductor devices studied
within the course and to solve numerical problems on these topics.

They should also acquire a basic operative knowledge on the use of TCAD simulation tools, and develop the
ability to use them to solve simple design problems.

Entrance requirement

Physics 2, Electric and electronic systems

Contents

- Introduction to semiconductor physics, with emphasis on silicon: structural and electrical properties of
intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductor crystals; charge carrier density and current transport equations.
- Junction Diodes: electrical properties of the p/n junction in equilibrium and under reverse and direct
polarization, current-voltage static characteristics, junction breakdown, junction capacitive effects.
Diode SPICE model and parameters. Applications: example circuits, photodiodes, LEDs and solar cells
- MOS capacitors and transistors. Basic theory of the MOS structure. MOSFET operation principles,
current-voltage static characteristics, main parameters, channel length modulation and body effect,
capacitive effects. MOSFET scaling effects and second order effects. P- and N-channel MOSFET SPICE
parameters. MOSFET applications in digital electronics.
- Microelectronics technologies: silicon crystal growth, epitaxy, photolithography and selective etching,
thermal oxidation, dopant implantation and diffusion, Physical and Chemical Vapor deposition,
metallization.
- CMOS technology: twin well process; LOCOS and Shallow Trench isolation; advanced submicron
processes; layout design rules, testing and production yield. Parameter extraction.

Laboratory: numerical process and device simulations: introduction and application examples.

Teaching and learning methods and activities

The core concepts of the course will be taught with theoretical lectures and numerical exercises.
The theory will be complemented by laboratory classes in the PC room using professional Technology CAD
(TCAD) software for device simulation.

To prepare for the exam, the students will need to review the concepts and exercises taught in the class
using the material and additional exercises provided by the teacher.

Test and assessment criteria

The exam consists of a written test followed by an oral exam, that can optionally be replaced by the
discussion of a project carried out using the TCAD simulation program introduced in the course.

The written test will consist of a series of numerical problems covering the whole content of the course.
During the test, students can use a hand calculator and consult all the material provided by the teacher, as
well as their own notes. The written exam will test students' ability to put into practice the concepts
learned in the course with a series of analysis and design problems. The assessment of the written exam
will be based on the correctness and completeness of the answers and will contribute to about 70% of the
final grade.

The oral exam will assess students' knowledge of basic theoretical concepts and their analytical skills.

Optionally, students can integrate the exam with a simulation project on a topic of choice, agreed with the
teacher. In this case, they will have access to the TCAD software to carry out the simulation work and they
will write a short report describing the problem analyzed and the results obtained. In this case, the oral
exam will focus on the topics of the project.

Bibliography / study materials

Material available in the moodle page of the course (slides, solved exercises, laboratory material).

Reference textbooks (available at the University Library)

- S. M. Sze: "Semiconductor Devices - Physics and Technology", John Wiley & Sons, 2a ediz., 2002.
- R. Pierret: "Semiconductor fundamentals", Modular Series on Solid State Devices, Prentice Hall, 1988.
- R.C. Jaeger: "Introduction to Microelectronic Fabrication", Modular Series on Solid State Devices,
Prentice Hall, 1987.