A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO WAFER

Wafer is basically a slice of silicon, cut from a cylinder of

silicon on which the fabrication is done.
Depending on wheather the wafer is polished or unpolished
from one side or both sides,they can be classified into three
types-
1)One sided mirror polished one side ascut.
2)Both side ascut.
3)Both side mirror polished.
The term ‘ascut’ refers to that side of wafer which is not
mirror polished.
Generally,both side ascut wafers are used for optoelectronic
devices or solar cells.
The reason behind using it is that as the surface of such
wafer is irregular,they can absorb more light energy and
thus,can produce more power and thus more efficient.

Physical properties of wafer:-

► The thickness of the wafers used in IC fabrication
generally remains between 4 to 5 micro meters.
► The resistivity of the wafers used in IC fabrication
generally remains between 0.4 to 0.5 ohm/cm.
► The orientation depends on the major cut and minor cut.
If the angle between major cut and minor cut is 90 degree
then the orientation is given by <1 0 0>, and for 180
degree the orientation is < 1 1 1>.
► The wafers may be polished (one sided or both sided)
or unpolished.
►Diameter of wafer depends on diameter of
furnace.Generally diameter of wafer is recommended to
one inch below the diameter of furnace.
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
The type of wafer depends on dopant used(n type or p
type).
If the dopand is a trivalent (eg. Boron) the wafer is of p
type.
Compound from which Boron obtained is Boron Nitride.In
physical state,it is in the form of a solid cake.
For pentavalent dopand (eg. Phosphorus) the wafer is of n
type.
Compound from which Phosphorous is obtained is
Phosphorous oxytrichloride.
This compound is generally found in liquid state.
WHAT IS AN IC?
IC stands for integrated circuit.
An IC is just a packaged electronic circuit.It is a complete
electronic circuit in which both ac tive and passive
components are fabricated on a tiny single chip.In such
circuits,different components are isolated from each other
by isolation diffusion within the crystal chip andd are
interconnected by aluminium layer that serves as wires.
Two most important categories of IC are-
1)Linier.
2)Digital.

VLSI or very large scale integration is a scale of integration

in ICs in which number of circuits per package is between
10000 to 99999 or number of components between 100000
to 10000000.
IC can be classified as-
1)Monolithic IC.
2)Thick and thin film IC.

3)Hybrid or multichip IC.

WHY TO FABRICATE IC
IC has got many advantages.This includes-
1)Extremly small physical size.
2)Very small weight.
3)Reduced cost.
4)Increased response time and speed.
5)Low power consumption.
6)Easy replaceble.
7)Higher yield.
8)Highly reliable,no need for soldering and less
interconnections in circuit.

DISADVANTAGES OF IC
1)Coils or inductors cannot be fabricated.
2)IC function at fairly low voltages.
3)They handle only limited amount of power.
4)They cannot withstand excessive heat or rough handling.
INTRODUCTION TO IC FABRICATION
IC Fabrication refers to the process of preparing integrated
circuits for different purposes.
It is based on the use of silicon as premier
semiconductor.The other semiconductor used for IC
fabrication are Gallium Arsenide and Germanium.

Gallium Arsenide has high electrical property but crystals

have high density of defects which limit the performance of
devices.Moreover,it is also difficult to grow in single
crystal form.Advantages of Gallium Arsenide includes low
power delay,low parasitic capacitance thus higher speed.
Another advantage of it has direct band gap thus possible to
use for optoelectronic devices.
STAGES OF IC FABRICATION
1.Material preparation.
2.Wafer preparation.
3.Wafer fabrication.
4.Testing and Packaging.
MATERIAL PREPARATION
Generally,Silicon is preffered in IC or wafer fabrication.
It is because of the following reasons-
1.Although Silicon is an element not found in nature but it
is abundantly found in nature in the form of silicon dioxide,
which constitutes 20% of earth crust.
2.It is thus cheap in cost.
Silicon is commonly found in the form of quartz or sand.A
number of process are required to convert silicon into
Its pure state with a polycrystalline structure.It is passed
through silicon containing gas and then through silicon
reactor.
WAFER PREPARATION
Polycrystalline silicon is composed of many crystals having
random orientation and has many defects.For silicon to be
used for fabrication of ICs,it must have a definite rotation
and should be crystalline in nature.
At first using crystal growth teqnique, single crystals of
silicon is prepared and thus the ingot.The desired diameter
of ingot is obtained under controlled temperature, and
resulting ingot is cooled and made into thin discs called
wafers.
After that, ingot is marked with two flat regions-
1)Primary flat region or major cut
2)Secondary flat region or minor cut.
These flat region mark specific crystal orientation and
conductivity type of wafer.The major cut allows a
mechanical locator in automatic processing equipment to
position the wafer and to orient the devices relative to the
crystal.The minor cut is to identify the orientation.
The conductivity of crystal could be either P-type or N-type
and crystal orientation <100> or <111>.

If there is no secondary flat or minor cut i.e, major and

minor cut are superimposed,then wafer is identified as P-
type with <111> crystal orientation.

If secondary flat or minor cut is 45 degree with respect to

major cut,it is <111> orientation with N-type wafer.

If major cut is 90 degrees with respect to minor cut,it is

<100> P-type wafer.

If major cut is 180 degrees with respect to minor cut,it is

N-type wafer with <100> orientation.

The semiconductor industries uses <111> wafers for

fabricating ICs with Bipolar transistor technology and
<100>wafers for fabricating MOS circuits.

Chemical etching process is used to prevent wafer to be

contaminated or damaged during slicing.
WAFER FABRICATION
Processes used in the fabrication of ICs are the following:-
1)Wafer cleaning.
2)Oxidation.
3)Photolithography.
4)Diffusion.
5)Metallization.

WAFER CLEANING
Wafer cleaning is a process in which the impurities (SiO2,
dust particle, oil & grease, inorganic compounds, acidic or
non acidic organic compounds) are removed.

Semiconductor materials are subjected to physical handling

during the process of cutting, lapping, polishing and
packaging. This leads to a large amount of molecular
contamination. Removal of these contaminants is the first
step to wafer cleaning. This is the primary stage wafer
Fabrication technology. This is very much important
because without cleaning a sample if we fabricate any
device that will be a faulty one.

Generally there are two basic process of cleaning.

1.Plasma Dry Cleaning
2.Acid Process
1.Plasma Dry Cleaning :
In this process inert gas is passed through the wafer
 kept in 0.1 to 0.2 tor vacuum. The inert gas is very
costly, for that this process is not used generally.
2.Acid Process :
In the process wafers are cleaned using acids. The
impurities are removed one by one in this process.

Fig:Impurities contained in silicon wafer….

Steps for wafer cleaning:-

1)Removal of dust particle.
2) Removal of oil & grease
3) Removal of Inorganic compounds
4)Removal of organic (acidic) compounds.
5) Removal of organic (Alkaline) compounds.
6) Removal of SiO2.
7)Verification.

1)Removal of dust particle :

•The sample is boiled with TCE (trychloro ethylene) for 5
minutes.

Sample+TCE----(Boil 5 minutes)--------Remove dust

particles.
•The sample is put into an ultrasonic cleaner for 3 minutes.
Ultrasonic vibration is passed through water and the sample
is vibrated in a high frequency. Thus the dust particles’
are removed from the wafer.

Sample+ TCE------(in ultrasonic cleaner for 3 minutes)--Remove

dustparticle.

2)Removal of oil & grease :

•The sample is boiled with acetone for 5 minutes.

Sample +Acetone----(Boil for 5 minutes)--Remove oil

and grease.

•The sample is put into an ultrasonic cleaner for 3 minutes.

Ultrasonic vibration is passed through water and the sample
is vibrated in a high frequency. Thus the sample become
oil and grease free.

Sample+Acetone---(in ultrasonic cleaner for 3 mins)--

Remove oil and grease.

3)Removal of Inorganic compounds :

•H2SO4 is taken in a beaker, the sample is dropped into it.
Then H2O2 is added slowly such that the ratio of H2SO4
& H2O2 become 1:1.

•Wait till the reaction stops.

•The sample is washed with DI (de ionized) water.

1:1H2SO4.H2O2----(wait till reactions stop)

--cleaning with deionied water--Removal of inorganic
compounds.

4) Removal of organic (acidic) compounds :

•25 c.c H20 and 5 c.c H202 is taken in a beaker and place it
on the heater. Wait 10 minutes to raise the temperature to
70 degree celcius.
•When the temperature is 70OC then the sample and 5 c.c
NH4OH (Ammonium Hydroxide) is added. Here the H20,
H202,NH4OH ratio must be 5:1:1.
•The sample is washed with DI (de ionized) water.

5:1:1H20:H2O2:NH4OH-----(heat at 70 degrees celcius for

10 mins and then pass into cold water)--Remove organic
compounds.

5)Removal of organic (Alkaline) compounds :

•30 c.c H20, 5 c.c H202 and 5 c.c HCL is taken in a beaker
and place it on the heater. Wait 10 minutes to raise the
temperature to 70 degree celcius.
•When the temperature is 70 degree celcius then the sample
is added. Here the H20, H202, HCL ratio must be 6:1:1.
•The sample is washed with DI (de ionized) water.

6:1:1 H20:H2O2:HCL-------(raise the temperature to 70

degree celcius and then sample is added)---------(sample
washed with DI water).-----Removal of
organic alkaline compounds.

Removal of SIO2 :
•The sample is dip into 10% HF solution for 2-3 minutes.
•The sample is dip in methanol to avoid further oxidation
due to air.

VERIFICATION
If the wafer is cleaned properly it will be hydrophobic in
nature. i.e. water will not stick to the wafer plane.
Thus we can verify the same.
OXIDATION
The process of oxidation involves growing a thin film of
silicon dioxide (SiO2) on the surface of a silicon wafer.

Advantage of using silicon dioxide as a protective layer-

1.Film of silicon dioxide is very strong and inert.
2.It has the ability to form a chemically protective layer.
3.It acts as a dielectric layer for many devices.
4.It isolates one device from the other.
5.It provides surface passivation.
6.Oxide layer inhibits diffusion and thus acts as mask for
the silicon surface.

It has been observed that for a given thickness of oxide

layer,45% lies below silicon surface whereas 55% lies
above it.

There are two types of oxidation:--

1.Dry oxidation.
2.Wet oxidation.

1.Dry oxidation—
In dry oxidation,high purity oxygen gas is sent into the
quartz tube.High purity gas ensures no contamination or
unwanted impurity is incorporated in the layer or oxide.In
dry oxidation teqnique,the oxygen specifies diffusing
through growing oxide layer is probably oxygen ions.
Steps of oxidation :
The steps for the oxidation technique are as follows:
1)The temperature of the furnace is programmed to 1000 °C.
2)When the temperature is reached nitrogen gas is passed at the
rate 1litre/min. The ambience should be full of nitrogen.

3)The sample is loaded in the tube.

4)Oxygen is passed at the rate of 0.8litre/min for 10 minutes. (dry

oxidation)
Si+O2↑ → SiO2 (solid)

In dry oxidation,pure gaseous form of oxygen is supplied to

furnace to carry out reaction.

The thickness of oxide layer depends on temperature of furnace,the

length of time that slices are in it and rate of oxygen.The rate of
oxidation can be increased by adding water vapour to the oxygen
supply to the oxidizing furnace.Thus,wet oxidation is used.

5)After 10 minutes the process of wet oxidation starts and is

carried out for 30 minutes. In that process the oxygen is passed
through a bubbler. The temperature of the bubbler is kept at 90°C.
The moisture content of the gas stream is determined by the water
bath temperature and flow rate of oxygen gas. Carrier gas becomes
saturated with the water vapor as it bubbles through the water.
2Si + 2H20 → SiO2 + 2H2↑

Fig:Wet oxidation process

6)After 30 minutes dry oxidation is again carried out for 10

minutes at the rate of 0.8litre/min.

►Oxidation performed for wafer fabrication is Dry-Wet-

dry fabrication.It is because wet oxidation is faster but
the surface created by it is not smooth.
The dry oxidation is slower but creates smooth surface.
To create smooth surfaces in both sides dry, wet and
again dry oxidation is done.
► After oxidation the sample is heated at the temperature
200oC for half an hour to remove the moisture from the surface
of the silicon.

► The temperature, gas flow rates and the times are measured
by ‘Supreme’ software. In that software if we provide the
required thickness of oxide layer the parameters are
automatically measured.

Fig:Dry-Wet-Dry oxidation phenomenon

 Fig:Oxidation Process

Factors effecting oxidation rate are:-

1)Tempereture.
2)Orientation of silicon wafer.
3)Pressure.
4)Impurity effects.

Methods for Oxide thickness measurement

1)Optical interference.
2)Ellipsometry.
3)Capacitance method.
4)Colour code.

Colour code method is generally used to measure the

thickness of oxide layer in which colour of oxide layer are
matched to the corresponding thickness from the colour
chart.

PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY
It is an optical process in which geometrical patterns on the
surface of wafer.
►Micro fabrication requires the precise positioning of a
number of appropriately dope regions in a slice of
semiconductor followed by one or two interconnect
patterns.
►This is done to open identical windows so that the
diffusion process may take place in all identical regions
of same IC.

►To transfer the pattern,the wafer is coated with light

sensitive material called photoresist.
Photoresist:-
Photoresist is a liquid film that can be spread out onto a
substrate, exposed with a desired pattern, and developed
into a selectively placed layer for subsequent processing.
It is of two types-
1.Positive photoresist.
2.Negative photoresist.

►A positive photoresistis a type of photoresist in which

the portion of the photoresist that is exposed to light
becomes solubale to the photoresist developer and the
pattern of the photoresist that is unexposed remains
insoluble to the photoresist developer.
►A negative photoresist is a type of photoresist in which
the portion of the photoresist that is exposed to light
becomes relatively insoluble to the photoresist
developer. The unexposed portion of the photoresist is
dissolved by the photoresist developer

►Pattern transfer is followed by an etching process that

removes unmasked portion of a layer. The lithographic
process mustbe performed in an ultra clean environment.

Steps of Photolithography
1)Heat treatment of sample is done at 200°C for 2 hours for
removing the moisture.

2) The sample is coated by negative photoresist in a

spinning machine at 3000 r.p.m. 1300 series photo resist
and 1112A stripper vacuum spinner is required.
3)The sample is preheated at 90°C for 20 minutes.
This phenomenon is called Pre-Back method.
This temperetur will vary for different types of samples and
thus will be recommended by the vendor.

4)Alingnment-
It is the phenomenon to place mask on sample.

Fig:Alingement process

5) EXPOSURE
The sample is exposed by UV rays for 8 seconds. This
changes the solubility of the exposed part.
6) DEVOLOPMENT
The pattern is developed on the sample by the developer
solution for 20 seconds.

7)POST BAKING
The developed pattern is then again hard baked in a hot air
oven at 110°C for 30 minutes.

8) STRIPPING.
The photo resist is then stripped by acetone.
This process is done to remove the photoresist from
the sample.

DIFFUSION
Diffusion is the process of introduction of impurities into
selected regions of a wafer to form junctions.
Diffusion occurs in two steps-
1.Pre-deposition.
2.Drive-in diffusion.
In predeposition,a high concentration of dopant atoms is
introduced at the silicon by a vapour that contains the
dopant at a tempereture of 1000°C .Now ion implantation
method is used in place of predeposition method.
Predeposition produces shallow but heavy doped layer near
the siicon surface.
The diffusion process has got its advantage as the doping
can be localized to a certain region only by using adequate
mask to prevent doping in undesirable areas.
The SiO2 layer acts as a protective layer for diffusion of
dopant.
There are two types of impurity diffusion:-
1.Substitutional diffusion.
2.Interstitial diffusion.

In substitutional diffusion,diffusion of dopant atoms take

place by moving from a lattice site to a neighbouring
vacant site by substituting for a silicon atom which was
previously occupied by a silicon.In order to move from a
occupied lattice site to a vacant site,impurities atoms has to
overcome a potential barrier arising due to covalent bonds.
In addition,availability of vacant neighbouring site due to
thermal fluctuations is needed for substitution of impurity.

Interstitial diffusion involves the diffusion of heavy metals

such as gold which is needed to be put in silicon to control
carrier lifetime.Such diffusion causes the movement within
the voids present due to its large size instead of substituting
at the host lattice sites.

Constant source diffusion or predeposition

This phenomenon is commonly used in planer
technology.During this process,the silicon wafer is heated
to carefully selected and controlled temperature and
dopants are used on the surface of hot silicon slice
So amount of dopant entering remain constant.
Limited source diffusion
When more uniform distribution as required for transistor
bases ,the error function diffusion is not suitable.
For uniform doping,one needs a type of diffusion where the
supply of diffusant is terminated after sometime while
keeping the semiconductor at high temperature.For
this,limited source diffusion is used.

Generally there are two different procedure for the

diffusion.
1. Thermal diffusion
2. Ion implantation.
In our lab we have done the thermal diffusion process.

Requirements for diffusion:

1.Temperature of operation: 950°C
2.Gas: N2 at 1litre/min
O2 at 1litre/min
3.Time: Pre diffusion for 15 minutes
Dry oxidation for 1 hourActivation of boron:

PROCEDURE
STEP 1:-The tempereture of nitrogen ambient tube is
Programmed at 950°C.

STEP 2:-Activation of Boron.

1)If new boron cake is used in the diffusion process then it
should be first heated at a temperature of about 950°C in
nitrogen ambient for 20-25hours. This will also remove the
moisture from the cake.
2.If the boron cake is old then the same process is done for
30mins.

STEP 3:-Pre diffusion:

In the process of pre-diffusion Boron is diffused for
15minutes at 1000°C in nitrogen ambience.

For driving diffusion, same process is repeated except

Boron is diffused for 30 minutes.
For p-diffusion,Boron glass is used which is in the form of
Boron silicate.
Nitrogen gas is passed through boron glass due to which
Boron atoms enters between the gaps in nitrogen atoms.
Thus dry oxidation is done.

STEP 4:-Unloading the sample .

STEP 5:-Etching Boron silicate or boron glass by 10% HF

(hydrofluoric acid) for few seconds.
Fig:The diffusion process in quartz tube in electric furnace

STEP6:-Detection of sample wheather p-type or n-type.

To perform this operation,HALL EFFECT is used
.
Principle of Hall Effect
If magnetic field and current is applied to the
semiconductor sample simultaneously,a force acts on the
charge carriers pushing them towards the back.When
mobile carriers are pushed towards the back,front becomes
depleted and semiconductor loses its neutrality.Now there
is an excess of mobile carriers at the back and excess of
opposite charge chrriers due to the ionized charge atoms
in the front.If the semiconductor is N-type material,the
electrons will be excess at the back surface and the surface
will become negatively charged with respect to the front
surface.This gives rise to potential difference called Hall
voltage between the front and the back surface. On the
other hand,if semiconductor is of P-type,Then holes will be
in excess at the back and this surface will become
positively charged with respect to the front surface
producing thereby a Hall voltage.But for P-type,the polarity
of Hall voltage will be in reverse direction or negative.Thus
we can detect wheaher the semiconductor is of P-type or N-
type.

EXPERIMENT FOR HALL EFFECT

For HALL EFFECT measurement,HOT PROBE method is
used.
In hot probe method,the probes of multimeter are made in
contact of both sides of sample .
Under the presence of electric field current is made to flow
through the sample and voltage of multimeter is recorded.
1.If voltage reading is negative,themn sample is of P-type .
2.If voltage reading is positive,then sample is of N-tpe.

METALLIZATION
After all fabrication of ICs are complete it is necessary to
provide metallic interconnections for IC.
Metallization of wafer is done by ‘vaccum evaporation
system’.
VACCUM EVAPORATION SYSTEM
This process is used for coating wafer with either
aluminium layer or silver layer.
1.For diffusion in case of Aluminium,heat treatment at
550°C for 45 seconds.
2.For diffusion in case of silver,heat treatment at 700°C for
45 seconds.

►In vaccum evaporation,oxidation of metal is avoided.

►Mean path(source to substrate) should be free.
Fig:vaccum evaporation oven

PROCEDURE
STEP 1:-Loading the sample.
STEP 2:-Rotatory Pirani on when vaccum shows to
0.01torr,Backing open.

STEP 3:-When vaccum again goes to 0.01torr,Backing is

closed.

STEP 4:-Roughing open.

STEP 5:-Again vaccum shows 0.01 torr in penning gauge.

We need to close roughing roughing gauge.
Diffusion vaccum cannot work if chamber is less
than 0.01 torr.

STEP 6:-Water circulation os on.

STEP 7:-D.P. on.

STEP 8:-Buffel on

STEP 9:-When high vaccum reached,power swich on.

STEP 10:-After deposition,buffel closed.

STEP 11:-D.P. off after 20 minutes.

STEP 11:-After 20 minutes,water circulation off.

STEP 12:-Backing off.

STEP 13:-Rotary pirani off.

WHY SILICON OIL IS USED?
►In vaccum evaporation,Silicon oil is used because
Silicon oil is easily evaporated and also easily
condensed.
►Silicon oil can capture air particle.
►Chilled water which is used take particle with it
condenses air particle and out through roughing gauge.

TESTING AND PACKAGING

It is the final step for IC fabrication which is done to
protect IC from moisture and contamination and
mechanical shocs and corrosion.There are various process
for doing this which out of scope of this document.
STUDY ON CHARACTERESTICS OF
SCHOTTKY DIODE
An introduction to schottky diode
A Schottky diode is formed by joining the doped
semiconductor region (usually N-type)with a metal such as
Gold,silver or platinum.
Thus in a schottky diode,there is a metal to semiconductor
junction rather than simple PN junction.
A schottky diode is also called hot carrier diode or schottky
barrier diode.
The schottky diode has a very little junction
capacitance.Because of this,it can be operated at much
higher frequencies(of 20GHz or more)than the typical PN
junction diode.
The reduced junction capacitance results in faster switching
speed.
Therefore,schottky diode are generally used for digital
switching applications.

Applications of schottky diode

1.To rectify very high frequencies.
2.As switching device in digital computers.
3.In clipping and clamping circuits.
4.In low power schottky transistors.
5.In mixing and detecting circuits used in communications
systems.
6.In low voltge power supply circuits.
Figure showing schottky diode

SYMBOL
CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

Fig:experimental setup to study the characteristics of

schottky diode.

OBSERVATION

CHARACTERESTCS CURVE
Fig:I-V characteristics of schottky diode