Semiconductor Production 101

[pschmid]

It takes over 300 individual production steps to make a microprocessor out of sand. We look at the fundamentals of what is involved.

 

[RichPLS]

come on... still have not got linqing right... :roll:

 

[apt403]

Yeah, it seems like they post the thread before the actual article goes up on the web page.

Edit: It's up!

Finally! A decent article! 😀

 

[carlhungis]

It takes over 300 individual production steps to make a microprocessor out of sand. We look at the fundamentals of what is involved.

What does this have to do with cars?

 

[RichPLS]

😛 :lol: 8)

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

It takes over 300 individual production steps to make a microprocessor out of sand. We look at the fundamentals of what is involved.

What does this have to do with cars? From the article

(check out BMW's Active Steering

:lol:

 

[dasickninja]

It takes over 300 individual production steps to make a microprocessor out of sand. We look at the fundamentals of what is involved.

Bout damn time you get back to the nitty gritty.

 

[RichPLS]

No Shiite! THCarGuide :lol:

The roots of our digital lifestyles certainly are semiconductors, which allow for the creation of complex transistor structures. They store and manipulate data, which is the basis for sophisticated microprocessors. Semiconductors, which are produced from sand or clay, serve as the essential component in almost every electronic device we use today, ranging from personal computers to notebooks to cell phones. Not even cars can do without semiconductors and electronics today, because semiconductors control the air conditioning, the injection process, the ignition process, the sunroof, the mirrors and even the steering (check out BMW's Active Steering). It's only a matter of time until cars will run "by-wire" and will no longer be based on mechanical solutions. It is fairly safe to say that almost every device that requires energy relies on semiconductors for its functions.

 

[optical10]

Not too long not too short...well could have been a bit longer like, how the wafers are made thinner....etc. I guess I have my appetite wetted to do more research.

Thanks for exercising my brain...,TG rules

 

[prolfe]

Great article thanks for the primer. I would enjoy many more articles like this (but don't forget to bench the new GPUs too). :lol:

 

[bobby6k34]

sweet iv been looking for info like this for ages

 

[mr_fnord]

An excellent article! Good coverage of the topic, written so that it can be understood by an audience with novice and intermediate technical levels, and not oversimplifying or leaving out vital information. The article only had two awkward paragraphs or phrases, which is very good for a THG-associated site. Almost no off-topic wanderings or bias. Wow. I think this is the first article other than strict benchmark tests on THG in months that met this level of journalistic quality.

 

[BT]

Intel Fab22 (AZ) bay 217, Fron-end of the process. 200mm wafers, 130nm process. Made P4, Itanium, Chipsets. Processing tools shown: Right: TEL Dry Etcher-spacer, contacts, poly hard mask, End: SCP Global Wet Etcher-nitride clean, poly clean, Left: Novellus -resist Asher. There is also a Hitachi-Poly Etcher on the right front, not shown, and Left front is a surfscan machine.

 

[sirrobin4ever]

Thank you for a good read. (for once)

 

[rockowastaken]

Neat article, thanks. Love the wire connects pic.

And if I ever have a band, it'll be named "The Wafer Probers." 8)

 

[Sythro]

Very interesting read. I've been looking for something like this for a while.

 

[Viperabyss]

It takes over 300 individual production steps to make a microprocessor out of sand. We look at the fundamentals of what is involved.

very very nice article. maybe waking up at 8 is not a bad idea afterall 😛

 

[Whizzard9992]

It takes over 300 individual production steps to make a microprocessor out of sand. We look at the fundamentals of what is involved.

Nice article. It's about time..


I wish someone at THG would take 5 minutes and drop these articles into MS word before publishing. If they're not going to hire an editor, at least let word give it a once-over.

 

[gm0n3y]

Good article, it could have used a little more detail, but was quite informative.

But yeah, just have ONE person read it over ONCE before its published and most of those wording and grammar mistakes wouldn't happen.

 

[HotFoot]

😀 Keep it coming!

 

[chuckshissle]

Good article and good knowledge.

So how much $$$ does it cost to manufacture a single chip, say the X6800?

 

[CousinVinnie]

Sorry for being strict with details but i happen to know a little about the process so here it goes:

************************************************************
quote: (page 5)

Before the photolithographic process can begin, the wafer is cleaned and heated up to remove adhesive particles and water. This is called pre-bake. Then the wafer is coated with silicon dioxide, using a device that is called coater. An adhesive agent is applied to the wafer to make sure that the photoresist (also called resist), which is applied in the following step, will abide on the wafer. The photoresist is applied to the middle of the wafer, which is then rotated at a high revolution speed to apply an even layer across the entire wafer surface. The wafer is heated up again, which is called post bake.
************************************************************

Comments:

1. Prebake step is happening after ahesion promoter step and is intended to activate photo acid generators in the resist and dry it up a little
2. Silicon Dioxide can't be dispenced in coater, the resist does. SiO2 is being generated either in Diffusion furnace, Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) machine or is pre-applied on different lithographic equipment. This step is not necessary or generic and varies with process requirements, thus can be omitted
3. Resist is applied to already spinning wafer in the module calle coater
4. Post bake is called also post exposure bake and is intended to promote chemical reaction in the photoresist, get rid of the interference effects of light in the thin film of resist and dry up/stabilyze resist even more

 

[gm0n3y]

This thread isn't anything special and I'm not sure how they could sticky the article, but I do agree this could use some follow-up articles.

 

[dasickninja]

Its still not going to get stickied. There needs to be more than just that.

 

[lbax]

I appreciate the article. Please keep it up.

A related question for the experts;
I understand steppings to be revisions of the dies. I have been of the impression that there are different magnitudes of steppings (i.e. A2 > A3 vs. A3 > B1).
What is subject to change in a minor step? (Process Tweaks - ie doping specs?)
What is subject to change in a major step? (Masks?)