Page 4 - Semiconductor Manufacturing Handbook

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Source: SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING HANDBOOK

CHAPTER 1

HOW SEMICONDUCTOR CHIPS
ARE MADE

Hwaiyu Geng
Hewlett-Packard Company
Palo Alto, California

Lin Zhou
Intel Corporation
Hillsboro, Oregon

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Over the past decades, an information world that encompasses computers, the Internet, wireless
communication, and global positioning systems has emerged. The center of this information world
is enabled by many tiny integrated circuit (IC) chips embedded in the systems.
ICs are used in many walks of life—in sectors including consumer products, home appliances,
automobiles, information technology (IT), telecom, medical, military and aerospace applications.
Continuous research and development coupled with nanotechnology will make ICs smaller and more
powerful. In the foreseeable future, the size of a computer will shrink to the size of a fingernail and
reach the practical limit of an IC that is smaller, faster, cheaper, and consumes low power. The semi-
conductor industry can help drive nanotechnology; thus, they are mutually beneficial. *
The evolution from chip to Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) combines IC manufacturing
and micromachining techniques to install motors, sensors, pumps, valves, or radio receivers and antennas
on a chip. MEMS applications encompass IT, entertainment, biological, medical, and automotive sectors. †
Similar IC technologies and manufacturing processes can be applied in manufacturing flat panel display.

1.2 WHAT IS A MICROCHIP?

Microchips, or chips, are basically made of thousands to millions of transistors packed into a small
piece of silicon. A transistor is an electronic switch that contains no moving parts but uses electricity
to turn itself on and off. The transistors are wired together, using aluminum or copper, to perform

* Stephen Marx, “Using Microtechnology to Get to Nanotechnology,” Machine Design, September 2004.
† Dave Thomas, “Key MEMS Building Blocks,” Solid State Technology, April 2004.

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