glossary.md
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| + | Fabrication (or Manufacturing)is the process of building circuits on a silicon wafer in a cleanroom environment where all aspects of production (temperature, | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##Cleanroom | ||
| + | Cleanroom is a room that has HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filtration to remove | ||
| + | particles from the air. Cleanrooms are used for manufacturing where high levels of | ||
| + | cleanliness and sterility are required. Common applications of the cleanroom | ||
| + | include manufacturing of medical devices, pharmaceuticals, | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) | ||
| + | CMP is used to smooth the surface of wafers following other manufacturing steps, such as etching and cleaning. CMP allow a new layer of features to be added. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##Cleaning | ||
| + | Cleaning involves removing residues left on the wafer by the etching process. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ## | ||
| + | Deposition adds thin films of materials on a wafer to become parts of chips. Techniques include chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, electrochemical coating, spin-coating, | ||
| + | |||
| + | ###CVD | ||
| + | Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) tools create a chemical vapor that deposits films on the wafer atom-by-atom or molecule-by-molecule. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ###PVD | ||
| + | Physical vapor deposition (PVD) tools vaporize a solid or liquid material, which then condenses onto a substrate. The primary PVD method is called " | ||
| + | |||
| + | ###RTP | ||
| + | Rapid thermal processing (RTP) is critical to several steps in chip manufacturing. RTP tools include lamps, lasers, or other mechanisms to quickly increase the temperature of a wafer in order to change its properties. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ### | ||
| + | These tools spin a wafer to spread liquid material deposited on the wafer across it. Spin-coating is used extensively in photoresist coating but only for narrow applications in chip production. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ### | ||
| + | Tube-based diffusion and deposition systems are called " | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##Design | ||
| + | Design determines the layout of transistors and wiring on a chip to be manufactured. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##DRAM | ||
| + | Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) is a memory chip that stores data while a computer operates, but loses it when the computer powers down. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##EDA | ||
| + | Electronic design automation (EDA) software is used to design chips. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##Etching | ||
| + | Etching tools are used to create permanent patterns on chips: after photolithography has removed certain parts of a photoresist deposited on a wafer according to a specific pattern, the etching tools etch this pattern into a permanent substrate bellow. Dry etching and wet etching use a gas and a liquid, respectively, | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##FPGA | ||
| + | Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are logic chips that can be reprogrammed after deployment to suit specific calculations. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##Foundries | ||
| + | Foundries are semiconductor manufacturing facilities that manufacture chips for third-party customers. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##GPU | ||
| + | Graphics processing units (GPUs) are specialized logic chips used most commonly for graphics processing and developing artificial intelligence algorithms. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ## | ||
| + | In photolithography, | ||
| + | |||
| + | ###ArF dry (DUV) | ||
| + | ArF (Argon hexa Fluoride) dry lithography scanners are advanced deep ultraviolet (DUV) photolithography tools used in high-volume semiconductor manufacturing. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ###ArF immersion (DUV) | ||
| + | Immersion ArF is the same as dry ArF except the Scanner lens is immersed in a fluid, typically water. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ###KrF (DUV) lithography tools | ||
| + | KrF lithography tools are deep ultraviolet (DUV) photolithography tools that use 248 nm wavelength light from krypton fluoride lasers to pattern semiconductor features for mature node semiconductors. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ###i-line lithography tools | ||
| + | i-line lithography tools are ultraviolet (UV) photolithography systems used in semiconductor manufacturing for mature process nodes. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ###EUV lithography tools | ||
| + | EUV lithography tools are the most advanced photolithography equipment currently used in mass semiconductor production. They are the only tools combining leading-edge precision (by producing light with small wavelengths) with high throughput (by using photomasks), | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##IDM | ||
| + | Integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) are firms that perform all three steps of production: design; fabrication; | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##Ion implanters | ||
| + | Ion implanters embed impurities (called dopants) into parts of wafers to change their properties. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##NAND | ||
| + | NAND flash is a memory chip that stores memory permanently, | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##OSAT | ||
| + | Outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) firms perform assembly, testing, and packaging for third-party customers. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##Packaging | ||
| + | Packaging involves attaching a manufactured chip to an encasing package. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ## | ||
| + | Photomasks are transparent plates featuring a circuit pattern through which photolithography equipment directs light in order to transfer this pattern onto the chip. Each photomask is specific to one chip design. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ## | ||
| + | Photoresists are chemicals deposited on a wafer that selectively dissolve to form the circuit pattern when exposed to patterned light that has passed through a photomask after being generated by a photolithography tool. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ##Resist processing tools | ||
| + | Resist processing tools, also called " | ||
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| + | |||
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