Syllabus

(4 hours)
Introduction to microelectronics and semiconductor wafers: Introduction to microelectronics, Importance of semiconductor wafers, Various types of wafers and their applications, Properties of semiconductor wafers, Semiconductor wafer market

(8 hours)
Crystallography in semiconductors: Specifications of semiconductor wafers, Crystallography and crystal structure, Fundamental aspects of crystal growth, Thermodynamic prerequisites for crystal growth: Chemical potential, Binary phase diagrams, Supersaturation, Nucleation, Surface energies, Surface diffusion, Wulff’s theorem, Lattice mismatch, Crystal defects and dislocations, Epitaxial growth of semiconductors

(8 hours)
Crystal growth: Base materials for semiconductor, Silica, Reduction process of silica, Partial distillation, Metallurgical grade silicon, Electronic grade silicon, Polycrystalline and single crystalline silicon, Seed crystal, Czochralski growth, Float zone growth, Bridgman growth, Physical Vapour Transport techniques, Incorporation of dopants, Solid solubility, Effective segregation coefficient, Growth of germanium and compound semiconductors

(8 hours)
Wafer processing techniques: Ingot shaping, Grinding, Wafer slicing, Lapping and etching, Polishing of wafer, Contaminations in semiconductor wafers, Contamination reduction: Clean factories, Wafer cleaning, Gettering, Wafer packaging, Wafer handling

(8 hours)
Wafer quality inspection: Size, Thickness, Orientation, Roughness, Flatness, Type, Dopants, Resistivity, Characterizations of semiconductor wafers, van der paw technique for sheet resistance, Challenges in semiconductor wafer production, Future trends

To impart knowledge on fundamentals of solid state materials

Science and technology of wafer fabrication

Wafer inspection and quality control

Various parameters of a semiconducting wafer

At the end of course, students will be able to understand the basics of semiconductor crystallography and crystal structure

Understand the different growth methodology

Synthesize and characterize the semiconductor wafer

Handling of silicon wafers for device fabrication

I. Kao, C. Chung, Wafer Manufacturing: Shaping of Single Crystal Silicon Wafers, Wiley , (2021)

G. Eranna, Crystal Growth and Evaluation of Silicon for VLSI and ULSI, CRC Press , (2016)

R. Doering, Y. Nishi, Handbook of Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology, CRC Press , (2007)

J. D. Plummer, M. D. Deal, P. B. Griffin, Silicon VLSI Technology: Fundamentals Practice and Modeling, Pearson , (2009)

G. S. May, S. M. Sze, . Fundamentals of Semiconductor Fabrication, John Wiley & Sons Inc. , (2007)

R. Szweda, Silicon Germanium Materials and Devices, Elsevier Science Ltd. , (2002)

K. Reinhardt, W. Kern, Handbook of Silicon Wafer Cleaning Technology, William Andrew Publishing , (2018)