Semiconductor Manufacturing Tour
Table of Contents
Chemical Mechanical Planarization
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Slide 1 of 22
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The process flow for semiconductor manufacturing is best considered in two sections, the "front-end" and the "back-end"
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The "front-end"
is wafer processing which is performed in a Wafer Fab area. The process
of wafer fabrication is a series of 16-24 loops, each putting down a
layer on the device. Each loop comprises some or all of the major steps
of photolithography, etch, strip, diffusion, ion implantation,
deposition, and chemical mechanical planarization. At each stage, there
are various inspections and measurements performed to monitor the
process and equipment. Supporting the entire process is a complex
infrastructure of materials supply, waste treatment, support,
logistics,and automation. It has the cleanest environment in the world
- many times cleaner than the best hospital operating theater. A Fab is
one of the most complex industrial facilities to be found anywhere. A
state-of-the-art Fab, costing over $1 billion, has a denser capital per
square foot than any industry.
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The "back-end" is
Test, Assembly and Packaging, where the finished wafer is split up into
individual die (chips) which are then assembled into packages which can
be handled in the final applications. Full functional electrical test
is performed at both wafer and package level to ensure outgoing quality.