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The magic of semiconductor manufacturing: How are tiny circuits created on wafers?
In today's era of rapid technological development, semiconductor manufacturing technology is undoubtedly one of the core driving forces for the advancement of the industry. From mobile phones to computers, from home appliances to industrial equipment, almost all electronic products are inseparable from the support of microcircuits. These circuits are gradually formed on the wafer through a series of complex and sophisticated manufacturing processes.
The manufacturing process of semiconductor devices usually includes multiple steps such as photolithography, chemical processing, thermal oxidation, and thin film deposition. These processes gradually create electronic circuits and ultimately form complete microcircuits.
Steps in the manufacturing process
The semiconductor manufacturing process can be divided into several major steps. The first step is wafer preparation, which usually involves repeated cleaning and decontamination of single crystal silicon to ensure the purity of the production environment. After that, a photoresist film is coated on the surface of the wafer, then exposed according to the designed pattern and developed to form the desired pattern.
Different conductive areas are then formed on the wafer through ion implantation. This process is crucial because it directly affects the performance of subsequent components.
Wafer Characteristics
The size of wafers has gradually increased from 1 inch in the early days to the current 300 mm. This change is not only to improve production efficiency, but also to meet the market demand for high-performance, high-density chips.
In advanced wafer factories, the manufacturing process is almost completely automated, and wafers are transported from one device to another using automatic material handling systems, which is extremely efficient.
Necessity of high purity environment
In order to prevent environmental pollution from affecting wafers, a clean "clean room" environment must be maintained inside the semiconductor factory. Wafers are transported in special closed plastic boxes (FOUPs), and the interior often needs to be maintained in a nitrogen atmosphere to avoid oxidation of the copper wires, which is critical to the normal operation of modern semiconductors.
Technological progress and process characteristics
As technology advances, the feature size of the process is also shrinking. In the past, process characteristics were usually expressed in nanometers (nm), but now some advanced processes can even reach 5nm. All of this has led to a significant improvement in chip performance and a reduction in power consumption.
While this series of changes has promoted the progress of the semiconductor industry, it has also brought new challenges, especially in the design and manufacturing processes.
Future Challenges and Opportunities
With the rise of applications such as the Internet of Vehicles and artificial intelligence, the demand for semiconductors will only continue to grow. Many companies are constantly exploring new technologies, hoping to maintain stable performance and good production yield while shrinking size.
However, as the manufacturing process develops in a more advanced direction, many tiny physical phenomena begin to affect the design and performance of components. This is an area worthy of further exploration.
SummaryIn the manufacturing process of microcircuits, countless professional technologies and cutting-edge equipment work together to allow us to see these electronic products that seem simple but are full of mysteries. How are those microcircuits created on the wafer? What innovative possibilities will future semiconductor technology bring us?
