The world around us has become electronic thanks to billions of transistors. Everything from consumer devices like calculators and cell phones to cutting-edge computer systems like self-driving vehicles and in-flight rocket controls is powered by what starts as a simple chemical element. Semiconductors do a lot of things, including logic operations and data storage. But how can they get from silicon that has been cleaned to creating the fully electronic, linked world?
Silicon Wafer production
Making semiconductors starts with a basic ingredient like silicon (often purified from sand or quartz). After being thoroughly purified, silicon is formed into a silicon boule, a cylindrical crystalline ingot. Depending on the boule size and needed chip production, the boule is sliced into extremely thin, homogeneous wafers with a broad range of various diameters.
As part of a procedure known as semiconductor doping, each wafer is subjected to specific amounts of elements like boron or phosphorus. As a result, the material’s electronic characteristics are altered, enabling semiconductors to perform a variety of tasks.
In a thermal processing system, gases are injected into the doped silicon wafers. The objective is always to create an oxide layer on the wafer that shields the silicon surface from impurities that could interfere with electrical current, regardless of the exact deposition technique used.
Deposition of thin films and photolithography
Depending on the integrated circuit’s (IC) intended purpose, photo masking is used to transfer a complex system of integrated components, including transistors, diodes, capacitors, resistors, and more, onto the wafer. After the circuit designs have been traced onto the wafer, they are either wetly etched (using liquid etchants) or dry etched onto the wafer (plasma etchants).
Despite their extreme thinness, semiconductors have hundreds of layers of material layered on top of one another thanks to photoresists and etching. The circuit layout is subsequently filled with a thin layer of conductive and insulating layers. To electrically link all the layers together, interconnects are affixed to the wafer.
Testing of Wafers and Semiconductor Dicing
The wafer is put through preliminary testing after being finished with all the required coupled circuits. Electronic die sorting (EDS), which is carried out by wireless or wired automated test equipment (ATE), involves circuit probing, repair procedures, wafer burn-in, and other techniques to find defective semiconductor chips along the wafer and remove them from yield after the semiconductor chips are cut out.
Finally, a blade is used to individually slice semiconductor chips of the wafer along preset lines, a procedure is known as semiconductor dicing. The chip is plugged into semiconductor test sockets to be tested for voltage, current, resistance, capacitance, and other factors, depending on what it will be used for.
Electronics Packaging
Integrated circuit (IC) packaging is the last step in the manufacture of semiconductors after passing. The semiconductor chip is enclosed in packaging consisting of plastic, ceramic, metal, or a mix of these materials and connected to bonding wires. The sensitive chip is shielded by the packaging from physical harm, corrosion, and moisture intrusion. At this stage, thermal and electronic parts like heat transfer fins and EMI shielding may also be included in the packaging.
A variety of leads are also included in each integrated circuit package, which is used to connect the IC to a circuit board. Depending on the size and connection needs, they are often constructed using flat no-lead (QFN/DFN) packages, flat solder in a ball grid array (BGA), or pins in a pin grid array (PGA). Recent advancements in IC packaging have led to the creation of system-in-package (SiP) designs, which combine many semiconductor chips into a three-dimensional integrated circuit.
The integrated circuit packages are then expertly packed and sent to the customer, where they might go through system-level testing to evaluate each chip in the context of its intended usage.
Boyd’s Unique Approach to Semiconductor Solutions
Boyd’s integrated circuit solutions assist in cooling, sealing, and protecting almost every part of the semiconductor industry, from specialized temperature-forcing equipment for semiconductor testing to the bespoke immersion cooling systems that cool processor chips in data centers. To allow more processing power in smaller footprints, Boyd’s expertise combines decades of experience working with top semiconductor makers with cutting-edge innovation.