Semiconductor device fabrication

Semiconductor device fabrication is the sequence of processes that forms patterned electronic components and interconnections on semiconductor wafers. It includes repeated steps such as deposition, lithography, etching, and doping.

Photolithography: A process that transfers a patterned mask onto a surface using light-sensitive resist. It defines where many subsequent fabrication steps alter the wafer.
Semiconductor wafer: A thin, circular slice of semiconductor crystal used as the substrate for device fabrication. Fabrication builds many device copies across this shared substrate.
CMOS: A circuit technology that combines complementary p-type and n-type field-effect transistors. CMOS process flows manufacture most modern digital logic and many image sensors.
Discrete semiconductor device: A single semiconductor component manufactured as an individual device rather than as part of an integrated circuit. It can use specialized processing without the dense interconnection flow of a complete chip.
Chemical vapor deposition: A process that forms solid films through chemical reactions of gases at a surface. It adds insulating, conductive, or semiconducting films between patterning steps.
Silicon: A chemical element and semiconductor widely used as the substrate and active material in integrated circuits. Its crystalline wafers support mature, tightly controlled manufacturing processes.
System-on-a-chip: An integrated circuit that combines major computing or electronic subsystems on one chip. Its mix of logic, memory, and interfaces demands coordinated fabrication modules.
Additive manufacturing: A manufacturing approach that builds objects by adding material in successive layers. Conventional chip fabrication relies heavily on subtractive pattern transfer and planar processing.
Plasma etching: A material-removal process that uses reactive plasma to etch selected regions. It transfers resist patterns into underlying wafer materials.
Thin film: A material layer whose thickness is small compared with its lateral dimensions. Many fabrication steps deposit or modify films only nanometers or micrometers thick.

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