PH33710 - SCIENCE OF SEMICONDUCTOR APPLICATIONS

Module Identifier

PH33710

Module Title

SCIENCE OF SEMICONDUCTOR APPLICATIONS

Academic Year

2007/2008

Co-ordinator

Professor Andrew Evans

Semester

Semester 2

Other staff

Dr Tudor E Jenkins, Professor Keith Birkinshaw

Pre-Requisite

PH33610 , PH24510

Course delivery

Lecture

22 lectures

Seminars / Tutorials

Example classes and tutorials

Assessment

Assessment Type	Assessment Length/Details	Proportion
Semester Assessment	Essay written during the Semester	80%
Semester Assessment	Continuous Assessment: test	20%
Supplementary Exam	2 Hours Supplementary exam	100%

Learning outcomes

After taking this module students should be able to:

describe the complete route from the production of semiconductor substates and thin film structures to the production of packaged electronic devices
critically analyse the technical issues involved (size, cost, power consumption etc.) in the production of an integrated device.
design a simple digital circuit and layout the design using CAD tools.

Brief description

In combination with Semiconductor Physics, the Semiconductor Applications module will not only provide students with an understanding of the physics underlying semiconductor devices and applications but also introduce them to the processing of semiconductors to produce devices.
1) wafer production - single crystal
2) wafer processing - lithography
3) characterisation
4) device preparation
5) the VLSI design process

There will be an optional integrated circuit design experiment in the third year advanced laboratory class to reinforce (4) above and give a literacy in computer aided design (CAD) tools.

Content

Introduction to science of semiconductors and microelectronic technology.

Physics and chemistry of bulk semiconductor growth. Epitaxial growth of thin films.

Wafer processing:
oxidation, insulating films; lithography (optical, x-ray, electron-beam, ion-beam); etching (wet chemical, plasma, reactive ion); dopant diffusion, ion implantation; metallisation.

Physics of electron, ion and photon interaction with matter.

Bulk and thin film characterisation techniques:
electrical (conductivity, mobility), optical (reflectance, luminescence), compositional (spectroscopy, microscopy), structural (diffraction, scanned probe).

Statistical process control, quality control analysis:
Device electrical testing, VLSI testing.

Circuits: digital circuits, linear circuits, U and VLSI, gate arrays, ASICS.
Circuit design, VLSI design.
Device/circuit computer simulation.

Reading Lists

Books
DV Morgan and K Board An Introduction to Semiconductor Microtechnology J Wiley
I Brodie and JJ Murray Physics of Microfabrication Plenum
M Jaros Physics and Applications of Semiconductor Microstructures Oxford
N Weste and K Eshraghian Principles of CMOS design

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6