ABSTRACT
The high levels of integration and the small feature sizes currently used in the fabrication of integrated circuits result in extremely complex processes including ion implantation, diffusion, film depositions of both dielectric and metallization, lithography, oxidation, and etching. Not only must each individual process step be optimized to its state-of-the-art limits, but each must be integrated with the others to successfully achieve an operational integrated circuit (IC). One major trend of the future that will significantly impact the fabrication process of advanced ICs (VLSI and ULSI) is single-wafer processing as opposed to batch processing due to the idiosyncracies of handling and processing 8-in. and larger wafer sizes. This chapter discusses technological changes to IC manufacturing processes being introduced that will serve to both impact and enhance the quality of semiconductor products.
