Course information

• Level: MSc, Electronics Engineering

• Format: 16 weekly lectures; in every even week a virtual-lab session (eight sessions in all) with data analysis and a short report

• Seminars and projects: student seminars in weeks 13 to 15 (CMOS and BiCMOS applications); project presentations (MBE and MOCVD) in week 16

• Lecturer: Mohammad Razaghi

Textbooks

• Fundamentals of Semiconductor Fabrication, G. S. May and S. M. Sze, Wiley, 2004. (main reference)

• Introduction to Microelectronic Fabrication (Modular Series on Solid State Devices, Vol. V), R. C. Jaeger, Addison-Wesley.

• Semiconductor Devices: Physics and Technology, S. M. Sze, Wiley, 2013.

Course materials

Everything below runs in an ordinary web browser, with no installation and no internet connection needed once downloaded.

• Lecture slides – sixteen interactive decks with live simulations, quick-check quizzes and speaker notes. Keys: left and right arrows, O for the overview, N for the notes, F for full screen.

• Interactive widgets – forty simulations: crystal growth, oxidation, lithography, etching, diffusion, implantation, deposition, process flows and yield.

• Virtual lab – eight experiments with realistic, noisy instruments, to be analysed in the circular (biweekly) sessions.

Week	Topic	Lecture	Interactive widgets	Virtual lab
1	Introduction: materials, devices and the basic fabrication steps	Lecture slides	Semiconductor milestones Technology trends and scaling Basic planar process steps
2	Crystal growth I: from sand to a Czochralski ingot	Lecture slides	From sand to polished wafer Czochralski crystal puller Effective segregation coefficient	Lab 1: Crystal growth and four-point probe
3	Crystal growth II: float zone, GaAs, wafers and defects	Lecture slides	Float-zone refining Four-point probe Wafer flats and identification Crystal defects gallery
4	Silicon oxidation	Lecture slides	Deal–Grove thermal oxidation Oxide thickness by colour Impurity redistribution during oxidation	Lab 2: Thermal oxidation (Deal–Grove)
5	Optical lithography	Lecture slides	Clean-room classes and killer particles Exposure tools: contact, proximity, projection Resolution vs depth of focus Photoresist contrast curve Aerial image → resist profile simulator
6	Next-generation lithography and simulation	Lecture slides	E-beam proximity effect Aerial image → resist profile simulator Resolution vs depth of focus	Lab 3: Photolithography process window
7	Etching	Lecture slides	Etch profile explorer Orientation-dependent (anisotropic) Si etch Reactive-ion etching (RIE) simulator
8	Diffusion I: theory and profiles	Lecture slides	Atomic diffusion mechanisms Diffusivity vs temperature Diffusion profile designer	Lab 4: Wet and dry etching
9	Diffusion II: extrinsic and lateral diffusion; process simulation	Lecture slides	Diffusion profile designer
10	Ion implantation I: range, stopping and channeling	Lecture slides	Ion implantation profile designer Nuclear vs electronic stopping Ion channeling in a crystal	Lab 5: Diffusion: pre-deposition and drive-in
11	Ion implantation II: damage, annealing and related processes	Lecture slides	Ion implantation profile designer Ion channeling in a crystal
12	Film deposition I: epitaxial growth	Lecture slides	CVD / epitaxy growth-rate regimes MBE: effusion cells and shutter-controlled layers Lattice mismatch and critical thickness	Lab 6: Ion implantation and annealing
13	Film deposition II: dielectrics, polysilicon and metallisation	Lecture slides	Step coverage and void formation (Monte Carlo) Gate leakage: SiO₂ vs high-k
14	Process integration I: passives, bipolar, MOSFET, CMOS	Lecture slides	NMOS process flow (4 masks) CMOS process flow (p-well) Bipolar (n-p-n) process flow MOSFET threshold voltage and I–V	Lab 7: CVD, epitaxy and step coverage
15	Process integration II and IC manufacturing	Lecture slides	MEMS surface micromachining Wafer map and yield models Statistical process control
16	Future trends, project presentations and course review	Lecture slides	Gate leakage: SiO₂ vs high-k Technology trends and scaling	Lab 8: Process integration and yield (capstone)

Note for downloading: if you save the course on your own computer, keep the whole folder together so that all links keep working.

Syllabus

1. Introduction (Chapter 1): materials, devices and the basic fabrication steps

2. Crystal growth (Chapter 2): Czochralski and float-zone growth, segregation, wafers and defects

3. Silicon oxidation (Chapter 3): the Deal-Grove model

4. Photolithography (Chapter 4): optical and next-generation lithography

5. Etching (Chapter 5): wet etching, plasma and reactive-ion etching

6. Diffusion (Chapter 6): Fick's laws, profiles, extrinsic and lateral diffusion

7. Ion implantation (Chapter 7): range, stopping, channeling, damage and annealing

8. Film deposition (Chapter 8): epitaxy, CVD, dielectrics, polysilicon and metallisation

9. Process integration (Chapter 9): bipolar, MOS, CMOS, BiCMOS and MEMS

10. IC manufacturing and yield (Chapter 10) and future trends (Chapter 11)

Grading

Component	Weight
Project	20%
Seminar	20%
Final exam	60%

Slides from earlier years (PDF)

• Introduction Download PDF

• Crystal growth Download PDF

• Silicon oxidation Download PDF

• Photolithography Download PDF

• Etching Download PDF

• Diffusion Download PDF

• Ion implantation Download PDF