Fabrication Processes for VLSI Devices

Silicon Wafer Preparation

‰ Chip Fabrication Processes

Silicon Wafer Epitaxial

Oxidation
Manufacture Growth

Photo-
lithography

Etching

Diffusion (Ion
Metallization
Implantation)

Packaging
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Silicon Wafer Preparation Czochralski (CZ) Growth Method

• CZ is more common
method to grow
silicon crystal today
because it is capable
of producing large
diameter crystals,
from which large
diameter wafer can
be cut.

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Lecture # 4

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 Modern CZ Crystal Growth
CZ crystal growth (cont.)
• The raw Si used for crystal • Sequence of
growth is purified from SiO2 photographs and
(sand) through refining, fractional
distillation and CVD. drawings illustrating
CZ crystal growth.
• The raw material contains < 1 ppb The charge is
impurities except for O (» 1018 melted,
cm-3) and C (» 1016 cm-3) • the seed is
inserted, the neck
• Essentially all Si wafers used for region is grown at a
ICs today come from Czochralski
grown crystals. Polysilicon material high rate to remove
is melted, held at close to 1415 dislocations and
°C, and a single crystal seed is finally the growth is
used to start the crystal growth.
• slowed down to
• Pull rate, melt temperature and produce a uniform
rotation rate are all important crystal.
control parameters.

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Wafer Slicing

300-mm (12 in.) and 400 mm (16 in.) Czochralski-grown

silicon ingots. (Photo courtesy of Sin-Etsu Handotai Co.,
Tokyo.)
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 Modeling Crystal Growth: relationship between pull
Drawback of the CZ method rate and crystal diameter.
• Freezing occurs between
isotherms X1 and X2.
• The only significant drawback
to the CZ method is that the
silicon is contained in liquid • Heat balance: latent heat of
form in a crucible during
growth and as a result, crystallization + heat conducted
impurities from the crucible from melt to crystal = heat
are incorporated. conducted away.

• in the growing crystal. Oxygen

and carbon are the two most
significant contaminants.

• These impurities are not

always a drawback, however.
Oxygen in particular can be
very useful in mechanically
strengthening the silicon
crystal and in providing a
means for gettering other
unwanted impurities during
device fabrication. 9 10

2πrdx=radiation surface
area of an incremental
Length. σ=Boltzman constant
A= Cross-sectional area
KS=thermal conductvity of the soild

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Vpmax= maximum crystal pull rate is inversely proportional to the square root of the
crystal radius. 13 14

Modeling Dopant Behavior During CZ Crystal

Growth
All values are below 1
,which means that during
Growth the dopants are
• •Dopants are added Rejected into the melt.
to the melt to
provide a controlled
• n or p doping level
in the wafers. VO=initial volume
• However, the dopant Ko is the segregation coefficient.CS IO=number of impurities
and CL are the impurity concentration CL=impurity concentration
incorporation just on the either side of the solid/ n the melt.
process is liquid interface.
complicated by
dopant segregation.

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Lecture # 4

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 Doping concentration versus position along the grown CZ
crystal for common dopants in silicon.

Consider three cases: If K<1

If K>1
f= Vs/Vo, a fraction of melt that has solidified 17 if K~1 18

Float Zone Growth Technique

• CZ wafers are contaminated by O2 and C
from the crucible or graphite heaters.

• This limits the resistivity to ~ 20 Ωcm,

while intrinsic Si is 230 kΩcm.

• Extremely high purity Si wafers are

made using float zone growth.

• FZ does not use a crucible or carbon

heaters.

• * More expensive.

• * Carrier concentrations down to 10 11

atoms/cm 3 have been achieved.
• * High purity needed for power
thyristors and rectifiers.
Curves for growth from the melt showing the doping
concentration in a solid as a function of the fraction19 20
solidified.

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Float-zone process. (a) Schematic setup. (b) Simple model for
doping evaluation.
FZ Growth Considerations
• Segregation and evaporation of impurities in the melt zone help
purify the Si further.
• * Recall, if k < 1, then more dopants/impurities in the liquid than
in the solid.
• * Thus, the impurities generally stay in the melt zone, and don't
solidify in the boule.
• * You can "purify" FZ wafers further by successively passing the
coil along the boule. The impurities then segregate towards the
end of the boule.
• Thermal instability in the melt zone can cause microvariations in
composition and doping.
• Difficult in making a uniform dopant concentration.
Float Zone Growth Technique
• A seed crystal is brought into contact with
the top of the rod.
• In an inert atmosphere, an RF coil is slowly
passed along the length of the rod, starting
at seed contact.
• The field set up by the coil induces eddy
currents in the rod, leading to joule
heating, and so melts the rod in the vicinity
of the coil.
• The "floating" melt zone is about 2 cm
wide..
• The seed crystal touches the melt zone and
is pulled away, along with a solidifying Si
boule following the seed.
• The seed crystal determines the crystal
orientation of the boule.
• Limited to about a 4" wafer, as the melt
zone will collapse.
• It is only held together by surface tension
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(and RF levitation). 22
Doping in FZ Growth
• Gas Doping:
• Dopants are introduced in gaseous form during FZ growth.
• * PH 3 (Phosphine), AsCl3--> n-dopant
• * B 2H6 (Diborane), BCl3 -> p-dopant
• * Good uniformity along the length of the boule.
• Pill Doping:
• Drill a small hole in the top of the EGS rod, and insert the dopant.
• * If the dopant has a small segregation coefficient, most of it will be
carried with the melt as it passes the length of the boule.
• * Resulting in only a small non-uniformity.
• * Ga and In doping work well this way.
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‰ Wafer Lapping and Etching Wafer Polishing and Cleaning

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