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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Silicon Wafer Foundry Service Providers And Their Important Contribution To The Semiconductor Industry

By Paul Drake


The semiconductor industry (and the sectors it is serving) has been benefiting a lot from silicon wafer foundry service providers. In particular, the coming of advanced technologies like the fabless business model, provide the advantage of affordability - a crucial factor in maintaining the operational costs at a low level. With the help of foundry service providers' process capabilities, the production of semiconductor components (e.g. MEMS) have been efficient and cost-effective.

What are these process capabilities? Check out the following:

Lithography - also known as photolithography, it is a process that puts specific patterns on silicon wafers; the patterns are written on the substrates using a light sensitive polymer called photoresist. This process is essential to the production of semiconductor components that connect millions of transistors in a circuit.

Etching - in simpler terms, it is a process of making prints on the surface of the substrate or wafer. Several wafer foundry companies have a broad range of wet etching capability for 300mm and smaller diameters, for a broad range of dielectrics and metal films. They can also process non-standard sized substrates.

Wafer reclaim and recovery - the very purpose of this process is to extend the life of a wafer - for longer duration use. A wafer foundry company mechanically re-polishes wafers to remove surface scratches and residual patterns. While there is a certain limit on how many times a wafer can be reclaimed, still this process is considered a cost-effective solution for clients.

Thin films (dielectrics) - with this process capability, foundry companies use equipment like custom furnaces to facilitate processes like LPCVD and thermal oxide.

KISS Polishing - this process is utilized by foundry companies for the removal of minor surface scratches or defects on a substrate; this process involves visual inspection to find wafers with chips and cracks.

There are still a lot of process capabilities inside a silicon wafer foundry service facility - thanks to the people behind these innovations. Indeed, they play a key role for the semiconductor industry and the sectors it serves.




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