Glossary

A method that strips photoresist by turning it into ash using oxygen plasma and such.

Computer aided design. Use of computers in designing of architecture, industrial products, etc.

An opening on the insulation film that is used to connect the device layers and the interconnect layers.

Parts of various electronic functions, sometimes referred to as "semiconductor device"; examples are: transistors for amplification of electronic signals, resistors for regulating electric currents, and condensers for accumulating electric charges.

Electrical characteristics related to the input/output voltage and current.

An etching method that uses an etching gas in plasma form; used for fine processing.

A silicon (Si) atom on which voltage can be applied to control the flow of electrons between the source and the drain.

A thin wire of gold (Au) that connects the terminals on the chip to the lead frame; generally about 30μm in diameter.

A piece of high-purity single-crystal silicon (Si) generally about 2m in length and 8 inches in diameter; formed by immersing a single-crystal "seed" into a silicon melt, and then slowly withdrawing it while rotating it (called the Czochralski crystal growth process).

A film that electrically insulates interconnects on different layers.

A terminal on the lead frame, which is connected to the IC chip.

A technology that transfers a circuit pattern onto the substrate surface by light exposure, much like the lithographic printing.

A chemical compound (Si3N4) of silicon (Si) and nitrogen (N2) that has strong resistance to oxidation, and offers shielding against impurities.

A type of diffusion layer that has impurities such as phosphorus (P), and also has n-type conductivity.

A film of silicon dioxide (SiO2) formed by silicon (Si) reacting with oxygen (O2) or water (H2O) under high temperature.

A thin wire of gold (Au) that connects the terminals on the chip to the lead frame; generally about 30μm in diameter.

An encasement for the IC.

A chemical compound consisting of single-crystal silicon grains.

A development method in which the exposed photoresist is stripped; for the negative method, the exposed photoresist is left after development.

A piece of equipment used for testing the electrical characteristics of each IC on a wafer.

A type of diffusion layer that has impurities such as boron (B), and also has p-type conductivity.

Photoresist pattern used as a mask during the etching process.

An adhesive paste made by mixing silver (Ag) with an epoxy resin.

A region that electrons flow from and to, respectively.

A deposition method that deposits metal atoms onto a wafer by bombarding ions onto a metal target facing the wafer.

A piece of equipment used for masked exposure of photoresist on a wafer; consists of components such as light source, condenser lens, mask, projection lens, and stage; moved over the chips on the wafers by shifting the stage.

An instrument that measures electrical characteristics and such of an IC, according to a set testing pattern.

A typical semiconductor device that amplifies electronic signals.

A type of tape that loses adhesiveness when irradiated by ultraviolet (UV) light.

A circular slice of semiconductor material, used as the substrate for an IC.

An etching method that uses liquid chemicals and can process multiple wafers simultaneously.