VLSI process engineering operations

Abstract

Before giving any description of semiconductor process technology, it is useful to understand what is involved in VLSI manufacture. This can be most easily understood by considering the design of the manufacturing process for CMOS DRAMs and is appropriate because this is the most common semiconductor made in Japan*. In developing the process, the equipment to be used in each elementary process, the mode of operation and time of processing needs to be considered. Also, the necessary complex production control of the manufacturing process needs to be discussed. All of this must be set in the context of the market for silicon wafers and chemicals which have to be supplied by the chemical industry, the influence of dust on productivity and the environmental problems arising from the manufacturing process.