Chip Technology

Describe how deposition adds thin films of insulating, conducting, or semiconducting material to a wafer.

Trace the main steps by which photolithography transfers a pattern from a mask onto a wafer.

Explain how etching selectively removes exposed material to create patterned features.

Explain how ion implantation changes the electrical behavior of selected regions of silicon.

Describe how chemical-mechanical planarization flattens a wafer before additional layers are built.

Distinguish front-end transistor formation from back-end metal-interconnect formation in a simplified fabrication flow.

Explain how patterned metal and insulating layers connect large numbers of transistors into working circuits.

Compare the broad fabrication structures and priorities of logic, DRAM, and NAND flash chips.

Interpret process-node labels and explain why mature manufacturing nodes remain commercially important.

Distinguish metrology measurements from defect inspection in controlling a fabrication process.

Predict qualitatively how defect density and individual die size affect the number of usable chips produced by a wafer.

Trace completed wafers through wafer testing, dicing, packaging, and final testing.