Due to the complicated semiconductor manufacturing process, the equipment required in each different stage is also different. From the perspective of step classification, the key of semiconductor equipment can be divided into silicon wafer processing equipment, wafer manufacturing process equipment, sealing and testing process equipment, etc. This kind of equipment is matched with silicon wafer manufacturing, integrated circuit manufacturing, packaging, testing and other technological processes respectively, which are used in different technological processes of integrated circuit production.
In the semiconductor equipment market, wafer manufacturing equipment accounts for 81% of the market, packaging equipment accounts for 6%, testing equipment accounts for 8%, and other equipment accounts for 5%. In wafer manufacturing equipment, lithography machine, etcher and thin film deposition equipment are the key equipment, accounting for about 24%, 24% and 18% of the equipment cost in wafer manufacturing stage respectively.
As mentioned above, different devices have different responsibilities in the semiconductor manufacturing process. Then, what are the functions of probe table, lithography machine, etcher and thin film deposition equipment at each stage of the process?
One minute to learn about the "division of labor" of semiconductor devices
probe station
Probe bench is used in semiconductor industry and optoelectronic industry. Detection of integrated circuits and their packages. It is widely used in the research and development of precise measurement of high precision electrical equipment for complex and high-speed devices. It aims to ensure the quality and reliability, and reduce the development time and the cost of device manufacturing process.
Service scope: 8 inch Wafer, IC detection, IC design, etc
Service contents: 1. Derivation of subtle node signals
2. Failure analysis failure confirmation
3. Confirm electrical characteristics of FIB power supply circuit after modification
4. Wafer reliability verification
Stepper
Semiconductor chips in the process of making needed materials production, mask, lithography, etching, cleaning, doping, grinding machinery, such as several technological process, in which is more important in lithography steps, lithography is the highest precision and complex, semiconductor chip manufacturing difficulty coefficient of maximum, the price of the most expensive equipment, is the key to the advanced level in all manufacturing steps process parameter values.
Now more widely used in the market are the penetration lithography machine and EUV lithography machine. EUV lithography is the key to the latest technology, its reason is coupled with a steady miniature manufacturing, from 32/28 22/20 nm nm connection point entering points, because the printing precision is not enough, need to apply the second exposure to complete such as technology, equipment and making cost while increasing, Moore's law fails, the transistor product cost high for the first time.
Although EUV lithography machines have been shipping for a long time, their high cost and long delivery time make it impossible for ordinary enterprises to purchase them. Therefore, the key market for lithography machines is now 193nm ArF lithography machines.
Etching machine
Etching is a critical step in integrated circuit manufacturing process, is contact with lithography etching using a graphical interface to solve a key process enhancement after the photoresist pattern as a mask, in the substrate etching off certain deep thin film material, and then get the same pattern of integrated circuits as the photoresist pattern etching technology according to the process can be classified into the wet etching and dry etching, in which the wet etching and the chemical etching and electrochemical etching, the dry etching containing ion milling etching plasma etching and reactive ion etching dry etching is popular now etching technology, in which the plasma dry etching as the corePlasma etching machine is a large vacuum automatic production and processing equipment, typically by several vacuum plasma reaction chamber and the host transmission system of plasma etching equipment category is closely related to etching process, its basic principle is to use low temperature plasma free and chemical properties are excited in the lively of neutral atoms, and the etching material to produce chemical reaction between is different according to the way of producing plasma, plasma etching and dry etching key into capacitor electric rational plasma etchingThe key of capacitor plasma etching is to etch external economic structures such as deep holes and grooves with high aspect ratio by ionization of source energy on hard material.However, the key to electroplasma etching is to etch soft and thin materials with low ionization kinetic energy and extremely symmetrical ionization concentration. These two etching equipment include the application of key etching equipment.
Thin film deposition equipment
Thin film deposition process, a series of involving molecular adsorption adsorption molecules on the surface of the outer diffusion and coalescence under moderate position, deposits a layer of waiting for audit on the wafer thin film preparing process of thin film deposition and growth method, in which the more common to deposition, includes physics deposition (PVD) and chemical deposition (CVD) PVD and CVD technology has advantages and disadvantages, PVD according to heating source material, the surface layers of molecules or molecular structure from the source material escape, and growth of thin film on substrate, contains vacuum evaporation and accidentally wafer platingVacuum evaporation in vacuum, the volatile material (metal) heating, make its molecular structure of molecules or get enough kinetic energy, get rid of the constraint of the surface and evaporate into the vacuum and steam, steam molecular structure or air molecules midway encounter substrate, deposition on the substrate, produces thin-film accidentally plated, can use the source object (usually by electrostatic field to speed up the positive ions such as Ar +) collision stationary surface, make the surface ionization (molecules or molecular structure) escape CVD independent of plasma discharge or comprehensive use of energyIn such ways as direct ultraviolet ray, gaseous substances produce chemical reaction in the solid surface layer and deposit on the surface layer to produce stable solid film.
In addition to the mentioned lithography, etching and film equipment, there are also ion implantation, process control, surface treatment, chemical-mechanical milling and testing equipment.