SiO2 thin film creation in Diffusion furnace - Process Functional Modeling
During the PRE-LOADING - loading wafers into the boat, the furnace remains open, resulting in losing N2 gas and electricity. It would be better to cover the bottom of the furnace.
Turn off the heaters of the furnace and N2 flow during PRE-LOADING - loading the wafers in the boat
Start N2 flow just before the LOADING, before the loading of the boat with wafers into the furnace. Turn on the heaters only when the boat is completely loaded into the furnace
Disconnect the thermocouples control during the LOADING if the furnace is turned on.
Use a mixture of N2 and Ar during LOADING to ensure that all residual air is moved out, even from the bottom zone of the furnace.
Turn off the heaters of the furnace when the boat is removed. The furnace is big enough to keep the temperature for a long time. Besides, the STABILIZATION step is long enough to compensate for the temperature difference.
The quality of the low-zone wafers is different from the mid-zone and top-zone wafers. For instance, the stoichiometry of SiO2 might change. Even small variations of stoichiometry can result in the same change in optical constants that may affect the model of ellipsometric model and result in SiO2 thickness.
During the loading, the lowest thermocouple received the wrong information; therefore, the bottom part of the furnace became overheated.
Similar projects
Semiconductor devices are becoming more complex and expensive. But what exactly are we paying for when we buy a computer, cellphone, or any device containing a microchip? It’s not for radically new functions—the core components remain the same: transistors and interconnections. According to Moore’s law, transistors are getting smaller, with more interconnection layers added, making the manufacturing process longer and more costly. In reality, we’re paying for the inability of engineers to efficiently solve engineering challenges. This project leverages System Functional Modeling (SFM) to analyze the IC interconnection layer and Process Functional Modeling (PFM) to evaluate its manufacturing process. These analyses aim to deepen our understanding of both the device and the production process, generating innovative solutions for cost reduction and improved efficiency.
Wet cleaning is widely used in microchip manufacturing. Single wafer equipment is working as follows. A wafer rotates, and chemistry is poured from a movable nozzle. Water rinsing is performed at the end of the process. Loading of a new batch of the chemistry resulted in excursion - a strongly increased amount of defects was observed on the wafer after the processing. The project is dedicated to the failure analysis and creation of innovative solutions.
Flash heating of a wafer is widely used in microchip manufacturing. The purpose of the process is to prevent the diffusion of ions and atoms. During the flash process, a wafer breakage occurs. The project's purpose is to learn and understand the mechanism of the wafer breakage and propose the solutions to prevent the wafer breakage