Microfabrication

Microfabrication is the process of fabrication of miniature structures of micrometre

scales and smaller. Historically, the earliest microfabrication processes were used
for integrated circuit fabrication, also known as "semiconductor manufacturing" or
"semiconductor device fabrication". In the last two decades
microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), microsystems (European usage),
micromachines (Japanese terminology) and their subfields, microfluidics/lab-on-a-
chip, optical MEMS (also called MOEMS), RF MEMS, PowerMEMS, BioMEMS
and their extension into nanoscale (for example NEMS, for nano electro
mechanical systems) have re-used, adapted or extended microfabrication methods.
Flat-panel displays and solar cells are also using similar techniques.

Miniaturization of various devices presents challenges in many areas of science

and engineering: physics, chemistry, materials science, computer science, ultra-
precision engineering, fabrication processes, and equipment design. It is also
giving rise to various kinds of interdisciplinary research.[1] The major concepts
and principles of microfabrication are microlithography, doping, thin films,
etching, bonding, and polishing.

Fields of Use
Microfabricated devices include:
Fabrication of integrated circuits (microchips) (see semiconductor
manufacturing)
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), MOEMS,
microfluidic devices (ink jet print heads)
solar cells
Flat Panel Displays (see AMLCD and Thin Film Transistor)
Sensors (micro-sensors) (biosensors, nanosensors)
PowerMEMSs, fuel cells, energy harvesters/scavengers
Microfabrication processes
Microfabrication is actually a collection of technologies which are utilized in
making microdevices. Some of them have very old origins, not connected
to manufacturing, like lithography or etching. Polishing was borrowed
from optics manufacturing, and many of the vacuumtechniques come
from 19th century physics research. Electroplating is also a 19th-century
technique adapted to produce micrometrescale structures, as are
various stamping and embossing techniques.
To fabricate a microdevice, many pr Microfabricated devices are not
generally freestanding devices but are usually formed over or in a thicker
support substrate. For electronic applications, semiconducting substrates
such as silicon wafers can be used. For optical devices or flat panel displays,
transparent substrates such as glass or quartz are common. The substrate
enables easy handling of the micro device through the many fabrication
steps. Often many individual devices are made together on one substrate and
then singulated into separated devices toward the end of fabrication.
Deposition or Growth
Microfabricated devices are typically constructed using one or more thin
films (see Thin film deposition). The purpose of these thin films depends on the
type of device. Electronic devices may have thin films which are conductors
(metals), insulators (dielectrics) or semiconductors. Optical devices may have films
which are reflective, transparent, light guiding or scattering. Films may also have a
chemical or mechanical purpose as well as for MEMS applications. Examples of
deposition techniques include:

Thermal oxidation
chemical vapor deposition (CVD)
APCVD
LPCVD
PECVD
Physical vapor deposition(PVD)
sputtering
evaporative deposition
Electron beam PVD
epitaxy
Patterning
It is often desirable to pattern a film into distinct features or to form openings (or
vias) in some of the layers. These features are on the micrometer or nanometer
scale and the patterning technology is what defines microfabrication. The
patterning technique typically uses a 'mask' to define portions of the film which
will be removed. Examples of patterning techniques include:

Photolithography
Shadow Masking

Etching
Etching is the removal of some portion of the thin film or substrate. The substrate
is exposed to an etching (such as an acid or plasma) which chemically or
physically attacks the film until it is removed. Etching techniques include:

Dry etching (Plasma etching) such as Reactive-ion etching (RIE) or Deep

reactive-ion etching(DRIE)
Wet etching or Chemical Etching

Other

A wide variety of other processes for cleaning, planarizing, or modifying the

chemical properties of the microfabricated devices can also be performed.
Some examples include:
Doping by either thermal diffusion or ion implantation
Chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP)
Wafer cleaning, also known as "surface preparation" (see below)
Wire bonding

Micro cutting / microfabrication

Micro cutting/milling is an alternative to lithographic techniques, by

downscaling macro processes such as cutting and forming, to tool sizes under
100 m in diameter.
Cleanliness in wafer fabrication
Microfabrication is carried out in cleanrooms, where air has been filtered of
particle contamination and temperature, humidity, vibrations and electrical
disturbances are under stringent control. Smoke, dust, bacteria and cells are
micrometers in size, and their presence will destroy the functionality of a micro
fabricated device.
Cleanrooms provide passive cleanliness but the wafers are also actively cleaned
before every critical step. RCA-1 clean in ammonia-peroxide solution removes
organic contamination and particles; RCA-2 cleaning in hydrogen chloride-
peroxide mixture removes metallic impurities. Sulfuric acid-peroxide mixture
(a.k.a. Piranha) removes organics. Hydrogen fluoride removes native oxide from
silicon surface. These are all wet cleaning steps in solutions. Dry cleaning methods
include oxygen and argon plasma treatments to remove unwanted surface layers,
or hydrogen bake at elevated temperature to remove native oxide before epitaxy.
Pre-gate cleaning is the most critical cleaning step in CMOS fabrication: it ensures
that the ca. 2 nm thick oxide of a MOS transistor can be grown in an orderly
fashion. Oxidation, and all high temperature steps are very sensitive to
contamination, and cleaning steps must precede high temperature steps.
Surface preparation is just a different viewpoint, all the steps are the same as
described above: it is about leaving the wafer surface in a controlled and well
known state before you start processing. Wafers are contaminated by previous
process steps (e.g. metals bombarded from chamber walls by energetic ions
during ion implantation), or they may have gathered polymers from wafer boxes,
and this might be different depending on wait time.
Wafer cleaning and surface preparation work a little bit like the machines in
a bowling alley: first they remove all unwanted bits and pieces, and then they
reconstruct the desired pattern so that the game can go on.