Manufacturing path
Lithography, Etch & CMP
A free 10-lesson path through how a chip is actually patterned: the litho track and chemically amplified resist, the Rayleigh resolution and depth-of-focus equations, OPC and phase-shift masks, multiple patterning and EUV, overlay and process-window metrology, wet and dry etch, aspect-ratio-dependent etch, CMP and the Preston equation, and pattern-density/dummy-fill rules.
- 10
- lessons
- Beginner to Intermediate
- level
- Free
- every lesson
Lithography, Etch & CMP
- 1How a Chip Is PatternedFEOL, MEOL and BEOL as the three zones of a chip, and the deposit-litho-etch-strip-clean-CMP loop that repeats once for every one of the dozens of layers that make up a finished wafer.
- 2Photoresist and the Litho TrackThe coat, soft-bake, expose, post-exposure-bake and develop sequence that turns an unpatterned resist film into a patterned mask on the wafer, and why most modern resists are chemically amplified.
- 3The Optics of LithographyThe Rayleigh equations for resolution and depth of focus, how numerical aperture and illumination shape set them, and why 193 nm immersion scanners pushed deep-UV lithography as far as it could go before EUV.
- 4Resolution Enhancement and OPCOptical proximity correction, sub-resolution assist features, phase-shift masks, the OPC flow from tapeout to mask data, and why a lithography hotspot is a design-for-manufacturing concern for physical design.
- 5Multiple Patterning and EUVLELE and self-aligned double/quadruple patterning, what layout coloring and decomposition mean for physical design, and why EUV at 13.5 nm and high-NA EUV change the multiple-patterning picture.
- 6Overlay, CD Control and MetrologyHow overlay and CD are measured with CD-SEM and scatterometry, what a focus-exposure matrix and Bossung curve show, and how a process window is defined and kept inside spec.
- 7Wet and Dry EtchIsotropic versus anisotropic etching, what selectivity means and why it matters, and the basics of plasma and reactive-ion etching that give dry etch its directional control.
- 8Advanced Etch ChallengesAspect-ratio-dependent etching and why deep, narrow holes etch slower; etch loading and microloading; atomic layer etch for atomic-scale control; and how an endpoint detector knows when to stop.
- 9CMP FundamentalsThe Preston equation for polish rate, how pad and slurry together remove material, and the dishing and erosion defects that shallow trench isolation and copper damascene CMP both have to manage.
- 10Pattern Density, Dummy Fill and DFMWhy pattern-density rules exist, how dummy metal fill keeps CMP and etch uniform across a die, fill's effect on timing through added capacitance, and how physical design meets these manufacturing rules.