Technical Notes

Technical Notes

Electrical Characteristics of Solids

When it comes to electrical characteristics, solid matter falls into one of three categories: it is either a conductor, an insulator, or a semiconductor, depending on whether or how …

Technical Notes

P-N Junction Physics

When p-type semiconductor and n-type semiconductor materials are placed in physical contact, the area around the contact (known as the junction) behaves differently than either of the …

Technical Notes

Diode Physics

The characteristic response of a solid state diode to an external electrical potential or to an energy source such as light forms the basis for devices such as bipolar junction transistors, …

Technical Notes

MOSFET Physics

MOSFETs are planar surface devices that are the most commonly used variant of Field Effect Transistors (FETs);including Junction Gate Field Effect Transistors (JFETs) and Insulated …

Technical Notes

FinFET Physics

It can be seen that all of the familiar components of a MOS device are present in the FinFET (drain, source, gate, gate dielectric) and that the device more effectively separates the …

Technical Notes

Polycrystalline Silicon Thin Films

Polysilicon thin films are produced using a process known as chemical vapor deposition or CVD. Heavily doped polysilicon and poly-silicide films have been used as gate electrodes and …

Technical Notes

Silicon Based Epitaxial Thin Films

Epitaxy is defined as the "regularly oriented growth of one crystalline substance on another". Both homoepitaxy and heteroepitaxy processes are used in semiconductor device fabrica …

Technical Notes

Compound Semiconductor Epitaxial Thin Films

Compound semiconductors are materials such as GaAs, AlGaAs, GaN, CdSe, InP, InSb, etc. These materials combine the elements from equidistant columns on either side of Column IVA of …

Technical Notes

Dielectric Thin Films

Thermal SiO2 films for device components can be formed in a variety of ways; the selection of method is dependent on such factors as substrate composition/topography and the thermal …

Technical Notes

Metal Thin Films for Contacts and Interconnects

In semiconductor device fabrication, contacts are the metal components in direct contact with silicon in transistors and other devices, while interconnects are the current-carrying …

Technical Notes

Vacuum Pressure Basics

In simple terms, vacuum may be defined as: A space or container from which the air has been completely or partially removed.

Technical Notes

Creating a Vacuum

An in-depth understanding of the creation of vacuum requires consideration for physical characteristics such as gas viscosity, flow type, the thermal conductivity of the gas, and gas …

Technical Notes

Vacuum Measurement Principles

The first true pressure measurement was made by Evangelista Torricelli in the 17th Century, when he invented the mercury barometer and measured atmospheric pressure.

Technical Notes

Pirani Thermal Conductivity Vacuum Gauge Physics

The Pirani gauge's sensing element is a wire of known resistance and known temperature coefficient of resistance.

Technical Notes

Ionization Vacuum Gauge Physics

UHV and XHV pressure measurements are routinely performed using ionization gauges configured as either hot cathode gauges (HCGs) or cold cathode gauges (CCGs).

Technical Notes

Spinning Rotor Vacuum Gauge Physics

Spinning rotor gauges (SRGs) also known as molecular drag or viscosity gauges, measure the number density of the surrounding gas.

Technical Notes

Capacitance Manometer Physics

The capacitance gauge translates a pressure-modulated movement in a thin diaphragm into an electrical signal proportional to the pressure.

Technical Notes

Chemical Vapor Deposition Physics

Chemical vapor deposition processes can be defined as: any process in which a thin solid film is formed on a substrate by the surface-mediated reaction of adsorbed precursors from the …

Technical Notes

Semiconductor Fab Utilities Overview

Semiconductor fabrication utilities include ultrapure water, bulk high purity gases such as nitrogen and argon, exhaust gas handling and disposal, and cleanroom air systems.

Technical Notes

Ultrapure Water for Semiconductor Manufacturing

This technical note provides a basic familiarity with the design elements and functionalities for UPW systems. We will discuss the main UPW parameters, the treatment sequence for UPW …

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