|
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |09
A/D converter
Analog-to-Digital converter. A circuit board or integrated circuit that converts analog input signals to digital equivalent-weight output signals.
Abrasive
a granular compound used for grinding or cutting.
Abrasive characteristics
of package molding compounds, the mold roughening or wearing characteristics of a plastic molding compound used to encapsulate electronic devices. These characteristics are the result of the fillers, such as silica, that are added to the plastic in order to control the molding and molded characteristics of the material.
Absolute pressure
in mass flow controllers, the pressure measured relative to zero pressure (perfect vacuum).
Absorb
the taking up of a liquid or gas into the bulk of another material.
Abstract class
a class with no instances that is created only for the purpose of organizing a class hierarchy or defining methods and variables that will apply to lower-level classes. The term "virtual class" refers to the same concept.
Abstract data type
a data type that is defined by a programmer and not built into the programming language. Abstract data types are typically used to create high-level structures that correspond to the real-world objects represented in a program.
AC fine test dust
a graded, naturally occurring dust frequently used as a polydisperse test aerosol. It is composed of 68% SiO2, 16% Al2O3, and 4.6% Fe2O3. The fine grade has 39% of its mass in particles less than 5 micrometers in size and 73% in particles less than 20 micrometers in size.
Accelerometer
a sensor that measures acceleration or gravitational force.
Acceptable Quality Level (AQL)
generally, 95% confidence that material of the stated AQL will pass sample inspection. This is distinct from reliability, which measures failures over an extended period of time.
Acceptance criteria
the criteria that a system or component must satisfy to be accepted by a user or customer.
Acceptance testing
testing performed on a product or equipment to determine whether an individual lot of the product or equipment conforms with specified requirements.
Acceptor
in a semiconductor, an impurity in a semiconductor that accepts electrons excited from the valence band, leading to hole conduction.
Access
an engineering data analysis system that compiles a database of wafer fabrication facility (fab) system, control, production, and structural data for yield analysis, manufacturing analysis, and production indices. Abbreviation for analysis computer for component engineering service support.
Access time
a time interval that is characteristic of a storage device and is essentially a measure of the time required to communicate with that device.
Accumulation condition
the region of the capacitance-voltage (C-V) curve for which a 5-V increment toward a more negative voltage for p-type material, or toward a more positive voltage for n-type material, results in a change of less than 1% in the maximum capacitance, Cmax. (The "max" part of the abbreviation "Cmax"is written with subscript lowercase letters.)
Accuracy
in statistical process control, the compliance of the measured or observed value to the true value or accepted reference value.
Acetic acid (CH3COOH)
a sour, colorless, liquid compound that is a component of vinegar.
Acetone ([CH3]2CO)
a colorless, volatile, and extremely flammable liquid used as a solvent and as a reagent.
Acid
1: a substance that dissociates in water to liberate hydrogen or hydronium ions, donates a proton, accepts an unshared pair of electrons, or reacts with a base to form a salt. An acid has a pH of less than 7 and turns litmus paper red. 2: a corrosive material with the chemical reaction characteristic of an electron acceptor.
Acid tank
a chemically inactive receptacle containing acid for etching, cleaning, or stripping wafers.
Acidosis
an abnormal increase in hydrogen-ion concentration in the body caused by an accumulation of an acid or loss of a base; may be respiratory, metabolic, or renal in nature.
ACK
in message transfer, "Correct Reception" handshake code. NOTE-The name (derived from ACKnowledged) of one of the four standard handshake codes used in block transfer protocol. The code ACK (00000110) corresponds to the ASCII code that has the same pattern.
Across-the-seat test
a test for leakage across the internal seal of a test component (for example, from one side of the valve seat to the other).
Active area
the region of thin oxide on a die or wafer in which transistors and other circuits reside.
Active devices
semiconductor devices that have active function, such as integrated circuits and transistors. Contrast passive devices.
Active equipment
equipment that loads a cassette onto the cassette stage of another piece of equipment, or unloads a cassette from the cassette stage of another piece of equipment. Contrast passive equipment.
Active minienvironment
a minienvironment that creates and maintains a controlled condition.
Active transfer partner
in automated material movement, a transfer partner that physically participates in the micro-level portion of a transfer, either by moving the transfer object or by moving impediments within the transfer envelope, such as doors or clamps. NOTE-This term refers to the micro-level transfer phase only, and not to any setup activities prior to the transfer. For example, a port door may be opened during setup phase by passive partner. Contrast with passive transfer partner.
ACT-PTM
Applying Concurrent Teams to the Product-To-Market process. An Intersil program that has established a sector-wide procedure for new product development. The highlights of ACT-PTM are (1) the use of concurrent development teams (with representatives from engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and quality); (2) the direct participation of customers; and (3) the formalization of procedures to enhance the quality of product definition and market launch. See also concurrent engineering.
Actual equipment production
actual number of product wafers processed during productive time (including equipment loading and unloading).
Actual flow
in mass flow devices, the gas flow as measured by an external standard, not the electrical output of a mass flow meter.
Actuation cycle
the full operation of a valve, such as from a fully opened position to fully closed and back to fully opened.
Acute health effect
a severe, usually critical, and often dangerous adverse effect on a human or animal body, with severe symptoms that rapidly change and exposure of short duration.
Acute toxicity
the acute adverse effects resulting from brief exposure to a material.
Adhesion, resist edge
the ability of the edge of an image in a developed resist coating to adhere to its substrate under applied physical or chemical stress.
Adhesive stringer
on a photolithographic pellicle, any detectable protrusion from the edge of the adhesive.
Adjacent character misalignment
in the serial alphanumeric marking of silicon wafers, the vertical distance (R) between the character baselines of two adjacent characters on the same line. Also see line spacing misalignment.
Adjusted decibel (dBa)
a unit used to express the relationship between the interfering effect of a noise frequency and a noise power level.
Aeolotropic
see anisotropic.
AES
see Auger electron spectroscopy.
AFM
see atomic force microscopy.
Aggregation object
in equipment communications, an object that is composed (made up) of other objects. An aggregation may lose some degree of integrity if one of its components is missing. Also see component object.
Air atmosphere
a term used to indicate that, for a certain process or test, no specific ambient atmosphere is required. The process or test is usually carried out at atmospheric pressure, and the ambient air may be recirculated through the equipment. The relative humidity of the air and the room temperature may be specified.
Air flow interruption
disruption of airflow that causes particles to travel in a manner that may potentially contaminate the product or process fluids.
Air velocity (VA)
in the thermal testing of semiconductor devices, the velocity of the cooling air at a specified location upstream from the device under test. Air velocity is measured in linear feet per minute. (The "A" part of the abbreviation is written with a subscript capital letter.)
Alarm
1: implementation-dependent interpretation of an event; supplier- and situation-specific events. 2: any abnormal situation on the equipment based on physical and safety limitations that may endanger people, equipment, or material being processed. The presence of an alarm on equipment typically requires some action to maintain personnel, equipment, or physical material safety.
Alert
see sign.
Algorithm
a set of precisely defined rules, processes, or operations for solving a problem in a finite number of steps.
Algorithmic
pertaining to problem-solving methods that use a precisely defined, finite set of rules, operations, or procedures. Contrast heuristic. Also see algorithm.
Align expose
an operation in a lithography process during which a resist-coated substrate is put into proper relative position or orientation to a reticle and exposed to light.
Aligner
A processing tool used to transfer lithographic patterns from a photomask to a silicon wafer. Four types of aligners are in use: contact, proximity, projection, and steppers. Contact aligners were the earliest type, and have the disadvantage of bringing the photomask in direct contact with the wafer, thereby inviting particulate contamination. The other types avoid direct mask contact and bring increasing line-width control and resolution. See also lithography, mask and stepper.
Alignment
1: the accuracy of the relative position of an image on a reticle with reference to an existing image on a substrate. 2: a procedure in which a wafer is correctly positioned relative to a reticle. 3: the mechanical positioning of reference points on a wafer or flat panel display substrate (also called alignment marks or alignment targets) to the corresponding points on the reticle or reticles. The measure of alignment is the overlay at the positions on the wafer or substrate where the alignment marks are placed. Also see direct alignment and indirect alignment.
Alignment mark
an image selectively placed within or outside an array for either testing or aligning, or both . Also called alignment key and alignment target.
Alignment pocket
any form of mechanical shape (other than flat) local to a cassette or container designed to position or otherwise externally constrain a container to a production tool.
Alignment precision
on epitaxial silicon wafers, pattern displacement in the first mask photolithography process.
Alignment target
see alignment mark.
Alkali
any compound that has highly basic properties. Alkalis are often hydroxides of alkali metals (metals that belong to group IA of the periodic table, including Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, and Fr).
Alkali metals
a group of soft, reactive metals with a valence of 1; examples are sodium, potassium, lithium, and rubidium.
Alkaline-earth metals
the heaviest members of the group IIa in the periodic table; usually calcium, strontium, magnesium, and barium.
Alloy
1: a composite of two or more elements, of which at least one is metal. 2: a thermal cycle in which two or more discrete layers (of which at least one is metal) react to allow good electrical contacts.
Alluvial
describes soil that contains sediment deposited by water flow.
Alpha test
performance testing, done at a manufacturer's site, on a preproduction version of a process tool. Testing is performed by applications engineering under development engineering's supervision. No design changes are made during the testing period.
Alphanumeric marking
a system of marking wafers using machine-readable letters, numbers, a dash, or a period.
ALU
Arithmetic Logic Unit. One of the three essential components of a microprocessor, the other two being data registers and control. The ALU performs addition and subtraction, logic operations, masking, and shifting (multiplication and division).
Aluminized area
in a cerdip or cerpack semiconductor package, the leadframe area coated with aluminum to provide a surface suitable for wire bonding. The maximum area is defined by the inside dimension of the cap or ceramic ring. In some cases, the die attach area is also coated if a full leadframe is used. The coating may be vacuum deposited or bonded.
Aluminized width
in a semiconductor package, the width of the area coated with a protective layer of aluminum. This area covers most of the top formed width. Also see bond finger and aluminized area.
Aluminum (Al)
a metal used to interconnect the devices on a wafer and to interconnect external devices or components.
Aluminum chloride (AlCl3)
a crystalline solid formed in the chambers of aluminum plasma etchers and concentrated in the cold traps.
Aluminum oxide (Al2O3)
an abrasive used in grinding operations. Also, the native oxide growth that occurs on freshly deposited aluminum. Sapphire is the monocrystalline form of aluminum oxide. Also see single crystal. ambient pressure : in mass flow controllers, the absolute pressure of the medium surrounding the device.
Ambient temperature (TA)
the temperature of the surrounding medium, such as air or liquid, that comes into contact with the device or apparatus. 2: the temperature of the specified, surrounding medium (such as air, nitrogen, or a liquid) that comes into contact with a semiconductor device being tested for thermal resistance.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
an organization that compiles and publishes computer industry standards.
AMHS
see automated material handling system .
Ammonia (NH3)
a colorless, alkaline gas that has a pungent odor. It dissolves readily in water and is combustible. Ammonia is used for the chemical vapor deposition of silicon nitride and for the nitrification of silicon oxide.
Ammonium fluoride (NH4F)
a white crystalline salt used to buffer hydrofluoric acid etches that dissolve silicon dioxide but not silicon. An example of such an etch is the buffered oxide etch. Also see pinhole.
Ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH)
a weak base formed when ammonia is dissolved in water.
Amorphous silicon
silicon with no discernible crystalline structure. Contrast polycrystalline silicon.
Analog
A signal in an electronic circuit that takes on a continuous range of values rather than only a few discrete values; a circuit or system that processes analog signals. Contrast discrete.
Analog DI
Analog Dielectric Isolation. An analog integrated circuit technique using dielectric isolation technology. See dielectric isolation.
Analog semicustom
Analog integrated circuits that can be specified by a designer using semicustom design techniques to meet a specific design requirement.
Analog signal processing
Processing of analog signals in the analog domain. Includes the capability of amplification, filtering, signal conditioning, multiplication. and comparison of analog signals.
Analytical model
a representation of a process or phenomenon by a set of solvable equations. Contrast simulation.
Ancillary areas
subordinate or support areas outside the cleanroom.
Angle-resolved scattering (ARS)
technique that measures light scattered from particles as a function of angle; used to characterize particles.
Angstrom (Å)
unit of linear measure equal to one ten billionths of a meter (10-10 m). (The diameter of a human hair is approximately 750,000 Å.) The preferred SI unit is nanometers. 10 Å=1 nm.
Anion
an ion that is negatively charged.
Anion-exchange resin
an ion-exchange resin capable of the reversible exchange of negatively charged ions.
Anisotropic
exhibiting different physical properties in different directions. NOTE-In semiconductor technology, the different directions are defined by the crystallographic planes. Also called nonisotropic and aeolotropic. Also see anisotropic etch.
Anisotropic etch
a selective etch that exhibits an accelerated etch rate along specific crystallographic planes. NOTE-Anisotropic etches are used to determine crystal orientation, to expose crystal defects, and to facilitate dielectric component isolation. Also called preferential etch.
Anneal
a high-temperature operation that relieves stress in silicon, activates ion-implanted dopants, reduces structural defects and stress, and reduces interface charge at the silicon-silicon dioxide interface.
Anodic coating
a protective, decorative, or functional coating formed by conversion of the surface of a metal in an electrolytic oxidation process.
Anomaly
see defect.
Anoxia
an abnormal condition characterized by a relative or total lack of oxygen; may be local or systemic.
ANSI
see American National Standards Institute.
Antimony (Sb)
a brittle, tin-white, metallic chemical element of crystalline structure. Antimony is used as an n-type dopant in silicon, often for the buried layer.
Antireflective coating (ARC)
a layer of dielectric material deposited on a wafer before resist to minimize reflections during resist exposure.
Apex chip
on a semiconductor wafer or other substrate, any material missing from the edge of a wafer and having at least two distinct interior boundaries that form one or more distinct intersections. Also see chip.
API
see application programming interface.
Apnea
an absence of spontaneous respiration.
Application Programming Interface (API)
a means of invoking services in the code of an application. An API is needed for each interface of any architecture.
Application software
the software performing the specific task of the equipment or the host computer.
Application-level synthesis
synthesis from specifications described in a style natural to an application area, such as dataflow diagrams for digital signal processing applications.
AQL
see acceptable quality level.
Aqueous extraction
a procedure for obtaining an extract (usually an ionic water solution) of thermosetting molding plastics or other plastic materials used in microelectronic device manufacture. The extract is analyzed by standard methods to determine the pH, conductivity, and ionic composition.
ARC
see antireflective coating.
Architecture
of a computer system, a defined structure based on a set of design principles. The definition of the structure includes its components, their functions, and their relationships and interactions.
Area contamination
foreign matter on localized portions of a wafer or substrate surface.
Area defect
see extended light scatterer.
Argon (Ar)
a "rare gas," although more abundant than any of the other rare gases. Argon is monatomic (its molecules having only one atom) and characterized by its extreme chemical inactivity. It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and somewhat soluble in water. Argon is used as an inert gas in purging, blanketing, and pressurizing systems. It also is used in chemical vapor deposition, sputtering, plasma and reactive ion etching, and annealing. Argon normally is stored as a cryogenic liquid.
Array
1: in lithography, an arrangement of repetitive patterns on a die, such as an array of memory cells. 2: in lithography, all of a class of functional patterns taken as a group that appears on a wafer or that is produced by stepping (as on a photographic material). 3: in packaging, a group of pads, pins, or circuits arranged in rows and columns on one substrate.
ARS
see angle-resolved scattering.
Arsenic (As)
a highly poisonous chemical element, which is brittle and steel gray in color. Arsenic is often used as an n-type dopant for buried layer predisposition. Also see n-type.
Arsenic trioxide (As2O3)
a white powder used as a solid source of arsenic for forming n-type regions in semiconductors. Also called white arsenic.
Arsine (AsH3)
a highly toxic, flammable, and colorless gas with a disagreeable garlic-like odor. It is a hemolytic poison. Arsine is used in the semiconductor industry for n-type doping of epitaxial films, for diffusion processes, in ion implantation, for the production of gallium arsenide phosphide films, and as a source for arsenic silicate glass films.
Artifact
1: a physical standard against which a parameter is measured; for example, a test wafer used for testing parametric drift in a machine. Also called standard reference material. 2: a superficial or unessential attribute of a process or characteristic under examination; for example, a piece of lint on a lens that appears through a microscope to be a defect on a die. 3: in surface characterization, any contribution to an image from other than true surface morphology. Examples include contamination, vibration, electronic noise, and instrument imperfections.
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange. An eight-bit code for alpha-numeric character transfer adopted by the American Standards Association to achieve universal compatibility among data devices. Pronounced "ask-ee."
Aseptic methods
methods that minimize contamination of a sample by extraneous microorganisms.
Ash
to apply heat to a material until the material has been reduced to a mineral residue.
Asher
a machine used to remove resist from substrates.
Ashing
the operation of removing resist from a substrate by oxidation; a reaction of resist with oxygen to remove the resist from the substrate.
ASIC
Application Specific Integrated Circuit. Semiconductor circuits specifically designed to suit a customer's particular requirement, as opposed to a DRAM or microcontroller, which are general-purpose parts. See custom integrated circuit and semicustom IC.
ASO
see automatic shutoff.
ASP
Average Selling Price.
Aspect ratio
1: in etch, the depth-to-width ratio of an opening on a wafer. 2: in feature profile, the ratio of height to width of a feature.
Asphyxia
severe deficiency of oxygen or greater-than-normal amounts of carbon dioxide in the blood, leading to loss of consciousness and, if not corrected, death. Common causes include inhalation of toxic gas or smoke, aspiration of vomitus, foreign bodies in the respiratory tract, and poisons.
Assay
the determination of the content of a specific component with no evaluation of other components.
Assembly
The step in semiconductor manufacturing in which the device is encased in a plastic, ceramic, or other package. In some cases, the chip is assembled directly on a printed circuit board.
Assignable cause
see special cause.
Assist
any unplanned interruption or variance from specifications of equipment operation that requires human intervention of less than six minutes to correct. After six minutes, an assist becomes a failure.
ASSP
Application Specific Standard Product. A standard product that has been designed to implement a specific application function, as opposed to a general-purpose product such as a RAM.
Asynchronous
independent of time-controlled sequence or chronological occurrence.
Ataxia
an abnormal condition characterized by impaired ability to coordinate movement.
Atmosphere (atm)
a unit of pressure equal to the pressure exerted by a vertical column of mercury 760 mm high, at a temperature of 0 degrees C, and under standard gravity. One technical atmosphere equals 1 kg X f/cm2 (14.7 pounds per square inch).
Atomic absorption spectrometry
the measurement of the light absorbed at the wavelength of resonance lines by the unexcited atoms of an element.
Atomic force microscopy (AFM)
a microscopy technique based on profilometry using an atomically sharp probe that provides three-dimensional highly magnified images. During AFM, the probe scans across a sample surface. The changes in force between the sample and the probe tip cause a deflection of the probe tip that is monitored and used to form the magnified image.
Atomic percent
in electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) of plastic surface composition, the number of atoms of a particular element present in every hundred atoms within the ESCA detection volume.
Atomic transfer
in automated material movement, the transfer of a single transfer object from Equipment A directly to Equipment B with only one change in ownership. An atomic transfer is the basic unit of movement in automated material movement.
ATPG
see automatic test pattern generation.
ATPG
Automatic Test Program Generation. Automatic translation from a test description language into tester-specific format. The end result is a test program used by a specific IC tester to test a specific device. It can also describe an automated method of generating patterns for use in engineering workstation simulation of ASIC devices. See engineering workstation.
At-speed test
any test performed on an integrated circuit that tests the device at its normal operating clock frequency.
Attribute
1: the real-world characteristics or properties of an entity, recorded as part of an entity type. 2: properties of an entity; an entity is said to be described by its attributes. In a database, the attributes of an entity have their analogues in the fields of a record. In an object database, instance variables may be considered attributes of objects. 3: element of information pertaining to an object. 4: value associated with a type definition. Also see object attribute.
Attributes
qualitative data that can be counted. Examples include the number of particles per wafer, number of failed die per wafer, and particle density per wafer. Attributes are measured on a discrete scale.
Auger electron spectroscopy (AES)
the energy analysis of Auger electrons produced when an excited atom relaxes by a radiationless process after ionization by a high-energy electron, ion, or X-ray beam.
Auger process
the radiationless relaxation of an atom involving a vacancy in an inner electron shell. An electron is emitted, which is referred to as an Auger electron.
Autodoping
in the manufacture of silicon epitaxial wafers, the incorporation of dopant originating from the substrate into the epitaxial layer. Also called self-doping. Also see doping.
Automated Material Handling System (AMHS)
equipment that helps control the flow of material in a manufacturing facility; e.g., robots, computers, sensors, and protective carriers.
Automated system test
automatic insertion of testability features at the system level, driven by a high-level description of the system and identification of appropriate test methods for each system block.
Automatic shutoff (ASO)
in gas source control equipment, a remotely actuated valve, preferably the cylinder valve, but possibly a valve located close to the cylinder valve, that can isolate the product as close to the cylinder valve as possible. It may also be a device that attaches to the cylinder valve stem or handle to close the valve.
Automatic Test Pattern Generation (ATPG)
the automatic development of vectors which, when applied to an integrated circuit, permit faults to be detected in the performance of the integrated circuit.
Automatic valve
a valve with an actuation device that can be operated remotely, such as a pneumatically or electrically controlled valve.
Availability
1: of equipment, the number of hours producing, plus standby time, divided by total available hours; expressed as a percentage: 168 hours - (facilities downtime + equipment downtime + engineering time + setup and test time)/168 hours X 100. 2: of equipment, the probability that the equipment will be in a condition to perform its intended function when required. 3: of computer systems, the amount of time a computer system, communications network, or database system is ready to support normal activity.
Available equipment capacity
potential number of product wafers the equipment could process during the equipment uptime period if there were no engineering or standby time allowed.
Average defect count
in optical analysis of surface condition, the result of dividing the total number of defects on a single photomicrography by the number of squares in the grid used.
AVLSI
Advanced Very Large Scale Integration. A mainstream CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) process technology. This process provides high density by virtue of its 1.25-micron feature size, and is designed with inherent latch-up resistance. Analog and radiation-tolerant variants of AVLSI also are available.
Azeotrope
a liquid mixture with a constant maximum or minimum boiling point lower or higher than the boiling points of its components and with the capacity to distill without change in composition. Also see eutectic .
Azimuth
in ellipsometry, the angle between the major axis of the ellipse and the plane of incidence. Also see ellipsometer.
|
| Deutsch | Contact | Newsletter | Sitemap | Search | Text version | Glossary
