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F/I
abbreviation for final inspect. See linewidth, etched.
FA
Failure Analysis.
Fab
Fabrication. In semiconductor manufacturing, fabrication usually refers to the front-end process of making devices and integrated circuits in semiconductor wafers, but does not include the package assembly (back-end) stages.
Fab
the main manufacturing facility for processing semiconductor wafers.
Facilities Cost Model (FCM)
a construction cost estimator developed by SEMATECH for evaluating the costs of various facility options, particularly for 0.25 mm wafer fabrication facilities. FCM includes regional cost factors data, a tool list database, and a unit costs database. It calculates total project area including cleanroom, fab support area, office space, and central utilities building area, and it provides a detailed cost estimate by subsystem.
Facilities-related downtime
a period when the equipment cannot perform its intended function solely as a result of out-of-specification facilities. These facilities include environmental conditions (such as temperature, humidity, vibration, and particle count); house hookups (such as power, cooling water, house gases, exhaust, and LN2); and communications links with other equipment or host computers.
Factory control system
a computer system that receives data and coordinates production equipment, materials handling systems, and factory personnel.
Factory host
computers that reside above a cluster controller in the logical factory control hierarchy. Responsibilities include higher level planning, scheduling, optimization, and computer data analysis; typically the location of the factory computer-aided manufacturing system.
Factory integration
the coordination of all of the elements required to successfully operate a factory; that is, product definition, human factors, material flow, equipment scheduling/control, environmental controls, and facilities.
Factory layout/relayout tool
see FLRT.
Fail safe
a system so designed that a failure of any component in the system will stop the equipment and prevent unsafe operation of the equipment.
Failure
1: in the pressure testing of fluorocarbon tube fittings, any external leakage of fluid through the tube wall or the tube fitting connection, whether it be catastrophic or a slow leak. [SEMI F10-93] 2: in the seal testing of fluorocarbon tube fittings, the separation of a tube from a tube fitting connection, or the tearing of the tube. [SEMI F7-92]. Also see equipment failure.
Failure mechanism
in failure analysis, a fundamental process or defect responsible for a failure.
Failure mode
in determining life cycle of valves, the mode by which a failure is observed to occur. Failure mode types include a catastrophic failure that is both sudden and complete and degraded failure that is gradual, partial, or both.
Failure Mode And Effects Analysis (FMEA)
an analytically derived identification of the conceivable equipment failure modes and the potential adverse effects of those modes on the system and mission.
Failure Unit (FIT)
in reliability engineering, one failure per billion (109) device hours.
False negative
a measurement that indicates the failure to count a particle that is present.
False positive
a measurement that indicates the presence of particles when no particles are present.
Fasciculation
a localized, uncoordinated, and uncontrolled twitching of a single muscle group.
Fast axis
in optics, of a doubly refracting crystal, the direction in which the velocity of light is a maximum.
Fast track
a building method in which construction begins before plans and designs are fully completed.
Fault
1: an accidental condition that causes a functional unit to fail to perform its required function. 2: a defect-causing out-of-spec operation of an integrated circuit. Also see exception condition.
Fault coverage
the percentage of a particular fault type that a test vector set will detect when applied to a chip.
Fault dictionary
a list of faults that a test vector will detect in a failing circuit, or a list of all such faults for each vector in a vector set.
Fault model
a model of the behavior of defective circuitry in an integrated circuit. Physical defects result in improper behavior in a circuit which must be modeled in order for test patterns to be designed to properly detect them. Examples include stuck-at model, timing model, and bridging model.
Fault probability
the ratio of critical area to die area for an integrated circuit. Also called probability of failure.
Fault simulation
a simulation of a chip with a given set of test vectors with the expresses purpose of determining the extent to which the given test vectors detect a specific type of fault.
FCM
see facilities cost model.
Feature
an area within a single continuous boundary (for example, an aggregate image) that has an optical-density value (gray-level range) that is distinct from the background area outside the feature; for example, the simplest element of a pattern such as a single line, space, or L-bar.
Feature group
a small assembly of one or more similar features arranged together, such as three nested L-bars.
Feature height
in scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic force microscopy, the height of features on a surface profile; the distance in the Z-direction of any point in a microscope's scan area, relative to the lowest point in the scan area, as derived from measurement fluctuations during raster.
Feature size
1: the physical dimensions of an individual pattern element, usually expressed as minimum feature size. For example, a 0.8 micrometer process has a minimum gate dimension of 0.8 micrometer. 2: in surface characterization, any measurable three-dimensional surface irregularity, not necessarily oriented to any particular reference plane.
Federal laboratories
a nationwide network of specialized laboratories, such as the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), funded and administered by the U.S. federal government. Contrast with national laboratories.
Feedback
1: in atomic force microscopy, a process by which the cantilever is moved in the Z-direction relative to the sample to maintain a constant force during scanning. 2: in scanning tunneling microscopy, a process by which the tip is moved in the Z-direction relative to the sample to maintain a constant current during scanning.
FEOL
see front end-of-line.
FET
see field-effect transistor.
Fiber optics
a technique for transmitting light through very fine, flexible glass rods by means of internal refraction.
Fibrosis
the formation of fibrous connective tissue, often in response to excessive inhalation of dust.
Fidelity
the degree of correspondence of an image in shape and orientation to an original image from which it was derived.
Field
the printed pattern from a reticle.
Field flatness
in the measurement of photolithographic instruments, the difference between the maximum and the minimum Z-axis positions over the focal surface.
Field rotation
the rotation of a printed reticle pattern with respect to previously exposed fields.
Field-Effect Transistor (FET)
a transistor consisting of a source, gate, and drain, the action of which depends on the flow of majority carriers past the gate from the source to the drain. The flow is controlled by the transverse electric field under the gate.
FIFO
first-in, first-out dispatch policy. With this policy, the lot that has waited the longest in a queue will be the next lot selected for processing.
Filler wafer
see wafer, dummy.
Fillet
the filling in at the intersection of two lines to produce a concave junction or the rounding of a corner.
Film
a layer of contaminant on part or all of a wafer. An example is wax that has migrated onto the wafer surface.
Film adhesive
in the manufacture of photolithographic pellicles, adhesive between frame and film.
Film defects
in the manufacture of photolithographic pellicles, inconsistencies in the integrity and planarity of the film, including particles, pinholes, scratches, dirt, and a minute quantity of solid.
Film permeability
the measure of the rate at which chemical reagents penetrate a film.
Film stress
compressive or tensile forces that affect the film on a wafer.
Filter cartridge
of a fluid distribution system filter, the filtration element.
Filter housing
of a fluid distribution system filter, the shell that contains the filter cartridge.
Filtration efficiency
the ability to effectively remove contaminants, such as the ability of a cleanroom face mask to effectively remove aerosols and hydrosols from human breath as it is exhaled.
Filtration unit
of a fluid distribution system filter, the assembly consisting of a filter cartridge and housing. Examples are an integral unit, in which the filter cartridge and element are not separable, and a separable unit, in which the filter cartridge and housing can be disassembled.
Fin
on a ceramic semiconductor package or cap, a fine, feathery-edged projection of parent material on a corner of the ceramic body. Contrast burr.
Final Inspect (F/I)
see linewidth, etched.
Final steady state value
in mass flow controller testing, the average value of the actual flow, after the effects of the input transient have expired to a value equal to or below the intrinsic drift and noise.
Fingerprintresidual surface contamination deposited on a photomask or photoplate during
handling.
Finish
in the plating of integrated circuit leadframes, the final plating layer.
Finite State Machine Model (FSM)
a model of a hypothetical machine that can be in only one of a given number of states at any specific time. In response to an input, the machine generates an output and changes state. Both the output and the new state are functions of the current state and the input exclusively. Also called finite state machine.
Fired
see cofired.
First-in, first-out
see FIFO.
Fishtails
structures, attributed to substrate defects, either above or below the surface plane after epitaxial deposition; the "tails" are aligned in a particular crystallographic direction. Also see crescents.
Fissure
see crack.
FIT
see failure unit.
Fixative
a material that prevents morphological changes to biological structures.
Fixed Quality Area (FQA)
the central area of a wafer surface, defined by a nominal edge exclusion, X, over which the specified values of a perimeter apply.
Flake
material missing from one but not the other side of a semiconductor wafer.
Flake chip
see chip and peripheral chip.
Flaking
see peeling.
Flammable aerosol
a compressed liquid that yields a flame projection of 18 inches at the full valve opening or a flashback at any degree of valve opening when tested.
Flammable liquid
a liquid that has a flash point below 37.8 degrees C (100 degrees F) and a vapor pressure not exceeding 40 psi (absolute) at 37.8 degrees C.
Flange
in plastic and metal wafer carriers, the material on the exterior of a wafer carrier and perpendicular to the side walls. Also see wafer carrier.
Flare
in flat panel display substrates, a horn-shaped corner or projection on a score-cut edge.
Flash
the areas of molding compound between the edge of plastic molded packages and the dambars or leadframe rails. In worn molds, the flash may extend beyond the leadframe dambars due to imperfections in clamming the surfaces of the mold to leadframe surfaces. Contrast with resin bleed.
Flash characteristics
of thermosetting molding, factors (such as mold condition, viscosity of the molding compound, and curing characteristics) describing semiconductor-grade transfer molding compounds used to form semiconductor packages and chip carriers, especially that portion of the compound that overflows the mold.
Flash memory
a nonvolatile semiconductor memory consisting of 1-transistor cells wherein charge storage in the gate dielectric is the memory mechanism, and a second gate on the transistor enables serial insertion of data and simultaneous erasure of defined blocks of memory electronically.
Flat
on a semiconductor wafer, a portion of the periphery of a circular wafer that has been removed to a chord. Also see primary orientation flat and secondary flat.
Flat diameter
in the manufacture of silicon wafers, the linear dimension across the surface of a semiconductor wafer from the center of the flat through the wafer center to the circumference of the wafer on the opposite edge along the diameter perpendicular to the flat.
Flat pack
A package having leads that are parallel to the component body. Hermetic flat packs have leads on two or four sides. Plastic flat packs usually have leads on all four sides (plastic quad flat pack).
Flat zone
in an epitaxial layer, the depth from the front surface to the point where the net carrier density is 20% greater than or less than the average net carrier density of the region between 0.25 and 0.75 of the layer thickness.
Flatband Capacitance (Cfb)
the capacitance of a metal oxide semiconductor structure at the flatband voltage. Also see flatband condition.
Flatband condition
in metal oxide semiconductor microelectronics, the point at which an external applied voltage causes no internal potential difference across a metal oxide semiconductor structure.
Flatband Voltage (Vfb)
the applied voltage necessary to produce the flatband condition. Also see flatband condition.
Flatness
1: for wafer surfaces, the deviation of the front surface, expressed in total indicator reading (TIR) or maximum focal plane deviation (FPD), relative to a specified reference plane when the back surface of the wafer is ideally flat, as when pulled down by a vacuum onto an ideally clean, flat chuckContrast bow and warp. Also see global flatness and site flatness. 2: in a ceramic package or leadframe, the allowable deviation of a surface from a defined reference plane. The tolerance zone is defined by two parallel planes within which the surface must lie. Also see camber.
Flip-chip
a leadless, monolithic structure that contains an integrated circuit designed to electrically and mechanically interconnect to a hybrid circuit. Connection is made to bump contacts covered with a conductive bonding agent on the face of the hybrid.
Flip-chip
Bonding of chips with contact pads, face down, by solder bump connections.
Floor planning
the act of determining a physical layout of an integrated circuit from information contained in a netlist and a library of the physical characteristics of individual cells contained in the netlist. The purpose of floor planning is to obtain a physical layout that is acceptable in terms of system requirements, such as area, clock speed, power, and signal integrity.
Floorplanning
Floorplanning is used at the chip planning stage to efficiently partition the space of the chip in order to minimize area. It is also used in the early stages of layout to investigate tradeoffs in pinout, block placement and rotation, and routing area construction.
Flow Coefficient (Cv)
the number of standard cubic meters of air per minute that can flow through a valve at a pressure drop of 1 psi.
Flow curve
for regulators, the difference between the set pressure at zero flow and the outlet pressure as the flow is increased, represented by a curve. Also called droop.
Flow limiting device
a device installed in a valve that is designed to reduce the maximum flow from the valve under full flow conditions.
Flow rate
measurement of the amount of fluid or gas that passes one point at a given time.
Flow velocity (V)
in equipment exhaust systems, the average speed at which the effluent stream travels through the exhaust duct. It is measured in meters per second (m/s) or feet per minute (fpm).
Flow volume (Q)
in equipment exhaust systems, the volumetric flow rate of the effluent stream passing a given location in the exhaust system per unit of time. It is measured in cubic meters per second (m3/s) or cubic feet per minute (cfm).
FLRT
factory layout/relayout tool, which is a SEMATECH project to provide fab designers with tools for developing and assessing fab layouts.
Fluorescence
the emission of light as the result of, and only during, the absorption of radiation of shorter wavelengths. (Copyright 1993 IEEE. All rights reserved.)
Flux
the number of particles flowing through a given area per unit time.
FMEA
see failure mode and effects analysis.
Foam
a type of fire-fighting material consisting of small bubbles of air, water, and concentrating agents that extinguishes a fire by blanketing it and excluding air and the escape of volatile vapor. Flowing properties resist mechanical interruption and reseal the burning material.
Focal plane
the plane perpendicular to the optical axis of an imaging system that contains the focal point of the imaging system.
Focal Plane Deviation (FPD)
the distance parallel to the optical axis from a point on the wafer surface to the focal plane of the optical system.
focal range
in the measurement of photolithographic instruments, the total distance of defocus in which, over the whole of the processed image field, the processed image is sufficiently resolved for practical use.
focal surface
in the measurement of photolithographic instruments, the surface determined by finding the focus for each point-like object in the optical image field, with the object fixed with respect to the lens. The focal surface is then the map of Z-axis displacements for the highest contrast at each point in the optical image field as a function of the (x,y) or (r,) coordinates.
focus
in the measurement of photolithographic instruments, a condition of geometric adjustment of the lens' object, the optical system, and the image plane such that the optical image rays originating from a given point in the object converge to the smallest possible area at the corresponding point in the optical image. Also see focal surface.
Focus Technical Advisory Board (FTAB)
technically skilled representatives of SEMATECH member companies responsible for review and advice on SEMATECH activities; formed by joint direction of the ETAB and external resources.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
the federal agency that establishes requirements for the labeling of food and drugs to protect consumers.
Footprint
The area a machine takes up in the clean room. This is important because clean room space is expensive, and so minimizing the footprint of a machine is a good thing to do. There are two numbers that semiconductor manufacturers are interested in - the footprint and the linear frontage number (length of the front of the machine). The linear frontage number affects how many machines will fit into a bay since the machines are all lined up side by side.
Forbidden energy gap
the portion of the energy band structure of a semiconductor or insulator between the valence and conduction bands. This portion does not contain a continuum of states as do the valence and conduction bands but may contain discrete states introduced by dopant or deep level impurities in the material.
Force
for atomic force microscopy, interactions in the nanonewton scale leading to movement of the cantilever relative to the sample surface.
Foreign material
1: an adherent particle that is not parent material of the component. Adherence means that the particle cannot be removed by an air or nitrogen blast at 20 psi. [SEMI G58-94] 2: in flat panel display substrates, an opaque or partially melted particle of refractory or batch material embedded in glass. Its size is usually determined by the size of the distorted area.
Fork
in cluster tools, a two-prong transport module end effector designed to hold the wafer around its periphery.
Formal methods
vigorous, discrete mathematical approach for the process of specifying, designing, and verifying circuits and systems.
Format
1: the general order in which information appears on the input medium. 2: the arrangement of code characters within a group, such as a block or message, for data transmission.
Formula weight
the mass in grams per mole of a substance.
Forward bias
A voltage applied across a rectifying junction with a polarity that provides a low-resistance conducting path. By contrast, reverse bias causes the junction to block normal current. See P-N junction.
Foundry
A wafer production and processing plant. Usually used to denote a facility that is available on a contract basis to companies that do not have wafer fab capability of their own, or that wish to supplement their own capabilities.
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
a method of sample analysis in which incident infrared radiation is selectively absorbed by a sample according to the chemical bonds present in the sample.
Four-point probe
an electrical probe arrangement for determining the resistivity of a material, in which separate pairs of contacts are used (1) for passing current through the specimen and (2) for measuring the potential drop caused by the current. Also called collinear four-probe array.
FPD
see focal plane deviation.
FQA
see fixed quality area.
FRACAS
a closed-loop feedback path by which failures of both hardware and software data are collected, recorded, analyzed, and corrected. Abbreviation for failure reporting, analysis, and corrective action system.
Fraction of good field
see good field, fraction of.
Fracture
see crack.
Fragmented bead
in an ion-exchange resin, a piece of resin material that, when viewed at 20X magnification, appears to indicate that it would form a whole bead if reassembled with other fragmented pieces.
Frame adhesive
in the manufacture of photolithographic pellicles, adhesive between frame and photomask.
Frame rail
in metal leadframes, the edge strips of the frame that connect all the external lead tips that are perpendicular to the length of the leadframe strip and hold the individual frames in strip form.
Framework
a software system used to interconnect individual design tools, and one that that allows all of the design tools necessary to complete an integrated circuit design to be properly and effectively linked together.
Free-end closure
1: in determining hydraulic burst pressure of component specimens, a component (for example, cap or plug) used to allow the internal cavity of the specimen to be pressurized. Free-end closures do not contribute to the restraint of the specimen. 2: in the pressure testing of fluorocarbon tube fittings, a metal tube fitting connection which is securely fastened to the tube and does not contribute to the restraint of the test specimen.
Frit
A term used interchangeably with "glass" as in frit or glass-sealed packages such as CERDIP and CERPACK.
Front end
see front-end of line.
Front End-Of-Line (FEOL)
all processes from wafer start through final contact window processing.
Front plate
in a panel that consists of two plates of glass, or substrates, bonded together, the plate nearest the viewer of the display.
Front side
see front surface.
Front surface
of a semiconductor wafer, the exposed surface on which active semiconductor devices either have been or will be fabricated. Also called front side.
Front-end analysis
an investigation into a problem to determine its cause and possible solution.
Front-to-back alignment
in the manufacture of etched leadframes, the alignment, with respect to each other, of photomasks or image patterns after photomasking, on each side of the leadframe strip or sheet material.
FTAB
see Focus Technical Advisory Board.
FTIR
see Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.
FTY
Final Test Yield. See yieid.
Full flow
refers to the complete process that makes a product. Contrast with short flow.
Fume
the solid particles generated by condensation from the gaseous state, generally after volatilization from melted substances and often accompanied by a chemical reaction such as oxidation.
Function
in SECS communication, a specific message for a specific activity within a stream.
Functional area
in the leadframe of a semiconductor package, the portion that consists of the die attach pad and the lead tips to which the wires from the circuits on the die are attached.
Functional pattern
see pattern, functional.
Functional probe
the electronic testing of die on a wafer to determine conformance to specifications.
Functional requirements
a document that contains a detailed description of the functions to be performed by a computer program.
Functional test
one or more tests to determine whether a circuit's logic behavior is correct.
Furnace
A long glass (quartz) tube which can be heated to high temperatures. Furnaces are used for giving wafers heat treatments, oxidizing them, or reacting gases in the vicinity of the wafers to result in the deposition of thin films on the wafers (CVD). Furnaces used to be horizontal (long direction of the tube parallel to the floor) but current generation ones built for eight inch wafers are mostly vertical (tubes standing upright).
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