in this video we help you understand the semiconductor industry which is interconnected and constantly evolving in the enormous semiconductor ecosystem today let's learn about the essential semiconductor manufacturing processes in the first episode we talked about silicon the main material which is used to make semiconductors in order for silicon to turn into a semiconductor chip it needs to go through the essential processes of wafer manufacturing oxidation photolithography etching deposition and ion implementation metal wiring EDS and packaging let's take a closer look at these processes [Music] semiconductors are stacked high and solid to form a complex structure similar to a high-rise building constructing a building starts with the foundation a wafer is the foundation for the semiconductor most Wafers are made of silicon extracted from Sand how can these tiny grains of sand become a wafer first sand is heated until it melts into a high Purity liquid and then gets solidified by crystallization the resultant silicon Rod is called an Ingot these ingots are sliced into a disc thinly sliced Wafers the surface of slice Wafers is rough and contains defects so polishing machines are used to polish the surface of the wafer the reason is that defects on the surface could negatively affect the Precision of circuits if you look at a photo of Wafers you can see a grid pattern on the surface yes the word wafer comes from biscuit Wafers a wafer made this way is the main material for semiconductors because the larger the diameter is the greater the number of chips that can be produced per wafer is so the diameter of Wafers is becoming larger because the resultant thin disc shaped wafer is not conductive yet a process to make Wafers semi-conductive is required first Wafers go through the oxidation process oxygen or water vapor is sprayed on the wafer surface to form a uniform oxide film this oxide film protects the wafer's surface during the following processes and also blocks current leakage between circuits the film acts as a strong protective shield now the foundation is ready the building up process begins just as you draw blueprints to build a building you draw a circuit design onto a wafer which is called the photolithography process it is called photo for short because it is similar to developing a photo taken on a film camera with semiconductors a photomask functions as the film a photo mask is a glass substrate with a computer design circuit pattern in order to draw the circuit on the wafer the photoresist a material that responds to light is applied thinly and evenly on the oxide film previously placed on the wafer now when light transfers the pattern photo mask the circuit is drawn on the wafer surface just like developing a photo a circuit pattern is imprinted on the wafer by spraying developer and removing unlit areas from the areas that are exposed to light after an inspection of the wafer to check whether the pattern is drawn well it moves on to the next step now unnecessary materials are carved out so that only the design pattern remains using a liquid or gas etching unnecessary materials are selectively removed to draw the desired design when chemical Solutions are used for etching it is called wet etching and when gas or plasma is used it is called dry etching we will talk about these details in the future let's imagine constructing a building on a semiconductor chip smaller than a fingernail and thinner than a sheet of paper the photo lithography process and the etching process are repeated several times on the wafer layer by layer here an insulating film that separates and protects the Stacked circuits is required it is called a thin film coating the thinned film at a desired molecular or Atomic level onto a wafer is called deposition since the coating is so thin precise and sophisticated technology is required to uniformly apply the thin film on a wafer to give the semiconductor electrical characteristics ion implementation is also required a semiconductor made of silicon does not conduct electricity but adding impurities it conducts current and has conductive properties in summary through the wafer manufacturing oxidation photolithography etching deposition and ion implementation processes the wafer becomes conductive and numerous circuits are drawn on it now in order for this circuit to work an electrical signal must be applied it is necessary to create a path for electricity to pass through according to the Circuit pattern this process is called the metal wiring process it is a process that allows electricity to Flow by depositing a thin metal film using materials such as aluminum Titanium or tungsten so that electricity can pass through the semiconductor well the chip manufacturing processes are now coming toward completion the next step is EDS this is the process of testing to ensure Flawless semiconductor chips in other words it is a testing step to sort out defective chips yield is a percentage of prime chips relative to the maximum chip count on a single wafer the semiconductor chip selected through the Eds process are made in a form suitable for devices this is the last process the packaging process the wafer completed through the previous steps are cut into individual semiconductor chips that can be loaded on an electronic device an individual chip must have a path to exchange electrical signals with the outside and have a form to protect it from various external elements the wafer is cut into individual chips and the diced or sawed chips are placed on the PCB board in the bonding step the contact point of the semiconductor chip placed on a substrate is connected with the contact point of the substrate then molding finishes the chip package to its desired shape after sealing the semiconductor and labeling the product name the semiconductor chip we commonly see is completed of course only after going through the final test will it become a finished product foreign we learned about the essential processes that produce semiconductor chips these complex processes can be separated into the pre-process up to the wafer processing stage and the post process which contains the testing and packaging processes we hope you now have a better understanding of how a semiconductor chip is manufactured stay tuned for more interesting semiconductor episodes if you liked today's video please like subscribe and turn on notifications