Silicon Earth : introduction to the microelectronics and nanotechnology revolution

618 Pages·2016·24.895 MB·English

by  Cressler, John D

Second Edition
Silicon Earth
Introduction to Microelectronics
and Nanotechnology
© 2016 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Description of the Cover Art
Curious about the slick cover art? Starting from NASA's famous ªEarth at Nightº image
(Figure 15.42), we played some games with Adobe to introduce curvature and atmo-
sphere to the Earth and then added silicon integrated circuit oceans (read: Silicon Earth).
The original concept of showing the Earth with an integrated circuit overlay was mine, but
Peter Gordon of Cambridge University Press led me to NASA's night view, and Poornima
Ozarkar, the artistic wife of one of my PhD students, executed a large number of design
iterations to get it right. For the second edition, John Gandour of CRC Press massaged the
original colors and added in the background of stars and interstellar gas. Final result?
Pretty slick!
The ªEarth at Nightº (courtesy of NASA, 2000) is actually a composite of images cre-
ated from data gathered by satellites which are a part of the U.S. Air Force's Defense
Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), and which reside at about 800 km above the
Earth's surface, in Sun-synchronous, near-polar orbits (99 degree inclination). The night
view of the Earth clearly shows evidence of human civilization, speaking volumes about
our reliance on electricity, and also suggests why it's awfully tough to get a great view of
the Milky Way when you live in big cities! The brightest areas are obviously not the most
populated, but rather the most urbanized (read: light pollution?!). The integrated circuit
spanning the oceans of this Silicon Earth is actually a SiGe radar chip designed by my
Georgia Tech research team.

© 2016 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Second Edition
Silicon Earth
Introduction to Microelectronics
and Nanotechnology
John D. Cressler
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA

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Version Date: 20151030
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© 2016 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
To the many aspiring students
of microelectronics and nanotechnology:
May your imaginings be bold, your vision keen,
and may your re-creation of our new world
blossom with hope and promise.
And ¼
For my Maria:
My beautiful wife, my best friend, and my soul mate for these 33 years.
For Matthew John (and Mary Ellen, and now Elena and Moira),
Christina Elizabeth (and Michael, and now Owen and Amelia),
and Joanna Marie (and Eric):
God's awesome creations, and our precious gifts.
May your journeys of discovery endure forever.

© 2016 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
© 2016 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
People Like You And Me,
Though Mortal, Of Course, Like Everyone Else,
Do Not Grow Old No Matter How Long We Live.
What I Mean Is That We Never Cease
To Stand Like Curious Children
Before The Great Mystery Into Which We Were Born.
This Interposes A Distance Between Us
And All That Is Unsatisfactory In The Human Sphere.
Albert Einstein

vii
© 2016 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
© 2016 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Contents
Preface to the Second Edition ......................................................................................................xv
Preface to the First Edition ........................................................................................................xvii
Author ...........................................................................................................................................xxi
1. The Communications Revolution .......................................................................................1
The Big Picture .........................................................................................................................1
The Evolution of Human Communications .........................................................................5
Doomsday Scenarios ...............................................................................................................8
Global Information Flow ......................................................................................................14
Evolutionary Trends: Moore's Law.....................................................................................18
Silicon: The Master Enabler ..................................................................................................24
Micro/Nanoelectronics at the State of the Art: Nanoscale CMOS .................................28
A Parting Shot ........................................................................................................................33
Time Out: Gut Check on Your Comprehension ................................................................33
References and Notes ............................................................................................................34
2. A Matter of Scale ..................................................................................................................35
The Tyranny of Numbers......................................................................................................35
ªSeeingº versus ªImagingº the Infinitesimal ....................................................................36
The Distance Scale of the Universe .....................................................................................41
The Micro/Nanoelectronics Distance Scale .......................................................................43
The Time and Frequency Scales of Micro/Nanoelectronics ...........................................46
The Temperature and Energy Scales of Micro/Nanoelectronics ....................................53
Seeing Is Believing? ...............................................................................................................58
Time Out: Gut Check on Your Comprehension ................................................................59
References and Notes ............................................................................................................60
3. Innumerable Biographies: A Brief History of the Field ...............................................61
What History Can Teach Us .................................................................................................62
The Uniqueness of Microelectronics...................................................................................63
The Shoulders We Stand On: Some Giants of Electrical Engineering ...........................65
The Invention/Discovery of the Transistor ........................................................................77
Newsflash! ...............................................................................................................................86
How the West Was Won ........................................................................................................87
The Integrated Circuit ...........................................................................................................90
Not Invented Here .................................................................................................................92
The Rest of the Story ..............................................................................................................93
Time Out: Gut Check on Your Comprehension ................................................................97
References and Notes ............................................................................................................97
4. Widget Deconstruction #1: Smartphone ..........................................................................99
With a Broad Brush ................................................................................................................99
Nuts and Bolts ......................................................................................................................103
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© 2016 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
x Contents
Where Are the Integrated Circuits and What Do They Do? .........................................111
Time Out: Gut Check on Your Comprehension ..............................................................118
References and Notes ..........................................................................................................118
5. Semiconductors: Lite! .........................................................................................................119
What Are Semiconductors? ................................................................................................119
What Makes Semiconductors So Special? ........................................................................121
Types of Semiconductors ....................................................................................................121
Crystal Structure ..................................................................................................................123
Energy Bands ........................................................................................................................125
Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors ...........................................................................133
Doping ...................................................................................................................................141
Drift and Diffusion Transport ...........................................................................................144
Carrier Drift .....................................................................................................................144
Carrier Diffusion .............................................................................................................148
Generation and Recombination .........................................................................................151
The Semiconductor Equations of State .............................................................................154
Time Out: Gut Check on Your Comprehension ..............................................................155
References .............................................................................................................................156
6. Widget Deconstruction #2: USB Flash Drive ................................................................157
With a Broad Brush ..............................................................................................................159
Nuts and Bolts ......................................................................................................................164
Hard Disk Drives ............................................................................................................164
RAM ..................................................................................................................................167
ROM ..................................................................................................................................172
Flash Memory ..................................................................................................................174
Where Are Integrated Circuits and What Do They Do? ................................................177
Time Out: Gut Check on Your Comprehension ...............................................................181
References and Notes ..........................................................................................................181
7. Bricks and Mortar: Micro/Nanoelectronics Fabrication .............................................183
The IC Fabrication Facility (aka ªthe Cleanroomº) .........................................................185
Crystal Growth and Epitaxy ..............................................................................................190
Semiconductor Crystals .................................................................................................191

Epitaxy ..............................................................................................................................194
Doping: Diffusion, Implantation, and Annealing ..........................................................198
Oxidation and Film Deposition .........................................................................................204
Etching and Polishing .........................................................................................................208
Photolithography .................................................................................................................213
Metalization and Interconnects .........................................................................................218
Building a Transistor ...........................................................................................................222
IC Packaging: Wirebonds, Cans, DIPs, and Flip-Chips .................................................227
3D ICs, TSVs, and SoPs ........................................................................................................233
Reliability ..............................................................................................................................237
Time Out: Gut Check on Your Comprehension ..............................................................239
References .............................................................................................................................240
© 2016 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC