GROWTH OF SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS

The success in fabricating very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits is a result, to a large extent, of the development of and improvement in the formation or growth of pure single-crystal semiconductor materials. Semiconductors are some of the purest materials. Silicon, for example, has concentrations of most impurities of less than 1 part in 10 billion. The high purity requirement means that extreme care is necessary in the growth and the treatment of the material at each step of the fabrication process. The mechanics and kinetics of crystal growth are extremely complex and will be described in only very general terms in this text. However, a general knowledge of the growth techniques and terminology is valuable.