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WHITE
PA P E R
Designing a Semiconductor Characterization
System for an Undergraduate Fabrication Lab
Introduction
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University recently opened
an 1,800 sq. ft. Class 10,000 cleanroom. This cleanroom is designed to help
undergraduates learn the elements of the microchip fabrication process over
the course of one semester and to encourage them to pursue more advanced
studies. Unlike programs based on the use of tightly controlled IC production
processes as teaching tools, the equipment used encourages students to
experiment to find out how far they can "push" a specific processing tolerance
before it affects device parameters. As part of their coursework, students learn
how to measure the surface resistivity (i.e., sheet resistance) of test regions on
a wafer during processing and to perform I-V characterization of the devices
they create, which include capacitors, p-n junction diodes, resistors, and
nMOSFETs [1]. This case study describes a simple, cost-effective parameter
analysis system, built of easily obtainable components and programmed using
a commercial, off-the-shelf test and measurement automation programming
environment.
Keithley Instruments, Inc.
28775 Aurora Road
Cleveland, Ohio 44139
(440) 248-0400
Fax: (440) 248-6168
www.keithley.com
A G r e a t e r M e a s u r e o f C o n f i d e n c e
Requirements
To address the needs of this high throughput undergraduate laboratory, the
semiconductor characterization system had to meet several requirements: