Growth and Photo-etching of Oxide Layers on Silicon

Abstract

ABSTRACTOxide masking and photo-etching are some of the most important techniques used in the production of silicon planar transistors and semiconductor integrated circuits. The combination of these two techniques makes it possible to get diffusion at the exactly specified base and emitter areas.Silicon oxide is grown by passing steam over silicon slices heated to a temperature of 1000–1250°C. The thickness of silicon oxide growth has been measured by oxide wedge formation and the use of optical methods. A number of experiments have been performed to show the actual relationship between the thickness of the oxide layer grown and time, temperature and resistivity of the starting material.A simple process of selectively etching the base and emitter areas by the use of photo-etch resist technique (photo-etching process) has been evolved and discussed in detail.