EEL 5400 Exam 1

Possible Exam 1 Review Questions

How would you sketch a cross section (A) of a planar NFET?

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How would you sketch a cross section (B) of a planar NFET?

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How would you sketch a cross section (A) of a FinFET NFET?

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How would you sketch a cross section (B) of a FinFET NFET?

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Which process steps are self aligned in Intel 22nm FinFET flow?

Gate sidewall spacer, Gate, Contacts

What company did the traitorous eight first found after leaving Shockley Electronics?

Fairchild Semiconductors

How many lithography masks are in Intel’s 22nm process flow?

More than 30

In the 1900’s the region now known as Silicon Valley mostly produced?

Fruit

What drove technology for integrated circuits during the early days of Silicon Valley (1960’s)?

Space / Military applications

What is the order of Intel’s process steps?

STI, wells, source/drains, metal gate, contacts, metal 1

What is a true statements about William Shockley?

He was a horrible manager

What statements about buried power rails are correct?

BPR shrinks the size of a standard cell, BPR increase transistor density, BPR allows power to be delivered from the back of the wafer

Choose the best statement

A) Faster transistors improve the RC delay

B) The RC delay only effects AI and server chips

C) The RC delay issue started a few nodes ago and the problem is getting worse

D) RC delay improves with scaling

C) The RC delay issue started a few nodes ago and the problem is getting worse

What might be included in the 1nm node?

A) Stacked nanosheets

B) Stacked n and p nanosheets

C) Buried power rail

D) All of the above

D) All of the above

What makes Silicon Valley successful?

A) Culture of risk taking

B) Equity in the company for engineers

C) Culture of failing is alright

D) Venture capital to fund startups

E) All of these

E) All of these

In the EUV video, where was the video taken?

A) TSMC Fab

B) Intel Fab

C) Samsung Fab

D) AMD Fab

E) None of these

B) Intel Fab

Choose the best statement

A) FinFET can be scaled to 1nm

B) FinFETS were invented with the first patent around

2011

C) FinFET scaling will reach limits at the 3nm node

D) FinFET will be replaced by carbon nanotube

transistors

C) FinFET scaling will reach limits at the 3nm node

What statment best describes a forked Nanosheet?

A) N nanosheets stacked on P nanosheets

B) N or P nano sheets stacked on eachother

C) P nanosheets stacked on N nanosheets

D) N and N stacked nanosheets with very small n to p

space

D) N and N stacked nanosheets with very small n to p space

Estimate the Gate Height in Samsung’s 14nm process

It must be less than 39nm and an approximate answer would be fine. Approximately 35% was the answer derived.

Who were the traitorous eight?

They were talented engineers that left to form Fairchild Semiconductor

What is the driver of semiconductor technology today?

Automotive, general computing & data storage, and wireless communication

What is the name of the first semiconductor company?

Shockley Transistor Corporation

What was the key event that established "Silicon Valley"?

Shockley moving to Palo Alto

What kind of boss was Shockley?

* He was imperious
* He was a bad boss
* He was into eugenics

Name a key thing the "space race" demanded as related to Silicon Valley?

Small and light electronics

What wavelength is EUV? (Extreme Ultraviolet)

13\.5nm

How is EUV generated?

By vaporizing pure molten Tin with a high powered laser.

What is unique about EUV mask?

Instead of the pattern shining through like with a glass plate, the pattern is reflected off of a Quartz plate. This is due to the fact that EUV is easily absorbed and would not pass through a mask.

How long did the industry work on EUV before it was ready for production?

\~20 years to develop the technology

What wavelength does standard lithography work with?

193nm

What are the pitch ranges in which you would use the following techniques (193nm process)?

1) Direct Printing

2) Self Aligned Double Patterning

3) Self Aligned Quad Patterning

1) >80nm

2) 80nm > f > 40nm

3) 40nm > f > 20nm