Semiconductor Chemistry

Flashcards summarizing key vocabulary and concepts from Semiconductor Chemistry lecture notes.

Semiconductors

Materials with electrical conductivities between metals and insulators, whose conductivity can be varied by temperature, optical excitation, or impurities.

Intrinsic Semiconductors

Pure semiconductor materials with high purity, typically over 99.9999%.

Extrinsic Semiconductors

Semiconductors that are doped with impurities to change their electrical properties.

Trichlorosilane (SiHCl3)

Intermediate compound used to purify metallurgical grade silicon.

Zone Refining

A purification method that uses successive crystallization to remove impurities from materials like germanium.

Czochralski Method

A popular technique to grow single-crystal silicon, involving pulling a seed crystal from molten silicon.

Epitaxy

The process of growth of a thin layer of single crystal material on a thicker substrate crystal.

Wet Etching

A method in which wafers are immersed in chemical solutions to remove material.

Dry Etching

A material removal process that uses gaseous etchants rather than solvents.

Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE)

A low-throughput technique for growing semiconductor crystals in a vacuum.

Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)

A method for depositing layers of materials through chemical reactions in the vapor phase.

Gaussian Distribution Coefficient (k_d)

A ratio used to describe the concentration of a dopant between solid and liquid phases during crystal growth.

Silicon Wafer

A thin slice of silicon crystal, used as a substrate in semiconductor devices.

Polycrystalline Silicon

Silicon composed of many small silicon crystals or grains, typically used as a starting material in semiconductor fabrication.