Silicon-on-Sapphire (SOS) CMOS Process and Drawbacks
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The silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) CMOS structure is a heteroepitaxial CMOS structure in which a thin (~1 μm) single crystal silicon epitaxial layer is deposited on a highly polished single-crystal sapphire substrate.
The silicon film is doped n+ and p+ by phosphorus and boron ion implantation, followed by an annealing or drive-in diffusion step, as required. The thin silicon film is then etched into many separate NMOS and PMOS devices and interconnected by the metallization pattern.
The (SOS) CMOS structure is an example of a dielectrically isolated IC, and the use of the insulating substrate results in a greatly reduced parasitic capacitance. This leads to a very high-speed device performance and very low power dissipation.
These features are especially useful for very high-speed, high-density ICs.
The Steps in the SOS CMOS process
i) The starting wafer is sapphire (aluminium oxide, Al203) on which silicon, whose crystal lattice is compatible with that of sapphire.
ii) The active regions are isolated by chemically etching the silicon between the areas. The first mask defines the active regions. The active islands are then doped to be n-type or p-type by implantation steps . This can be done by using two separate masks for the n- and p-type implantation or by a uniform implantation followed by a counter doping step using a single mask.
iii) Thin oxide is now grown by oxidation. The polysilicon is deposited on top of it to form the gate terminals and is patterned with a fifth mask.
iv) The source and drain regions are now formed by implantation using two separate masks or a pair of complementary masks. This implantation step is made rather deep so that doping penetrates all the way through the silicon.
v) A thick layer of oxide is now grown over the entire wafer to protect the structure. An eighth mask is used to cut contact holes. Metal is now deposited and patterned by a ninth mask. The last mask is used to produce a protective layer that covers everything but the bonding pads.
The SOS process has two drawbacks:
(i) The dielectric constant of sapphire is high compared with that of silicon. This results in a higher coupling capacitance in the adjacent wires, which gets worse with scaling (offsetting the reduced junction capacitance). This affects the speed adversely.
(ii) Sapphire is an expensive raw material which may be more suitable for jewelry than for transistors
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