Process Flow
The chip lifecycle step by step: design, wafer, frontend fab, test, packaging. A guided walk through how sand becomes silicon.
Design
RTL to tape-out: synthesis, place-and-route, timing signoff, verification, DFT, IP licensing, OPC. Where a chip exists only as software.
Wafer materials
Polysilicon, crystal growth, slicing and polishing. Sand to substrate.
Frontend
Oxidation, lithography, etch, implant, deposition, CMP, the transistor module, damascene interconnect. The wafer's thousand-step gauntlet.
Test & metrology
Defect inspection, CD/overlay metrology, wafer sort, parametric test, final test, burn-in. Where yield is measured and margins are made.
Packaging
Backgrind, dicing, die attach, bonding, molding, substrates, bumping, 2.5D/3D/fan-out, OSAT. The back end that became the front line.