Transistors and interconnect

Make a controllable path.

Deposition adds films; patterning and etching shape selected regions. Doping can change electrical behavior. Together, many controlled steps create transistor structures that regulate current.

Separate. Connect. Flatten.

Insulators separate conductors; contacts and vias connect selected regions. Planarization such as CMP levels surfaces for later processing. This is a distinct operation, not another name for exposure or etching.

Build the network above.

Metal lines and vertical vias connect devices into cells and larger blocks across a die. Many dies occupy a patterned wafer. The view expands from a simplified transistor to an interconnect stack; dimensions are exaggerated so the relationships remain visible.

Technical context

A chip is built by repeating a family of controlled transformations. Films are added, resist is patterned, selected material is etched, and ions can change silicon’s electrical behavior. As layers accumulate, transistors below and metal connections above become a three-dimensional network. The exhibition should make this repetition visible while marking it as a simplification.

• One manufacturing cycle can include deposition, resist coating, lithography, baking/developing, etching, ion implantation and resist removal.
• Etching transfers a developed resist pattern into underlying material; ion implantation tunes local semiconductor properties.
• Complete devices and interconnect stacks require repeated layer formation and controlled processing, rather than one exposure or one universal sequence for every structure.

Sources

Six Crucial Steps in Semiconductor Manufacturing ↗ · ASML

On-chip Interconnect ↗ · TSMC