IC Knowledge - Glossary

Glossary of Integrated Circuit Terminology - G

GaAs - see Gallium Arsenide
Gallium Arsenide - a semiconductor formed by combining gallium, Ga and arsenic, As. Gallium arsenide has a higher electron mobility , operates at higher temperatures and provides higher frequency performance than silicon. Gallium arsenide use has increased in recent years due to cell phones but is still a small fraction of silicon's usage due to difficulties in gallium arsenide fabrication.
Gamma Delta Model - a probability model for converting defect density to projected die yield.
Gamma Rays - electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of <10 picometers.
Gate - the control terminal of a MOSFET, or alternately a basic digital logic element, for example an AND Gate, See also, OR, NAND, NOR.
Gate Array - an integrated circuit made up of digital logic gates that are not yet connected. Typically gate arrays are fabricated up to the metal layers and then a custom metal mask is designed for a customer and used to connect the gates into a customer specific circuit.
Gate Equivalent - the basic unit of measure of a digital logic circuit complexity. Gate equivalent is the number of individual logic gates that would have to be connected to perform the same function.
Gate Oxide - the insulating layer that separates the gate and the underlying channel of a MOSFET. Historically gate oxide was silicon dioxide, however more recently nitrided silicon dioxide has been used and many people are investigating alternative high-k materials.
Germanium - atomic symbol, Ge, germanium is the 32nd element in the periodic table (atomic number 32) with an atomic weight of 77.60, germanium is a semiconductor with a energy gap of 0.66eV at 300^oK. Germanium has higher electron and hole mobility than silicon buts it's relatively narrow energy gap makes it's high temperature performance poor. Silicon has replaced germanium in virtually all applications due to it's higher energy gap and relative ease of fabrication.
Gettering - the trapping a neutralization of unwanted elements.
Giga - a prefix meaning one billion (x10⁹), symbol G.
Glassivation - final passivation using silicon dioxide.
G-line - the output of a mercury lamp with a wavelength of 435 nanometers. G-line light sources are commonly used in steppers for photolithography with linewidths wider than 0.8µm.
Gross Die Per Wafer - the number of whole die on a wafer.