IC Knowledge - Glossary

Glossary of Integrated Circuit Terminology - I

I-Line - the output of a mercury lamp with a wavelength of 365 nanometers. I-Line Steppers were the primary Exposure tool for <0.8µm to 0.35µm Minimum Linewidths.
IC - see Integrated Circuit.
ICP - see Inductively Coupled Plasma.
Ideal Process Time - the time it takes to perform a process if the product being processed does not have to wait for other product to complete the process before being run.
IGBT - Insulating Gate Bipolar Transistor, a Bipolar Transistor controlled by a MOS Gate electrode.
I²L - integrated injection logic. A form of Bipolar Logic.
Image - the pattern projected by an Optical System.
Implanter - see Ion Implanter.
Impurity - any foreign material incorporated into an Integrated Circuit structure. Impurities can be deliberately added Dopants or unwanted Contamination.
Impurity Level - an energy level introduced by an impurity.
Incoherent Light - Light that is not Coherent.
Indirect Labor - anyone not directly involved in producing parts. Includes, engineering, supervision and technicians.
Index of Refraction - ratio of the speed of Light in a Vacuum to the speed of Light in a given material. The degree to which a Light Ray entering a material is bent depends on Index of Refraction. Index of Refraction for a given material depends on the Wavelength of the Light due to Dispersion.
Inductor - a passive electronic component that stores energy as a magnetic field. In it's simplest form an inductor is made up of a coil of wire. The inductance measured in henrys, is proportional to the number of turns of wire, the wire loop diameter and the material or core the wire is wound around..
Inductively Coupled Plasma - inductively coupled plasma systems are plasma etch systems whereby the radio frequency energy is coupled into a low pressure gas by an inductive coil mounted on the outside of a quartz window. ICP etchers run at low pressure similar to RIE but achieve higher ion densities than even MERIE. ICP etchers produce relatively low ion energies and so biasing of the substrate being etched may be used to tailor ion bombardment energies tuning the degree of anisotropy of the resulting etch.
Infrared Light - Electromagnetic Waves with a Wavelength of 1 millimeter to 700 nanometers.
Ingot - see Boule. Insulator - a material that resists the flow of electric current. Insulators have Band Gaps of several eV.
Integrated Circuit - an electronic circuit where all the elements of the circuit are integrated together on single semiconductor substrate.
Interconnect - conductive connections between Active Elements. Inverter - a basic Logic Gate that outputs a 1 if a 0 is input and outputs a 0 if a 1 is input.
Ion - an atom that has either gained or lost an Electron making it either positively or negatively Charged.
Ion Beam Etching - a Process where Ions bombard a material and physically knock Molecules loose, etching the material.
Ion Beam Milling - see Ion Beam Etching.
Ion Implantation - a technique where Ions are accelerated to a high Energy and speed an injected into a Semiconductor. The dominant techniques for introducing Dopants into a Semiconductor. See also Ion Implanter.
Ion Implanter - a type of Semiconductor Equipment that is used to perform Ion Implantation.
ISL - Integrated Shottky Logic, a type of Bipolar Logic.
ISO - International Standards Organization.
Isolation - an electrical separation between areas of an integrated circuit.
Isolation Diffusion - a Diffusion being used to form an area designed to block the flow of Current. Isolation diffusions are used to form diodes that are then reverse biased to block current flow.
Isotropic - a Process that proceeds in all directions at the same rate or a medium that exhibits the same properties irrespective of the direction of measurement.