Terminology

The following is a glossary of the terms used on this site. A more exhaustive on-line glossary can be found here.

Assembly

The manufacturing operation where the die on a wafer are physically separated and put into individual interconnect packages.

Backgrind

The manufacturing operation where the thickness of the wafer is reduced by grinding the backside of the wafer.

CMP

An acronym for Chemical Mechanical Polish. CMP is a manufacturing process to planarize a layer of material deposited on the wafer.

Device

Die (chip)

The area of the wafer enclosing an integrated circuit.

Diffusion

The process whereby particles of liquids, gases, or solids intermingle as the result of their spontaneous movement caused by thermal agitation and in dissolved substances move from a region of higher to one of lower concentration.

Etch

The manufacturing operation where photo-resist is removed from the wafer surface.

Hard Bin

Mask (Reticle)

Part (IC, integrated circuit)

Photo

Product

Reticle (shot)

Soft Bin

Thin Films

Wafer

Wafer Fabrication

Wafermap