Terms in IC fabrication

• wafer

  a thin slice silicon which IC's are fabricated
• photolithography

  a process to transfer patterns from a mask onto a wafer using light-sensitive materials.
• etching

  process of selectively removing using chemical or physical means
• deposition

  process of adding thin layers of material on the wafer, often using chemical techniques like CVD or PVD
• CVD

  Chemical Vapor Deposition
• PVD

  Physical Vapor Deposition
• Lithography

  general term for processes used to transfer a pattern from a mask to a substrate
• implantation

  process of introducing dopants into the semiconductor substrate using ion implantation
• A microprocessor is a single chip containing all the logic functions required to perform most computer operations.