How does it work? What is..?

01

Fundamentals & Materials

• What is a semiconductor?
• What is the difference between a conductor, a semiconductor, and an insulator?
• Which materials are used as semiconductors?
• What is silicon and why is it used in the semiconductor industry?
• What is the difference between n-type and p-type semiconductors?
• What is doping in semiconductors?
• What is a band gap?
• What is the difference between silicon and gallium arsenide as semiconductor materials?
• What is silicon carbide (SiC) and what is it used for?

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02

Fabrication Processes

• How does Chemical-Mechanical Polishing (CMP) work?
• How does lithography work in chip manufacturing?
• How does ion implantation work?
• How does Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) work?
• How does plasma etching work?
• How does epitaxy work?
• How does a cleanroom work?
• How does diffusion (doping) work?
• How does sputtering (PVD) work?
• How does EUV lithography work?
• How are computer chips manufactured?
• What is a wafer and how is it made?
• How does a chip fab work?
• How much does it cost to build a modern chip factory?

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03

Devices & Digital Technology

• How does a MOSFET work?
• How does a FinFET work?
• How does a transistor work in general?
• How does flash memory work?
• How does MRAM work?
• How does a microprocessor work at the chip level?
• How does an SRAM cell (6T) work?
• How does a DRAM cell (1T1C) work?
• How does a GAAFET work?
• How does an IGBT work?
• What do NMOS, PMOS, CMOS, and DMOS mean?
• How does a semiconductor work?
• What does the nanometer label on chips (e.g. 5nm, 3nm) mean?
• What are the challenges of chip miniaturization (Moore’s law)?
• What are the next technologies after silicon chips (quantum computers, graphene, etc.)?

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04

Optoelectronics

• How does an LED work?
• How does a laser diode work?
• How does a solar cell work?
• How does a photodiode / image sensor work?

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05

Packaging & Other Topics

• How does 3D chip integration (advanced packaging) work?
• How does a MEMS sensor work?
• How does wire bonding work?
• Why do chips keep getting smaller (Moore's Law explained briefly)?
• How does flip-chip assembly work?
• How does a TSV (through-silicon via) work?
• How do chiplets work?
• What is the difference between front-end and back-end in semiconductor manufacturing?
• How long does it take to manufacture a chip?
• What are semiconductors used for in everyday life?

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06

Semiconductor industry & eco system

• Who are the largest semiconductor manufacturers in the world?
• Why is TSMC so important for the chip industry?
• Why is there a global chip shortage?
• What role does Taiwan play in the semiconductor industry?
• How are semiconductors connected to geopolitics (USA-China)?
• What does ASML do and why is the company so important?
• Which semiconductor companies are there in Germany/Europe?

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