Semiconductor Glossary - B
Black & White
In the semiconductor industry, Back End corresponds to the second phase of manufacturing during which the silicon chip is mounted in a package designed (assembly) not only to protect it, but also to provide external connections via a series of very fine wires, followed by testing, assembling, finishing and packing.
Best Available Control Measure
Best Available Control Technology
Best Available Demonstrated Technology
A Japanese term indicating the conception and use of devices or gadgets which, connected to an indicator (for example a warning light) signal the presence in a production line of an incorrect or defective component. Immediate corrective action prevents from entering the next production phase, which would make it more costly to correct the problem and more difficult to trace its causes.
See Bonding, Ball
Interval of energy forbidden to the free electron.
Benzo(a)pyrene
Machine/optical read capability labeling of packages for shipping and receiving transaction information such as part number, quantity, invoice number, etc.
The control portion of a bipolar transistor. In an NPN transistor, the P-type material forms the base.
The diffusion during which the base regions of transistors are formed.
Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
1) Best Available Technology
Best Available Technology is defined as the treatment or abatement technology which, given the various options available on the market and the results that each option can guarantee, provides the required results at the lowest cost. Therefore, the BAT concept is strictly related to various factors such as time (technologies change with time); space (availability and cost of a given technology may be different from country to country); utilization (the same result may be reached with different technologies); and results (the result to meet is not the best possible, but what is required by law, by corporate specifications, etc.).
2) Bon A Tirer
A number of wafers processed as a group.
Best available Treatment Economically Achievable
Best Available Technology Not Entailing Excessive Costs
A direct current voltage source made up of one or more units that convert chemical, thermal, nuclear, or solar energy into electrical energy. Common batteries provide electricity for use of portable electrical equipment such as radio, telephones, cameras, or even cars, motorbikes and trucks. These type of batteries contain hazardous substances such as sulfuric acid or heavy metals. In the past the batteries used to contain mercury, lead, zinc, nickel and cadmium. Lead is now still used for cars batteries, but is being substituted in small batteries with non-polluting substances such as lithium and manganese. In most countries spent batteries are collected separately and recycled.
British Broadcasting Corporation
/bulletin Board System
Computer connected to telephone network and used for exchange of information like a notice board. User may post information and read material posted by others.
In ST used on cc:Mail.
Bare Board Test
Blind Carbon Copy
Best Conventional Control Technology
1) Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS
A technology specific to ST. Abbreviated form of Multipower-BCD. IC manufacturing technology invented by ST in 1986 that combines bipolar, CMOS and DMOS on the same chip.
2) Binary Coded Decimal
Method for coding decimal numbers in binary by storing each digit in a 4-bit nibble.
Bioconcentration factor
Best Conventional Pollutant Control Technology
Best Control Technology
Best Demonstrated Available Technology
Best Demonstrated Control Technology
Best Demonstrated Technology
- Beam leads Thick, strong leads deposited directly on an integrated circuit chip and used for interconnecting the circuit into the system.
- Beam tape
Polyamide tape supporting copper foil shaped into beam leads form TAB bonding. Specifically designed for in-line automation of IC packaging.
Biological Exposure Index
Best Engineering Judgment
One of the process improvement tools. It consists of ranking and rating one's performance as compared with that of other organizations and systematically defining the best systems, processes, procedures and practices. Benchmarking starts with self-study, it measures your processes against those of recognized leaders. It will help to establish priorities and targets that lead to competitive advantage.
Is the simplest aromatic hydrocarbon. The chemical formula is C6H6. Benzene is used in the chemical industry as a solvent and as a starting compound for the synthesis of a variety of other materials, such as rubber, paint and plastics. It is a volatile liquid, and emissions are regulated as a toxic air pollutant. Benzene is a known carcinogenic. The major toxic effects of chronic exposure concern the functioning of the bone marrow. A variety of blood disorders, such as plastic anemia and leukemia, have been linked to excessive doses.
Bit Error Rate
Byte Erasable Super flash Technology
The best performer in a group of companies, for a given performance measure.
Professional videocassette standard. Uses 1/2 inch tape.
Billion Electron Volts
Buffered Field Effect Transistor Logic
Ball Grid Array
A family of packages for surface mounting.
1) Bromohydrocarbon
2) Benzene hexachloride
Biodegradation, Hydrolysis and Photolysis
BIlling + BAcklog
Projection of total billings over a period of time (generally the full year) comprises billings already done + orders to be delivered.
Bipolar-CMOS
A technology where the advantage of bipolar (a transistor) noted for its speed. It contains an emitter, collector, and base and that of CMOS devices (low power consumption) fabricated on a single chip.
Buoyancy Induced Dispersion
Boilers and Industrial Furnaces
BI-polar Field-Effect Transistor
In the semiconductor industry, after the parts have been shipped we send the customer an invoice. At this stage the order is said to be billed, meaning that the customer owes us the money. Thus billings is a measure of the money due to ST.
A system of numbers using 2 as a base. In contrast to the decimal system which uses 10 as a base. The binary system requires only two symbols: 0 and 1.
A protocol and system used throughout the Internet to map Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to user-friendly names. DNS is sometimes referred to as the BIND service.
The increase in concentration of a chemical in organisms that live in environments contaminated with low concentrations of certain organic compounds or heavy metals such as lead and mercury. Chemicals which bioaccumulate are not readily decomposed in either the environment or in an organism and are likely to be stored in the fatty tissue. As these organisms are eaten by predators, the concentration of the chemicals progressively increase in the predators until toxic levels are reached. For example, fish living in water contaminated with small concentrations of compounds such as PCB's, DDT or other bioaccumulators will absorb these compounds through the gills or through the other aquatic species which they eat. Any animal species preying on the fish, such as certain species of bird (or humans), will further build up the concentrations of these chemicals in their bodies.
A chemical substance that kills living organisms. The designation is usually used to include materials that can kill desirable as well as undesirable organisms (e.g. pesticides are designed to kill undesirable organism).
The metabolic breakdown by living organisms of materials into simpler components. The degradation is usually performed by bacteria or microbes, referred to as decomposers. It is a fundamental process, since the more elementary components can be riutilized in the environment for other processes. Nearly all materials obtained from natural raw materials (e.g. wood, paper, natural fibers such as cotton or wool, etc.) are biodegradable, whereas many substances obtained from industrial processes are not. The biodegradation capacity of a substance is a function of time and the media where it is dispersed. For instance, some substances are biodegradable in water but not in the soil.
The sum of all genetic pools of species and ecosystems existing on the Earth. Biodiversity allows species and population to work out mechanisms for establishing better relationships between each other. Conservation of biodiversity is of paramount importance for the survival of species or communities on the Earth. The loss of biodiversity blocks the possibility of evolution of a community. The importance of biodiversity has been internationally recognized in a convention approved at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Mixture of gases (mainly methane gas) produced during the anaerobic decomposition of the remains of organic wastes by bacteria. It is produced in large quantities in landfills, where it can be extracted and utilized as a fuel. If it is not extracted, it can leak out of the landfill and either collect in nearby buildings until explosive levels are reached or it can kill surrounding trees and vegetation by poisoning the roots.
Treatment of waste water to remove or reduce organic contaminants using decomposing bacteria. The traditional treatments use aerobic bacteria, to mineralize the organic contaminants to carbon dioxide and water. An "activated sludge", consisting of the bacterial mass, is mixed with the incoming wastewater and left to work on the organic contaminants. The sludge, now increased in mass because of the decomposition processes, is then separated from the wastewater. Part is recycled to start the process again, part needs to be disposed. The clarified wastewater is then discharged. The sludge which is disposed of can be used as fertilizer on agricultural fields (if the levels of contaminants, especially heavy metals, are not too high) or it can be decomposed anaerobically to generate biogas or it can be incinerated. Specialized biological treatment can be used to reduce the levels of ammonia, nitrates and other nitrogen-containing species. Specific nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria are used in this case. Biological treatment is mostly used by municipal waste water treatment works, to treat household waste waters (but also industrial waste waters). In industry, it is used extensively in the food-processing industry and the oil industry where waste waters with high levels of organic contaminants are generated.
1) BInary Operation System
2) Basic Input-Output System
Also called Ecosphere.
It is the entire planetary ecosystem, including all living organisms and the parts of the Earth in which they live or that support them. It includes the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the lithosphere. The biosphere was formed 4.6 billion years ago.
1) A type of transistor where a flow of both conduction electrons and holes determines the device characteristics.
2) A transistor noted for its speed that contains an emitter, collector and base.
ST Trademark for dual ported RAM.
Built-In Self Test
A binary digit. A bit is the smallest unit of storage in a digital computer, and is used to represent one of the two states in the binary number system.
BooK
Backlog
The order book comprising orders to be delivered and invoiced. The term also means a production delay. By extension, to carry out a backlog is to study the delayed production portfolio.
1) Bits Line.
2) Battery Low output (signal name).
Bromine-Loading Potential
1) Best Management Practices
2) (windows) bitma
Book to Bill
A trend indicator equivalent to the ratio between orders booked during the month to orders delivered (invoices sent out). If the Book-to-Bill ratio is greater than one, it means that the conditions of the business are improving. If less than one, they are worsening.
A wafer holder made from quartz or polycrystalline silicon for use in furnace operations of semiconductor fabrication. Also may be made of teflon for transporting wafers between processing locations.
A electro-mechanical device interfaced to the oxidation/diffusion furnaces for inserting or removing at a given rate a number of boats loaded with wafers.
Biodegradable Organic Coumpound
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
The amount of oxygen dissolved in water required for the decomposition or metabolism by microbes of biodegradable organic compounds. The greater the amount of waste material (organic carbon) in the water, the greater will be the dissolved oxygen needed to decompose or metabolize the organic material. Since dissolved oxygen is required by organisms native to a body of water such as fish, BOD is a measure of the ability of a waste to cause damage in a receiving stream or lake. The customary units of the BOD measurement are milligrams of oxygen utilized by one liter of wastewater incubated for five days. For this reason, BOD is also indicated as BOD5. The BOD of untreated municipal sewage is about 250 mg/l, that of unpolluted water is about 5 mg/l.
Biochemical oxygen demand - 5 days (BOD in wastewater incubated for five days)
see above - BOD
Buffered Oxide Etch
A hydrofluoric acid and ammonium fluoride solution used to etch silicon dioxide.
Battery OK
Bill Of Material
1) The BOM is the list of the direct materials and their quantities to assemble a raw line.
2) List of devices inside a board.
In semiconductor production, this is the connection of bonding pads on the surface of the die to the package frame. Bonding is normally done by welding tiny gold or aluminum wires. Not to be confused with die attach.
A thermal compression bonding technique used only with gold wire. The wire end is melted to form a ball, which provides a larger area of contact than otherwise possible.
Attaching of the semiconductor die to the package substrates, with epoxy adhesives, gold eutectic or solder alloy. Also called die attach.
Comparatively large metallization areas usually placed around the perimeter of the integrated circuit die to provide the areas to which wires from internal termination of the leads of the package are connected.
A form of thermal compression bonding used for microelectronic assembly, so named because the bond shapes the wire in a wedge shape.
Fine wires, usually aluminum or gold, connecting the metal bonding pads on an integrated circuit to the internal termination of the leads of the package.
A logical calculus names for mathematician George Boole, using alphabetic symbols to stand for logical variables, and 0 and 1 to represent states. AND, OR, and NOT are the three basic logic operations in the algebra. NAND and NOR are each combinations of two of the three operations.
When an order is entered it is said to be booked. The total value of orders booked in a given period is called bookings.
Built-in instructions that take effect when a computer is turned on and prepare a computer for operation. Normally called, "booting" up a computer.
Bill of Resources
List of resources needed to produce a device.
The P-type dopant commonly used for the isolation and base diffusion in stand bipolar NPN-IC processing, and source/drain regions in PMOS transistors.
A gaseous mixture of boron and chlorine. The mixture is used as a dopant source for P-type diffusions and as an etchant gas for etching aluminum and aluminum alloys.
The operation in a manufacturing sequence that limits the overall speed or capacity.
A term used to describe the single-crystal silicon mass after the crystal growing process. Also called ingot.
A town 24km from Casablanca, Morocco, where ST assembly plant is located. This plant was originally a subcontractor for various companies (including ST, Valeo and IBM). In 1993 it became an assembly plant producing subsystems and radio frequency products. There is another ST plant in the Ain Sebaâ area of Casablanca.
Graphic summary of a distribution where the overall dispersion and the central tendency or mean of the data are highlighted.
Boiling Point
1) Business Process Improvement
The practice of flow charting a process, accurately defining customer needs, identifying non-productive work, and redesigning the process to better meet the needs with less chance of errors and at a lower cost.
2) Bits Per Inch
3) Business Process Improvement
Best Professional Judgment
Business Process Management
A Management system in which major inter-departmental problems are assigned a Process-Owner who is responsible for solving the problem, regardless of what organizational boundaries are crossed.
Bits Per Second
The measure of speed at which data is transferred over a network.
Binary Phase Shift Keying
1) Best Practicable Technology
2) Best Practicable Treatment
Best Practical Waste Water Treatment Technology
Metric plastic Quad Flat Pack with corner bumpers and english lead pitches.
Bromine
- Brainstorming Technique for generating ideas. In a conventional meeting each idea is evaluated when it is proposed - in a brainstorming session ideas are simply proposed but not judged. The benefit is that some ideas which would have been rejected may lead to useful ideas and stimulate creativity.
- BRAM
Burst Random Access Memory
The process of joining two or more metals by partial fusion with a layer of hard-soldering alloy at high temperatures.
A high carrier conduction condition arrived at as a result of the field (voltage) being sufficient to cause this high level of conductance.
An improvement to an unprecedented level of performance (or knowledge) in service, product or process (conversely it can be seen as a dramatic reduction in the percentage of defects, wasted resources or level of ignorance on a specific subject).
In the context of Total Quality Management, the term is applied mainly in relation to obtaining new knowledge that will provide a vision, an understanding, at a level never reached before.
Town in south west England. ST site (formerly headquarters of INMOS) is located on the outskirts.
A computer program used for navigating on the World-Wide Web or Intranet webs. Mosaic and Netscape are examples.
Searching for information on the worldwide web.
Build Sheet Assembly
ST document specifying how a product is to be assembled.
British Standards Institute
Most commonly used substrate material for BGA's. Higher temperature relative of FR-4.
Bumped Tape Automated Bonding
A bonding process using inverse beams with solder (or other) bumps on the beams instead of on the chips. Obviates the need for special bumped chips.
British Telecom
Build To Order
British Thermal Unit
By The Way
Business Unit
A subset of a Product Group defined in terms of product family or market segment.
A container holding a liquid through which some type of inert carrier gas is passed to carry some partial pressure of the liquid into a process tube or a reaction chamber.
A defect or problem in computer software, any type of hardware or a procedure.
A chip from a wafer that has been specifically processed with buffer metal(s) over the 1/0 pads, followed by an addition of solder or gold "bumps" to provide re-flow or thermocompression bonding areas for copper beam-lead attachment.
A low-resistivity, diffused region placed under the collector of a bipolar transistor to reduce its series resistance, commonly employed with an epitaxial structure.
Applying voltage to a semiconductor device at an elevated temperature for a given period of time to cause devices with marginal reliability to fail, eliminating potential field failures.
The end to end sequence of repetitive steps and activities, involving one or more company's functions, required to deliver a service (as opposed to processes that product tangible goods).
The Customer of a business process may be an internal customer (e.g. distributing the Company's internal mail) or an external customer (e.g.. prepare and deliver an invoice). In Company management, business processes are normally measured in terms of their effectiveness, efficiency and considering constant market evolution, their adaptability.
Board under Test
Normally 8 data bits together, allows 28 different values (256).
ST Trademark for memory/packing standard.
Bandwidth
Boiling-Water Reactor
