The total process cost of selective epitaxial growth (SEG) dielectric isolation process as compared to LOCOS

The traditional local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS) device isolation process is widely used in the semiconductor industry. Yet, as the need for below 0.18 microns and smaller devices increases, the stress induced leakage currents and device spacing of LOCOS becomes a severe limitation. The use of Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) has also been developed. However, recent improvements in the selective epitaxial growth dielectric isolation (SEG-DI) process have provided an alternative device isolation technique. The simpler SEG-DI process allows for higher packing density and reduced leakage current by eliminating stress. The DI-SEG process has been shown to be approximately the same cost as the LOCOS process.