Glossary - I's

Impact resistance (r) resistance to fracture under shock force. Impedance the total opposition offered by an electric circuit to the flow of an alternating current. It is the combination of resistance and reactance.

In situ (sc) Refers to the sequential process steps that can be completed without removing the wafers from one process environment to another.

Inhibitor (r) a material used to suppress a chemical reaction.

Integrated circuit (IC) (sc) a circuit in which many elements are fabricated and interconnected on a single chip of semiconductor material.

Interlayer dielectric (ILD) (sc) films that insulate between the wafer surface and the first metal layer. They are typically some form of doped silicon dioxide, formed by reaction between a silicon source gas (silane or TEOS), an oxidizing gas (O2, N2) and dopant source gases.

Intermetal dielectric (IMD) (sc) films that insulate between two layers of conductive metal.

Ion an atom that has either gained or lost electrons, making it a charged particle.

Ion implantation (sc) introduction of selected impurities (dopants) by means of high-voltage ion bombardment to achieve desired electronic properties in defined areas.

Ionic bonding the electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions—characterized by electron transfer.

Isotactic (r) a polymeric molecular structure containing a sequence of regularly spaced asymmetric atoms arranged in like configuration in the polymer chain.

Isotropic (sc) having the same properties in all directions.