As we in the chapter on the basics have seen, opening up the applications of semiconductors, for example by combining different areas of provisioning (as in the diode) or by separating the influence of insulating layers (inter alia, in the MOS-field effect transistors). To fulfill these requirements are in the production of semiconductor devices on a base substrate in disc form, called wafers, in turn various layers (this approach is therefore called planar). These are each with so-called structured lithographic processes. So are the integrated circuits with traces - the semiconductor chips - for a large number of components in parallel. These are then isolated and inserted into an enclosure.

It is therefore the following steps for component production List:

- Extraction of the basic semiconductor substrate and manufacture of ultrapure discs (wafers) as undistorted crystal lattice

For the finishing of the substrate combines the following processes as a front-end technology:

- Semiconductor-layer growth through capture / Epitaxieverfahren

- Doping by introducing extraneous atoms in the semiconductor structure

- Oxidation to manufacture insulating layers in the form of silica

- Metallisation for the manufacture of contacts and traces

- Lithography (coating, exposure, etching) serves both the structuring of the individual layers

- Finally, in the process steps of the so-called back-end technology circuits isolated (by sawing or cracks and are increasingly using lasers), and finally into the housing component box.