Semiconductor process technology, understood as a technology developed and used for the purpose of manufacturing semiconductor devices, involves complex tools, methods, and procedures devised specifically for semiconductor device fabrication. Semiconductor manufacturing is unique as some devices, for instance cutting edge logic integrated circuits, are among very few mass-produced objects manufactured with truly atomic scale precision.

While discussing semiconductor manufacturing processes it is typically assumed that the substrate into which, or onto which devices are built is a rigid semiconductor wafer. What needs to be recognized, however, is that the way various processing step involved in the manufacture of semiconductor devices are implemented depends of the size, shape, degree of flexibility, and chemical makeup of materials used to construct such devices, and commonly referred to as “substrates”.