what does a wafer fab process flow look like

A wafer is built by repeating a CYCLE: DEPOSIT a layer (film), PATTERN it with LITHOGRAPHY (photoresist + mask + exposure), ETCH away the unwanted parts, then IMPLANT/clean/fill — and repeat to build up the device layer by layer. High-level flow: 1) substrate (bare silicon wafer), 2) many DEPOSIT → PATTERN → ETCH cycles to build transistors and layers, 3) INTERCONNECT layers (metal lines + vias) to wire them together, 4) final passivation, test, and dicing. The one-line frame: 'A chip is built by repeating deposit-pattern-etch to stack layers, then metal lines wire it all together.' You don't need fab-expert depth — you need to show you understand where DEPOSITION (your topic) sits in the bigger flow and how a film problem propagates to yield. Your materials/measurement background means you understand the layers even if you haven't run a fab line.