This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 112134650, filed on Sep. 12, 2023. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
This disclosure relates to a semiconductor chip and a manufacturing method thereof, and in particular to a biochip and a manufacturing method thereof.
In a typical biochip, the space available for the solution to be tested is usually limited by the size of the reaction region, and therefore overflow of the solution to be tested is likely to occur when the solution to be tested is in large quantities or when there is an error in the addition of the solution to be tested.
The disclosure provides a biochip and a manufacturing method thereof, capable of avoiding a problem of overflow of a solution to be tested and coping with a large amount of the solution to be tested. In this way, when multiple reaction regions are disposed in the biochip, the reaction regions may be utilized to detect different kinds of biological materials respectively, and there is no need to worry about a problem of cross-contamination due to the overflow of the solution to be tested between the different reaction regions, thus achieving an effect of detecting multiple biological materials at the same time.
The biochip of the disclosure may be configured to detect a biological material in a solution to be tested. The biochip includes a substrate, an insulating layer, a semiconductor layer, a dielectric layer, a metal layer, and a protective layer. The insulating layer is disposed on the substrate. The semiconductor layer is disposed on the insulating layer and has a reaction region. The dielectric layer is disposed on the semiconductor layer and has a first opening. The metal layer is disposed on the dielectric layer and includes a source, a drain, and a wall structure. The source and the drain are electrically connected to the semiconductor layer respectively. The wall structure surrounds the first opening, the source, and the drain. The protective layer is disposed on the metal layer and has a flat part, a protruding part, a second opening, and a third opening. The flat part surrounds and defines the second opening. The protruding part is disposed corresponding to the wall structure, and the protruding part surrounds and defines the third opening. The second opening connects the third opening and the first opening to expose the reaction region.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the source, the drain, and the wall structure are separated from each other, and the source and the drain are electrically insulated from the wall structure.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, in a three-dimensional view of the biochip, the wall structure does not completely surround the first opening.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, in a three-dimensional view of the biochip, the wall structure completely surrounds the first opening.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, a minimum distance between the wall structure and the source is 0.1 micrometers to 5 micrometers.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, in a three-dimensional view of the biochip, the third opening is larger than the second opening.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the protruding part completely surrounds the first opening and the second opening.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the solution to be tested is disposed in the first opening, and an upper surface of the solution to be tested is between an upper surface of the protruding part and an upper surface of the flat part.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the metal layer further includes a source extension pad and a drain extension pad, and the biochip further includes a first transfer pad and a second transfer pad. The first transfer pad and the second transfer pad are disposed on the insulating layer respectively. The source is electrically connected to the source extension pad through the first transfer pad, and the drain is electrically connected to the drain extension pad through the second transfer pad.
The manufacturing method of a biochip of the disclosure includes the following. A substrate is provided. An insulating layer is formed on the substrate. A semiconductor layer is formed on the insulating layer. The semiconductor layer has a reaction region. A dielectric layer is formed on the semiconductor layer. The dielectric layer has a first opening. A metal layer is formed on the dielectric layer. The metal layer includes a source, a drain, and a wall structure. The source and the drain are electrically connected to the semiconductor layer respectively, and the wall structure surrounds the first opening, the source, and the drain. A protective layer is formed on the metal layer. The protective layer has a flat part, a protruding part, a second opening, and a third opening. The flat part surrounds and defines the second opening. The protruding part is disposed corresponding to the wall structure, and the protruding part surrounds and defines the third opening. The second opening connects the third opening and the first opening to expose the reaction region.
Based on the above, in the biochip and the manufacturing method thereof according to an embodiment of the disclosure, the setting of the wall structure enables the protruding part to be formed at the same time as the protective layer is formed, and thus has an effect of simplifying the process. As the protruding part may be a closed figure surrounding the first opening, the solution to be tested may be limited within the third opening to avoid overflow of the solution to be tested from outside the third opening. Compared with a general biochip, the biochip of the disclosure may increase the volume of the biochip that can hold the solution to be tested through the setting of the third opening, so as to avoid the overflow of the solution to be tested and to cope with a larger amount of the solution to be tested, and to improve the operation margin and convenience of the biochip. In this way, when multiple reaction regions are disposed in the biochip of the disclosure, the reaction regions may be utilized to detect different kinds of biological materials respectively, and there is no need to worry about a problem of cross-contamination due to the overflow of the solution to be tested between the different reaction regions, thus achieving an effect of detecting multiple biological materials at the same time.
To make the aforementioned more comprehensible, several embodiments accompanied with drawings are described in detail as follows.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate example embodiments of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
Referring to
A manufacturing method of the biochip 100 of this embodiment will be described below. The manufacturing method of the biochip 100 of this embodiment may include the following steps.
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In some embodiments, a recognition unit (not shown) may be provided on the reaction region 121 of the semiconductor layer 120 to specifically recognize and combine with the biological material 210 in the solution to be tested 200. Specifically, one end of the recognition unit may be connected and fixed to the reaction region 121, and the other end of the recognition unit may be used to recognize and combine with the biological material 210. The recognition unit may be a chemical molecule or a biological molecule. For example, the recognition unit may be an antibody, an antigen, a nucleic acid, a carbohydrate, or a combination thereof, but is not limited thereto, as long as the recognition unit can specifically recognize and combine with the biological material 210.
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In this embodiment, in a three-dimensional view of the biochip 100, the wall structure 141 may surround the first opening O1, the source SD1, and the drain SD2, and the wall structure 141 does not completely surround the first opening O1. Specifically, in this embodiment, the wall structure 141 may include a first part 1411 and a second part 1412. The first part 1411 has endpoints P1 and P2, and the second part 1412 has endpoints P3 and P4. There is a minimum distance G1 between the endpoint P1 and the source SD1, between the endpoint P3 and the source SD1, between the endpoint P2 and the drain SD2, and between the endpoint P4 and the drain SD2. The minimum distance G1 may be, for example, 0.1 micrometers (μm) to 5 micrometers, so that the minimum distance G1 may be filled and stacked up as a part of the protruding part 152 by the protective layer 150 subsequently formed, but is not limited thereto. When the minimum distance G1 is less than 0.1 micrometers, there is a risk of short circuit or bridge connection between the wall structure 141 and the source SD1 (or the drain SD2); when the minimum distance G1 is greater than 5 micrometers, there is a risk that the protective layer formed subsequently will not be able to fill in the gap, resulting in the annular protruding 152 having a notch. For example, when a thickness T1 of the protective layer 150 is 1 micrometer, the minimum distance G1 may be 1.2 micrometers, so that the protective layer 150 subsequently formed may fill the minimum distance G1. In addition, in this embodiment, outline shapes of the first part 1411 and the second part 1412 may be U-shaped, but are not limited thereto.
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The second opening O2 may connect the third opening O3 and the first opening O1 to expose the reaction region 121, and the second opening O2 may correspond to and overlap the first opening O1 in the normal direction Z of the substrate 110. The second opening O2 has a side wall O21. The side wall O21 of the second opening O2 may be substantially flush with the side wall O11 of the first opening O1, but is not limited thereto.
The protruding part 152 is disposed on the metal layer 140 and the flat part 151, and the protruding part 152 may be disposed corresponding to and overlap the wall structure 141, the source SD1, and the drain SD2 in the normal direction Z of the substrate 110. The protruding part 152 may surround and define the third opening O3, and the protruding part 152 may be disposed to form the third opening O3. The protruding part 152 may completely surround the first opening O1 and the second opening O2. The protruding part 152 has an upper surface 1521 facing away from the metal layer 140. The upper surface 1521 of the protruding part 152 may be higher than the upper surface 1511 of the flat part 151 in the normal direction Z of the substrate 110.
In some embodiments, the protruding part 152 may be regarded as a three-dimensional structure in which the protective layer 150 protrudes from an upper surface 142 (i.e., a surface of the metal layer 140 facing away from the dielectric layer 130) of the metal layer 140 in a direction away from the metal layer 140 and is continuous. In some embodiments, in a top view of the biochip 100, the shape of the protruding part 152 may viewed as a closed and unnotched ring to avoid the solution to be tested 200 from flowing out.
The third opening O3 may be connected to the second opening O2, and the third opening O3 may correspond to and overlap the second opening O2 in the normal direction Z of the substrate 110. The third opening O3 has a side wall O31. The side wall O31 of the third opening O3 is not flush with the side wall O21 of the second opening O2. Furthermore, in the three-dimensional view of the biochip 100, the third opening O3 may be larger than the first opening O1, the second opening O2, and the reaction region 121.
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In this embodiment, the solution to be tested 200 may be disposed in the first opening O1, the second opening O2, and the third opening O3, and an upper surface 200a of the solution to be tested 200 may cover the upper surface 1511 of the flat part 151 in the third opening O3. In the normal direction Z of the substrate 110, the upper surface 200a of the solution to be tested 200 may be higher than the upper surface 1511 of the flat part 151, and the upper surface 200a of the solution to be tested 200 may be between the upper surface 1521 of the protruding part 152 and the upper surface 1511 of the flat part 151.
In this embodiment, the setting of the wall structure 141 enables the protruding part 152 to be formed at the same time as the protective layer 150 is formed, and therefore no additional process steps are required to manufacture the protruding part 152 that can be used to form the third opening O3, which has an effect of simplifying the process.
In this embodiment, since the wall structure 141 may surround the first opening O1, the source SD1, and the drain SD2, the protruding part 152 disposed above the wall structure 141 may be a closed figure (e.g., a closed rectangle, but not limited thereto) surrounding the first opening O1, so as to limit the solution to be tested 200 within the third opening O3 and prevent the solution to be tested 200 from overflowing outside the third opening O3, as shown in
Other embodiments will be listed below for illustration. It should be noted here that the following embodiments continue to use the reference numerals and some content of the foregoing embodiment, wherein the same reference numerals are adopted to indicate the same or similar elements, and the description of the same technical content is omitted. The description of the omitted parts can be found in the foregoing embodiment and will not be repeated in the following embodiments.
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Specifically, a manufacturing method of the biochip 100a of this embodiment may include the following steps.
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In this embodiment, in a three-dimensional view of the biochip 100a, the wall structure 141a may completely surround the first opening O1. There is a minimum distance G2 between the wall structure 141a and the source SD1, between the wall structure 141a and the source extension pad SD1a, between the wall structure 141a and the drain SD2, and between the wall structure 141a and the drain extension pad SD2a. The minimum distance G2 may be, for example, greater than 0 micrometers, but is not limited thereto. Furthermore, in this embodiment, an outline shape of the wall structure 141a may be a rectangle, but is not limited thereto.
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In the biochip 100a of this embodiment, since the wall structure 141a is a closed and unnotched ring structure, it is ensured that the protruding part 152a of the protective layer 150 formed on the wall structure 141a should also be a closed and unnotched ring structure.
In the biochip 100a of this embodiment, since the source SD1 and the drain SD2 need to transmit or receive signals through the setting of the first transfer pad 120a and the second transfer pad 120b respectively, the signal strength will be attenuated. On the contrary, since the source SD1 and the drain SD2 of the biochip 100 shown in
To sum up, in the biochip and the manufacturing method thereof according to an embodiment of the disclosure, the setting of the wall structure enables the protruding part to be formed at the same time as the protective layer is formed, and thus has an effect of simplifying the process. As the protruding part may be a closed figure surrounding the first opening, the solution to be tested may be limited within the third opening to avoid overflow of the solution to be tested from outside the third opening. Compared with a general biochip, the biochip of the disclosure may increase the volume of the biochip that can hold the solution to be tested through the setting of the third opening, so as to avoid the overflow of the solution to be tested and to cope with a larger amount of the solution to be tested, and to improve the operation margin and convenience of the biochip. In this way, when multiple reaction regions are disposed in the biochip of the disclosure, the reaction regions may be utilized to detect different kinds of biological materials respectively, and there is no need to worry about a problem of cross-contamination due to the overflow of the solution to be tested between the different reaction regions, thus achieving an effect of detecting multiple biological materials at the same time.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the disclosure covers modifications and variations provided that they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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112134650 | Sep 2023 | TW | national |