Semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic applications, such as personal computers, cell phones, digital cameras, and other electronic equipment. Semiconductor devices are typically fabricated by sequentially depositing insulating or dielectric layers, conductive layers, and semiconductive layers of material over a semiconductor substrate, and patterning the various material layers using lithography to form circuit components and elements thereon.
One important driver for increasing performance in a semiconductor device is the higher levels of integration of circuits. This is accomplished by miniaturizing or shrinking device sizes on a given chip. Modern integrated circuits are made up of a great amount of active devices such as transistors and capacitors. These devices are initially isolated from each other, but are later interconnected together to form functional circuits. Typical interconnect structures include lateral interconnections, such as metal lines (wirings), and vertical interconnections, such as vias and contacts. Interconnections are increasingly determining the limits of performance and the density of modern integrated circuits. On top of the interconnect structures, bond pads may be formed and exposed on the surface of the respective chip. Electrical connections are made through bond pads to connect the chip to a package substrate or another die.
However, although existing bond pads have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, as device scaling-down continues, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects.
Aspects of the present disclosure are best understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying figures. It is noted that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.
The following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing different features of the invention. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the present disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. For example, the formation of a first feature over or on a second feature in the description that follows may include embodiments in which the first and second features are formed in direct contact, and may also include embodiments in which additional features may be formed between the first and second features, such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact. In addition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed.
Further, spatially relative terms, such as “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. The spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. The apparatus may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein may likewise be interpreted accordingly.
Embodiments for forming a semiconductor structure are provided in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. The semiconductor structure may include a seed layer and a conductive pillar formed over the seed layer.
Referring to
In addition, substrate 102 may further include a plurality of isolation features, such as shallow trench isolation (STI) features or local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS) features. The isolation features isolate various microelectronic elements formed in and/or upon substrate 102. Examples of the types of microelectronic elements formed in substrate 102 include, but are not limited to, transistors such as metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistors, bipolar junction transistors (BJTs), high voltage transistors, high frequency transistors, p-channel and/or n-channel field effect transistors (PFETs/NFETs), resistors, diodes, capacitors, inductors, fuses, and/or other applicable elements.
Various processes may be performed to form the various microelectronic elements, including but not limited to one or more of deposition, etching, implantation, photolithography, annealing, and other applicable processes. The microelectronic elements may be interconnected to form the integrated circuit device, including logic devices, memory devices (e.g., SRAM), radio frequency (RF) devices, input/output (I/O) devices, system-on-chip (SoC) devices, or other applicable devices.
Furthermore, substrate 102 may further include an interconnection structure overlying the integrated circuits. The interconnection structure may include inter-layer dielectric layers and a metallization structure overlying the integrated circuits. The inter-layer dielectric layers in the metallization structure may include low-k dielectric materials, un-doped silicate glass (USG), silicon nitride (SiN), silicon oxynitride (SiON), or other commonly used materials. Metal lines in the metallization structure may be made of copper, copper alloys, or other applicable conductive material.
A metal pad 104 is formed over substrate 102, as shown in
A passivation layer 103 is formed over substrate 102 and has an opening to expose a portion of metal pad 104, as shown in
In addition, a polymer layer 105 is formed over passivation layer 103, as shown in
Afterwards, a seed layer 106 is formed over substrate 102 to cover metal pad 104, as shown in
In addition, seed layer 106 may be one formed of one single layer or multiple layers. In some embodiments, seed layer 106 includes a number of conductive layers, and at least one of the conductive layers is made of TiW.
A photoresist layer 108 is formed over seed layer 106, as shown in
After photoresist layer 108 is formed, a bump structure 112 is formed in opening 110 of photoresist layer 108, as shown in
More specifically, a metallic material is formed in opening 110 to form conductive pillar 114 in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the metallic material includes pure elemental copper, copper containing unavoidable impurities, and/or copper alloys containing minor amounts of elements such as tantalum (Ta), indium (In), tin (Sn), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), chromium (Cr), titanium (Ti), germanium (Ge), strontium (Sr), platinum (Pt), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), or zirconium (Zr).
Conductive pillar 114 may be formed by sputtering, printing, electroplating, electro-less plating, electrochemical deposition (ECD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), atomic layer deposition (ALD), and/or commonly used CVD methods. In some embodiments, conductive pillar 114 is formed by electro-chemical plating (ECP).
Next, a solder layer 116 is formed over conductive pillar 114, as shown in
After bump structure 112 is formed, photoresist layer 108 is removed, as shown in
Next, a wet etching process 117 is performed to the portion of seed layer 106 not covered by conductive pillar 114, as shown in
Generally, a wet etching process is an isotropic etching process. Therefore, when a wet etching process is used to remove the seed layer which is not covered by the conductive pillar, a portion of the seed layer below the conductive pillar also tends to be removed to form a concave at the sidewall of the seed layer below the conductive pillar. However, the formation of the concave of the seed layer will induce more stress on inter-metal dielectric layer under the seed layer, due to there are the same chip warpage induced force, but lower area to divide. Accordingly, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure, the etchant used in wet etching process 117 is adjusted, such that seed layer 106 under conductive layer 114 will not be removed, and the concave will not be formed at the sidewall of seed layer 106 during wet etching process 117, as shown in
In some embodiments, seed layer 106 further includes an extending portion 124 extending from conductive pillar 114. As shown in
In some embodiments, angle θ1 between sidewall 118 and bottom surface 120 is in a range from about 20° to about 85°. In some embodiments, angle θ1 between sidewall 118 and bottom surface 120 is in a range from about 20° to about 40°. In some embodiments, angle θ1 between sidewall 118 and bottom surface 120 is in a range from about 40° to about 60°. In some embodiments, angle θ1 between sidewall 118 and bottom surface 120 is in a range from about 60° to about 80 °.
In some embodiments, extending portion 124 has a width W1 in a range from about 0.05 μm to about 3 μm. Formation of extending portion 124 of seed layer 106 enables the distribution of the stress in semiconductor structure 100a to be improved.
After wet etching process 117 is performed, solder layer 116 is reflowed by a reflowing process, as shown in
More specifically, metal layer 104 is formed over substrate 102, and seed layer 106′ is formed over metal layer 104, as shown in
As shown in
In addition, seed layer 106′ also includes an extending portion 124′ in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, extending portion 124′ has a width similar to width W1 in a range from about 0.05 μm to about 3 μm. In addition, extending portion 124′ of seed layer 106′ formed over metal layer 104 can also improve the distribution of the stress in semiconductor structure 100b.
More specifically, metal layer 104 is formed over substrate 102, and passivation layer 103 and polymer layer 105 are formed over substrate 102 and cover the ends of metal layer 104, as shown in
Bump structure 112″ includes conductive pillar 114 and solder layer 116 formed over conductive pillar 114 in accordance with some embodiments. Seed layer 106″ formed over metal pad 104 without overlapping with passivation layer 103 and polymer layer 105 can also improve the distribution of the stress in semiconductor structure 100c.
After the semiconductor structure, such as semiconductors 100a, 100b, or 100c, is formed, substrate 102 (e.g. a semiconductor chip) may be attached to another substrate, such as a dielectric substrate, a package substrate, a printed circuit board (PCB), an interposer, a wafer, another chip, a package unit, or the like. For example, embodiments may be used in chip-to-substrate bonding configuration, a chip-to-chip bonding configuration, a chip-to-wafer bonding configuration, a wafer-to-wafer bonding configuration, chip-level packaging, wafer-level packaging, or the like.
In some embodiments, substrate 102 is a semiconductor chip, and substrate 202 is a package substrate. In some embodiments, conductive feature 204 is a metal trace, and therefore a bump-on-trace (BOT) interconnect is formed in semiconductor package 300.
More specifically, bump structure 112 and conductive feature 204 are bonded by heat-press bonding. Therefore, solder layer 116 will not flow to the sidewalls of conductive feature 204.
As described previously, if a seed layer formed below a conductive pillar is etched during a wet etching process, a concave will be formed from the sidewall of the seed layer. The concave may result in the stress in the conductive pillar being focus on a relatively small area, such that the dielectric layer below (e.g. the extreme-low-k dielectric layer formed in the substrate) tends to become cracked or broken. In addition, the effective area of the seed layer decreases.
Accordingly, the seed layer described in various embodiments, such as seed layers 106, 106′, and 106″, are formed by wet etching process 117, which is adjusted not to etch the seed layer below conductive pillar 114. Therefore, no concave will be formed from the sidewall of the seed layer even though a wet etching process is performed. In addition, an extending portion, such as extending portion 124, is formed to extend from the sidewall of conductive pillar 114 in accordance with some embodiments. Therefore, the effective area of the seed layer increases. Furthermore, the stress in conductive pillar 114 can be released to substrate 102 more evenly to prevent the dielectric layer in substrate 102 from breaking or cracking.
Embodiments for forming a semiconductor structure having a seed layer are provided. The seed layer is positioned between a metal pad and a conductive pillar. In addition, the seed layer below the conductive pillar is not etched during a wet etching process used to remove the excess seed layer material. Therefore, no concave is formed at the sidewall of the seed layer below the conductive pillar. As a result, the distribution of the stress in the semiconductor structure is improved. In addition, the effective area of the seed layer increases.
In some embodiments, a semiconductor structure is provided. The semiconductor structure includes a first substrate and a metal pad formed over the first substrate. The semiconductor structure further includes a seed layer formed over the metal pad and a conductive pillar formed over the seed layer. In addition, the seed layer has a sidewall and a bottom surface, and an angle between the sidewall and the bottom surface of the seed layer is in a range from about 20° to about 90°.
In some embodiments, a semiconductor structure is provided. The semiconductor structure includes a first substrate and a metal pad formed over the first substrate. The semiconductor structure further includes a seed layer formed over the metal pad and a conductive pillar formed over the seed layer. The semiconductor structure further includes a solder layer formed over the conductive pillar. In addition, the seed layer has an extending portion extending from the conductive pillar.
In some embodiments, a method for forming a semiconductor structure is provided. The method for forming a semiconductor structure includes forming a metal pad over a first substrate and forming a seed layer to cover the metal pad over the first substrate. The method for forming a semiconductor structure further includes forming a conductive pillar over the seed layer and a solder layer over the conductive pillar. The method for forming a semiconductor structure further includes removing a portion of the seed layer by a wet etching process, and the wet etching process comprises using an etchant comprising H2O2
The foregoing outlines features of several embodiments so that those skilled in the art may better understand the aspects of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they may readily use the present disclosure as a basis for designing or modifying other processes and structures for carrying out the same purposes and/or achieving the same advantages of the embodiments introduced herein. Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and that they may make various changes, substitutions, and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.