This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 101108151, filed Mar. 9, 2012. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
The disclosure relates to a chip stack technology.
With advancement of information technology, electronic product designs reveal a trend of light weight, thinness and compactness. Three dimensional integration techniques promote high density chip package in high efficiency and low power consumption. For instance, to the portable electronic devices with the characteristic of multi-function or small size, such as solid state drives (SSD) or DRAMs, processing performance thereof can be improved, and power consumption of chips during operation can be reduced without altering I/O terminals, so as to satisfy the demand of high capacity, high efficiency, and high density of I/O terminals.
The three dimensional chip integration techniques include the fabrication of through silicon via (TSV) and micro bumps, and steps of wafer thinning, alignment, bonding and dispensing. However, the existing bonding process, such as the chip-to-wafer (COW) bonding process, still suffers from some outstanding bottlenecks. For example, the high temperature of bonding process may cause high residual stress. Small scribe line in high density chip package is unfavorable for performing dispensing process. In addition, a molding process is conducted to a chip stack module following the dispensing process. However, after the molding process, since the chip stack module is provided by stacking a chip to a wafer temporarily attached to a carrier via an adhesive, part of the adhesive may not be completely removed and remain on bumps at the bottom of the wafer when debonding the wafer from the carrier, which affects processing yields. Furthermore, the bonding interface between the chip stack module and an external interposer or circuit substrate is fragile and affects the reliability of products.
The chip stack structure includes a first chip, at least one second chip, an adhesive and an encapsulant. The first chip has a first surface and a plurality of first contacts on the first surface. The at least one second chip is stacked on the first surface, wherein each of the at least one second chip has a second surface facing the first surface, a third surface opposite to the first chip, and a plurality of side surfaces connected between the second surface and the third surface. Each of the at least one second chip comprises a plurality of first bumps on the second surface, a plurality of second bumps on the third surface, and a plurality of first penetrating electrodes connected between the corresponding first bumps and second bumps, wherein each of the first bumps is bonded to the corresponding first contact or the corresponding second bump of another second chip. The adhesive is disposed in a space between any two adjacent chips of the first chip and the at least one second chip with voiding a part of the space, wherein the adhesive is configured to cover each of the first bumps and the corresponding first contact or the corresponding second bump. The encapsulant is disposed on the first surface to cover the adhesive and the side surfaces of each of the at least one second chip, wherein the voided space between the any two adjacent chips is filled with the encapsulant.
A method of fabricating the aforementioned chip stack structure is provided. A wafer having a first surface and a plurality of first contacts on the first surface is provided. In addition, plural second chips are provided, each of the second chips has a second surface, a third surface opposite to the second surface and a plurality of side surfaces connected between the second surface and the third surface, each of the second chips comprises a plurality of first bumps disposed on the second surface, a plurality of second bumps disposed on the third surface, and a plurality of first penetrating electrodes respectively connected between the corresponding first bumps and the corresponding second bumps. Then, a first adhesive is provided to the first surface of the wafer or the second surface of each of the second chips. And, the second chips are bonded to the wafer, wherein the second surface of each of the second chips faces the wafer, and the first bumps are respectively connected to the corresponding first contacts. The first adhesive covers each of the first bumps and the corresponding first contact with voiding a part of a space between each of the second chips and the wafer. Next, an encapsulant is provided on the first surface to cover the first adhesive and the side surfaces of each of the plurality of second chips, wherein the voided space between each of the second chips and the wafer is filled with the encapsulant. Then, the encapsulant and the wafer are trimmed, and the wafer is separated into a plurality of first chips.
In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the disclosure more comprehensible, several embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
The accompanying drawings constituting a part of this specification are incorporated herein to provide a further understanding of the invention. Here, the drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
The embodiment shows stacking plural second chips 120 on the first chip 110, while the number of the second chips 120 may be varied according to actual situations and is not limited by the embodiment. A detailed illustration to the chip stack structure is provided hereinafter.
The first chip 110 has a first surface 110a and a plurality of first contacts 112 on the first surface 110a. Herein, the first contacts 112 may be metallic pads or solder bumps on the metallic pads. Each of the second chips 120 has a second surface 120a, a third surface 120b opposite to the second surface 120a, and a plurality of side surfaces 120c connected between the second surface 120a and the third surface 120b. Each of the second chips 120 is also provided with a plurality of first bumps 122 on the second surface 120a, a plurality of second bumps 124 on the third surface 120b, and a plurality of first penetrating electrodes 126 connected between the corresponding first bumps 122 and the corresponding second bumps 124.
Furthermore, the first penetrating electrodes 126 as show in
Referring to
The first bumps 122 on the second surface 120a of a second chip 120 are bonded to the first contacts 112 of the first chip 110 or the second bumps 124 of another second chip 120 correspondingly. Accordingly, the stacked first chip 110 and second chips 120 can be conducted with one another through the first contacts 112, the first bumps 122, the second bumps 124 and the first penetrating electrodes 126. Herein, the first bumps 122 and the second bumps 124 can be fabricated by electroplating or chemical deposition, while the material of the first bumps 122 and the second bumps 124 may comprise an electroplating metal or an electroless plating metal.
In addition, an adhesive 130 can be provided between the adjacent first chip 110 and second chip 120, or two adjacent second chips 120, wherein the adhesive 130 in a paste type or a film type encapsulates each of the first bump 122 and the corresponding first contact 112 or the corresponding second bump 124 of another second chip 120, to ensure a bonding effect there between. Furthermore, the chip stack structure 100 further includes an encapsulant 140, disposed on the first surface 110a of the first chip 110, to cover the adhesive 130 and the side surfaces 120c of each of the second chip 120, for protecting the chip stack structure 100, and preventing external moisture or impurities from entering the chip stack structure 100 and affecting the operation of devices. The third surface 120b of the uppermost second chip 120 in
In the embodiment, the adhesive 130 does not fill the entire space between two adjacent first chips 110 or 120, while the voided space is then filled with the encapsulant 140 in following steps. In other words, the adhesive 130 is used to protect the bonding structure between the first contacts and the corresponding first bumps 122 or between the first bumps 122 and the corresponding second bumps 124, and thus the adhesive 130 can be selectively disposed on the aforementioned positions rather than the entire surface of the first chip 110 or the second chips 120. On the other hand, in consideration of the material of the adhesive 130 and the encapsulant 140, quantity of the adhesive 130 with higher cost can be reduced, to lower the manufacturing cost.
The adhesive 130 is provided into the space between the bonding structures of the first contacts 112 of the first chip 110 and the first bumps 122 of the second chip 120, and provided into the space between the bonding structures of the first bumps 122 and the second bumps 124 of two adjacent second chips 120. In other words, the adhesive 130 encapsulates the bonding structures between the first contacts 112 and the first bumps 122 and between the first bumps 122 and the second bumps 124, wherein a center region 192 of the space surrounded by the bonding structures is fully filled with the adhesive 130, and a peripheral region 194 of the space outside the bonding structures is partially filled with the adhesive 130. Then, the voided space between the first chip 110 and the second chip 120 or between two adjacent second chips 120 is filled with the encapsulant 140, i.e., the peripheral region 194 of the space outside the bonding structures.
In another embodiment as shown in
Furthermore, the interfaces between the first and second bumps 122, 124 or the first contacts 112 are much sensitive to the problems induced by stress concentration, and may be damaged by the stress and become failure. Thus, in consideration of the material of the adhesive 130 and the encapsulant 140, match of coefficients of thermal expansion or strength of material may be taken into account. For example, the particle size or concentration of filler in the adhesive 130 and the encapsulant 140 can be adjusted, wherein the filler may comprise silicon oxide (SiO2), metal particles, or metal coated polymer particles. In the embodiment, a first filler 132 of the adhesive 130 has a particle size smaller than that of a second filler 142 of the encapsulant 140, or, a weight percentage of the first filler 132 of the adhesive 130 is smaller than that of the second filler 142 of the encapsulant 140. The adhesive 130 can be filled into the space between the adjacent first chip 110 and the second chip 120 and the space between two adjacent second chips 120 effectively because that the particle size of the first filler 132 is smaller than that of the second filler 142 of the encapsulant 140. In addition, the adhesive 130 provided with a smaller weight percentage is more resilient than the encapsulant 140, to disperse and absorb stress effect due to difference between coefficients of thermal expansion coefficients of the first and second bumps 122, 124 and the first contacts 112. Furthermore, the encapsulant 140 is provided with a higher weight percentage than that of the adhesive 130, to prevent the moisture from entering the chip stack structure 100, protect the chip stack structure 100 from external force, and provide a reliable protect effect.
A fabrication method of a chip stack structure is further illustrated hereinafter.
First, referring to
Plural second chips 120 to be stacked on the wafer 102 are provided. Each of the second chips 120 is provided with a plurality of first bumps 122 on the second surface 120a, a plurality of second bumps 124 on the third surface 120b, and a plurality of first penetrating electrodes 126 connected between the corresponding first bumps 122 and the corresponding second bumps 124. And, a first adhesive 130a is provided to the first surface 110a of the wafer 102 or the second surface 120a of each of the second chips 120, wherein the first adhesive 130a can be a paste type or a film type. Taking the paste type first adhesive 130a as an example,
Then, as shown in
In addition, as shown in
The aforementioned steps of forming the first adhesive 130a and the second adhesive 130b can be referred to
Furthermore, a third thermal compressing process can be conducted after completing the stacking process of the second chips 120, so as to tightly bonding the second chips 120 with the wafer 102 and ensure the reliability of the bonding interfaces among the second chips 120 and the wafer 102. In other words, pre-compressing steps, such as the first thermal compressing process and the second thermal compressing process, with low temperature, short compressing time and low applying pressure can be conducted as stacking the individual second chip 120, and then a main compressing step with relative high temperature, long compressing time and large applying pressure is conducted to all of the second chips 120.
However, in another embodiment, the pre-compressing process and the main compressing process are not conducted. In other words, the first thermal compressing process and the second thermal compressing process are conducted in the conditions of the aforementioned main compressing step during individually stacking the second chips 120. Therefore, the third thermal compressing process to all of the second chips 120 as mentioned above can be omitted.
Then, after the stacking of the second chips 120, referring to
Next, referring to
After the above step, the chip stack structure 100 can be bonded to a carrier 310 to form a package structure as shown in
Accordingly, after completing the aforementioned steps, the chip stack structure 400 is directly bonded to the circuit substrate 490 to form the package structure as shown in
The disclosure provides a chip stack structure suitable for high density chip package with high processing yields, and capable of decreasing processing time, reducing manufacturing cost and performing wafer level molding.
In summary, the chip stack structure of the above embodiments takes a wafer as a stacking base and stacks chips thereon. By which, the chip stack structure is capable of achieving high density electrode bonding and breaking the bottleneck of requiring interposer to serve as a adapting interface in three dimensional chip package, to allow a high temperature bonding and achieve high processing yields. In addition, the chip stack structure is easily fabricated and compatible with wafer level process, so as to reduce processing time and manufacturing cost. Furthermore, the adhesive can be selectively formed with voiding a part of the space between two stacked chips, so as to give more tolerance and flexibility in selecting the material of the adhesive and considering match of coefficients of thermal expansion or strength of material. The particle size or concentration of the filler in the adhesive and the encapsulant can further be adjusted to achieve a superior stress buffering and protecting effect.
Although the invention has been described with reference to the above embodiments, it will be apparent to one of the ordinary skill in the art that modifications to the described embodiment may be made without departing from the spirit of the application. Accordingly, the scope of the application will be defined by the attached claims not by the above detailed descriptions.
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