1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of semiconductor wafer processing, and more specifically to methods for cost effective singulation of integrated circuit dies from a semiconductor substrate, and devices made according to such methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor processing generally comprises multiple photolithographic, etching, plating and doping operations to form an array of individual integrated circuit dies on the surface of a semiconductor substrate, such as a wafer. For application of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag chips, integrated circuit die densities frequently range in the tens of thousands of dies per wafer. Each die is separated from the others by a narrow inactive boundary referred to as a die “street”. Once integrated circuit die fabrication and testing at the wafer level are completed, the individual die is “singulated”. Singulation is typically accomplished by cutting along the die streets using a sawing process. With current practice, width of the street is about 60 microns. If the active area on a die is 250,000 square microns (500 microns on each side), then the total area of the die, including the 60 micron wide street around each die is 313,600 square microns. If a narrower, 20 micron wide street is used around the die, then the total die area becomes 270,400 square microns. The difference between a 60 micron wide street and a 20 micron wide street provides approximately 16% more dies per wafer. As die sizes decrease, it is imperative to reduce the width of die streets.
Current techniques involve thinning the wafer prior to sawing through the wafer, to complete the singulation.
What is needed is a method for die singulation which overcomes these limitations of the prior art.
The disclosure provides methods for die singulation on wafers, and devices made by such methods. One of the methods includes a number of operations, which can be performed in various orders. These operations include procuring a semiconductor wafer, processing the wafer to form a plurality of circuits on a top side, forming trenches on the top side between the adjacent circuits, optionally forming a trench passivation layer on side walls of the trenches, forming conductive bumps on the top side of the wafer; and removing material from the bottom side to thin the wafer, and eventually separate the wafer along the trenches into dies, where each die includes only one of the circuits.
The invention offers significant cost advantages over the prior art, by changing the order of the process operations by moving the wafer thinning operation, and optionally also the bump formation, after the trench forming operation and replacing the traditional sawing technique with more cost effective etching or laser scribing processes.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be better understood from the specification of the invention, which includes the following Detailed Description and accompanying Drawings.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which:
The present invention is now described. While it is disclosed in its preferred form, the specific embodiments of the invention as disclosed herein and illustrated in the drawings are not to be considered in a limiting sense. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Indeed, it should be readily apparent in view of the present description that the invention may be modified in numerous ways. Among other things, the present invention may be embodied as methods, devices, and so on. This description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.
Integrated circuits are made according to embodiments, using semiconductor fabrication methods. A very high level overview is now provided.
Circuits 195 are formed by semiconductor manufacturing machines, often operated by foundries. It is worthwhile to note that circuits 194 are formed at the original surface of top side 192, both beneath the level of the original surface and above it. In addition, other materials are then deposited on top side 192. Some of these other materials can be called, for purposes of this disclosure, circuit passivation layer(s). Accordingly, wafer 194 acquires a new top surface 196, which is elevated compared to the original surface.
Flowchart 200 starts in operation 210, which is described also with reference to
A next operation 220 is described also with reference to
Another operation 230 is described also with reference to
In another operation 240, side walls of trenches 397 are coated with trench passivation layer 320, as also shown in
In another optional operation 250, bumps (not shown in
In another operation 260, a first carrier (not shown in
Another operation 270 is described also with reference to
In some embodiments, material is removed from the bottom of the wafer until a bottom of the trench is reached. In other embodiments, removing material from the bottom of wafer is stopped before a bottom of the trench is reached. Once enough material is removed form wafer 394 to expose trenches 397 on the backside as shown in
In operation 280, a wafer carrier frame (not shown in
In operation 290, dies are detached from the first carrier exposing singulated dies and by doing so allowing access to individual dies to be electrically tested and inspected.
In operation 432, etching locations are defined using conventional photolithographic techniques.
In operation 434, etching is performed until a predetermined trench depth 318 in
In operation 435A, a dry etching operation etches through protective dielectric layer 314 to silicon substrate 394. The depth of this etching operation 316 is typically less than 2 microns.
In operation 436, a deep etch of silicon is performed, using a reactive ion etching technique. The depth of this etching 318 is typically 150 microns.
In operation 435A, a wet etching operation etches through protective dielectric layer 314 to silicon substrate 394. The depth of this etching operation 316 is typically less than 2 microns.
In operation 531, a laser drilling process cuts through protective dielectric layer 314 to silicon substrate 394. The depth of this etching operation 316 is typically less than 10 microns, and could be as shallow as 2 microns.
In operation 532, etching locations are defined using conventional photolithographic techniques.
In operation 536, a deep etch of silicon is performed, using a reactive ion etching technique. The depth of this etching 318 is typically 150 microns.
In operation 630, trenched are cut by a laser drill. Trench depth 318 is between 35-65 microns, preferably it is 55 microns.
In operation 742, trench passivation layer 320 is formed. The applied trench passivation layer 320 covers the surface of the side wall of trench 397 and can cover the entire top surface of wafer 396.
In operation 759, photoresist which was used to define the trench location is removed by stripping and cleaning. The stripping process may include either a plasma process or a wet process.
In operation 852, top surface of wafer 396 is coated by a photoresist.
In operation 854, bond pad locations are opened-up using photolithography.
In operation 856, in processes that use copper or other materials that easily corrode or oxidize an MCap metal 326 is deposited on bond pads 328 or where ever the sensitive material is exposed, where the deposited MCap metal maybe Aluminum, such as is also seen in
In operation 858 bumps are formed using an electroless Nickel process, or other alternative methods for example a controlled collapse chip connection (C4) process, a Lead/Tin (Pb/Sn) process, or a Gold/Tin (Au/Sn) process.
In operation 859 (an optional operation) photoresist which was left in the deep trench is removed by stripping and cleaning. If the applied photoresist is pliable and does not prevent the easy separation of chips 398X, it maybe left on the wafer.
As it has been mentioned, the present invention provides a cost effective method for die singulation.
Numerous details have been set forth in this description, which is to be taken as a whole, to provide a more thorough understanding of the invention. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail, so as to not obscure unnecessarily the invention.
The invention includes combinations and subcombinations of the various elements, features, functions and/or properties disclosed herein. The following claims define certain combinations and subcombinations, which are regarded as novel and non-obvious. Additional claims for other combinations and subcombinations of features, functions, elements and/or properties may be presented in this or a related document.
This application claims priority from U.S.A. Provisional Application No. 60/837,179, filed on Aug. 10, 2006, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes. This application claims priority from U.S.A. Provisional Application No. 60/838,496, filed on Aug. 16, 2006, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.
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