The present invention relates to an integrated circuit and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to an integrated circuit including a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor and a manufacturing method thereof.
In modern society, the micro-processor systems composed of integrated circuits (ICs) are applied popularly in our living. Many electrical products, such as personal computers, mobile phones, and home appliances, include ICs. With the development of technology and the increasingly imaginative applications of electrical products, the design of ICs tends to be smaller, more delicate and more diversified.
In the recent electrical products, IC devices, such as metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistors, capacitors, or resistors, are produced from silicon based substrates that are fabricated by semiconductor manufacturing processes. A complicated IC system may be composed of the IC devices electrically connected with one another. Generally, a capacitor structure may be composed of a top electrode, a dielectric layer, and a bottom electrode. The capacitor structure is traditionally disposed in an inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layer on a silicon based substrate and includes a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure. However, as the demands for more functions and higher performance of the electrical products increase continually, the complexity and the integrity of the ICs increase also, and the space for forming the capacitor structures becomes smaller relatively. Accordingly, the capacitance of the traditional capacitor structure is limited, and the related problems about the IC design may be generated.
An integrated circuit and a manufacturing method thereof are provided in the present invention. A first metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor composed of a bottom plate, a first patterned dielectric layer, and a medium plate is formed in a trench. A second patterned dielectric layer and a top plate is formed on the medium plate for forming a second MIM capacitor for purposes of increasing capacitance and enhancing the capacitance density.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, an integrated circuit is provided. The integrated circuit includes a first insulation layer, a bottom plate, a first patterned dielectric layer, a medium plate, a second patterned dielectric layer, and a top plate. A first trench penetrates the first insulation layer. The bottom plate is partly disposed on the first insulation layer and partly disposed in the first trench. The first patterned dielectric layer is disposed on the bottom plate, and at least a part of the first patterned dielectric layer is disposed in the first trench. The medium plate is disposed on the first patterned dielectric layer, and at least a part of the medium plate is disposed in the first trench. The bottom plate, the first patterned dielectric layer, and the medium plate constitute a first metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor. The second patterned dielectric layer is disposed on the medium plate. The top plate is disposed on the second patterned dielectric layer. The medium plate, the second patterned dielectric layer, and the top plate constitute a second MIM capacitor, and the bottom plate is electrically connected with the top plate.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a manufacturing method of an integrated circuit is provided. The manufacturing method includes the following steps. A first trench penetrating a first insulation layer is formed first. A bottom plate is partly formed on the first insulation layer and partly formed in the first trench. A first patterned dielectric layer is formed on the bottom plate, and at least apart of the first patterned dielectric layer is formed in the first trench. A medium plate is formed on the first patterned dielectric layer, and at least a part of the medium plate is formed in the first trench. The bottom plate, the first patterned dielectric layer, and the medium plate form a first metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor. A second patterned dielectric layer is formed on the medium plate, and a top plate is formed on the second patterned dielectric layer. The medium plate, the second patterned dielectric layer, and the top plate form a second MIM capacitor, and the bottom plate is electrically connected with the top plate.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
Please refer to
In the integrated circuit 101 of this embodiment, the first MIM capacitor C1 may be at least partially disposed in the first trench TR1. The bottom plate 31P and the first patterned dielectric layer 32P may be formed conformally on the surface of the first trench TR1 for increasing the area of the first patterned dielectric layer 32P sandwiched between the bottom plate 31P and the medium plate 33P in the first MIM capacitor C1, and the capacitance and the capacitance density of the first MIM capacitor may be increased within the limited space accordingly. In other words, at least a part of the first MIM capacitor C1 may be regarded as a 3D MIM capacitor structure, but not limited thereto. Additionally, the bottom plate 31P and the medium plate 33P may be regarded as a bottom electrode and a top electrode of the first MIM capacitor C1 respectively. The medium plate 33P and the top plate 35P may be regarded as a bottom electrode and a top electrode of the second MIM capacitor C2 respectively. In other words, the medium plate 33P may be shared by the first MIM capacitor C1 and the second MIM capacitor C2 for simplifying the structure and the related manufacturing process. Additionally, the first MIM capacitor C1 and the second MIM capacitor C2 may be operated together, and the electrical potential applied to the bottom plate 31P may be substantially equal to the electrical potential applied to the top plate 35P during the operations because the bottom plate 31P is electrically connected with the top plate 35P. In other words, the first MIM capacitor C1 and the second MIM capacitor C2 may be regarded as one integrated capacitor structure, and the capacitance of this capacitor structure may be increased by forming at least a part of the first MIM capacitor C1 in the first trench TR1. The second MIM capacitor C2 may be formed by forming the second the second patterned dielectric layer 34P and the top plate 35P on the top electrode (i.e. the medium plate 33P) of the first MIM structure C1, and the capacitance and the capacitance density of this capacitor structure may be further increased within the limited space accordingly.
In some embodiments, the integrated circuit 101 may further include a conductive layer 11 disposed under the first insulation layer 20. The first trench TR1 may be disposed on the conductive layer 11, and the bottom plate 31P in the first trench TR1 may contact and be electrically connected with the conductive layer 11, but not limited thereto. In addition, the conductive layer 11 may be disposed in a dielectric layer 10, and the first insulation layer 20 may be disposed on the dielectric layer 10 and the conductive layer 11. In some embodiments, the first insulation layer 20 may be a single layer structure or a multi-layer structure. For example, the first insulation layer 20 may include a first layer 21 and a second layer 22 disposed on the first layer 21. The first layer 21, the second layer 22, and the dielectric layer 10 may include silicon oxide, silicon oxynitride, low dielectric constant (low-k) materials, or other appropriate dielectric materials respectively. In some embodiments, the first insulation layer 20 and the dielectric layer 10 may be an interlayer dielectric layer, such as an inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layer, disposed on a substrate (not shown), but not limited thereto. The substrate mentioned above may include a semiconductor substrate or a non-semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate may include a silicon substrate, a silicon germanium substrate, or a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate, and the non-semiconductor substrate may include a glass substrate, a plastic substrate, or a ceramic substrate, but not limited thereto. In addition, other devices, such as transistors, may be formed on the substrate before the steps of forming the dielectric layer 10 and the first insulation layer 20 according to other considerations, and the first MIM capacitor C1 and the second MIM capacitor C2 may be electrically connected to other devices via the conductive layer 11 and/or a connection structure 11C formed by the conductive layer 11, but not limited thereto.
As shown in
In some embodiments, the integrated circuit 101 may further include a third trench TR3, a fourth trench TR4, a fifth trench TR5, a first connection structure S1, and a second connection structure S2. The third trench TR3 may penetrate the second insulation layer 50, the third mask layer 43, the second mask layer 42, and the first mask layer 41 for exposing a part of the top plate 35P. The fourth trench TR4 may penetrate the second insulation layer 50 and the first insulation layer 20 and expose a part of the conductive layer 11. The fifth trench TR5 may penetrate the third mask layer 43, the second mask layer 42, and the second patterned dielectric layer 34P for exposing a part of the medium plate 34P. In some embodiments, the third trench TR3 and the fourth trench TR4 may be connected with each other, and the first connection structure S1 may be disposed in the third trench TR3 and the fourth trench TR4. The first connection structure S1 may contact and be electrically connected with the top plate 35P via the third trench TR3. The first connection structure S1 may contact and be electrically connected with the conductive layer 11 via the fourth trench TR4, and the bottom plate 31P may be electrically connected with the top plate 35P via the conductive layer 11 and the first connection structure S1 accordingly. Additionally, in some embodiments, the second connection structure S2 may be disposed in the fifth trench TR5, and the second connection structure S2 may be disposed on and contact the medium plate 33P for being electrically connected with the medium plate 33P. The second connection structure S2 may be electrically separated from the first connection structure S1 preferably for applying electrical potential signals to the medium plate 33P, the top plate 35P, and the bottom plate 31P respectively, but not limited thereto.
Please refer to
Specifically, the manufacturing method of the integrated circuit 101 in this embodiment may include but is not limited to the following steps. As shown in
In some embodiments, the first metal layer 31 may be conformally formed on the first insulation layer 20 and in the first trench TR1. The first dielectric layer 32 may be conformally formed on the first metal layer 31. The second metal layer 33 may be formed on the first dielectric layer 32, the second dielectric layer 34 may be formed on the second metal layer 33, and the third metal layer 35 may be formed on the second dielectric layer 34. In some embodiments, the first trench TR1 may be filled with the first metal layer 31, the first dielectric layer 32, and the second metal layer 33. The second dielectric layer 34 and the third metal layer 35 may be not formed in the first trench TR1, but not limited thereto. As shown in
As shown in
It is worth noting that the method of forming the bottom plate 31P, the first patterned dielectric layer 32P, the medium plate 33P, the second patterned dielectric layer 34P, and the top plate 35P in the present invention is not limited to the approaches mentioned above. For example, in some embodiments, the top plate 35P may be defined by the second patterning process 92, and the bottom plate 31P, the first patterned dielectric layer 32P, the medium plate 33P, and the second patterned dielectric layer 34P may be defined together by the first patterning process 91 performed after the second patterning process 92. However, in some embodiments, the bottom plate 31P, the first patterned dielectric layer 32P, the medium plate 33P, and the second patterned dielectric layer 34P may be formed before the step of forming the top plate 35P according to other considerations. In some embodiments, the bottom plate 31P, the first patterned dielectric layer 32P, the medium plate 33P, the second patterned dielectric layer 34P, and the top plate 35P may also be formed respectively by different patterning processes or be formed by the same patterning process.
As shown in
The following description will detail the different embodiments of the present invention. To simplify the description, identical components in each of the following embodiments are marked with identical symbols. For making it easier to understand the differences between the embodiments, the following description will detail the dissimilarities among different embodiments and the identical features will not be redundantly described.
Please refer to
Please refer to
To summarize the above descriptions, in the integrated circuit and the manufacturing method thereof according to the present invention, the medium plate may be shared by the first MIM capacitor and the second MIM capacitor overlapping each other. The bottom plate may be electrically connected with the top plate for operating the first MIM capacitor and the second MIM capacitor simultaneously. Therefore, the first MIM capacitor and the second MIM capacitor may be regarded as one integrated capacitor structure, the capacitance may be increased by forming at least a part of the first MIM process in the trench, and the second MIM capacitor may be constituted by forming the patterned dielectric layer and the top plate on the top electrode of the first MIM capacitor. The capacitance and the capacitance density may be further increased within the limited space accordingly.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 1 0628490 | Jul 2017 | CN | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7534692 | Jagueneau | May 2009 | B2 |
| 9564217 | Zhou | Feb 2017 | B1 |
| 20030213989 | Delpech | Nov 2003 | A1 |
| 20170213896 | Lisiansky | Jul 2017 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20190035674 A1 | Jan 2019 | US |