Patent Application
20070045779
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor devices and fabrication methods therefor. More particularly, the invention pertains to methods for forming conductive vias in a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or other substrate, and resulting structures.
2. Background of Related Art
Semiconductor devices that have integrated circuits are produced by fabricating a large plurality of identical circuit patterns on a semiconductor wafer or other bulk substrates of semiconductor material, wherein each circuit pattern defines a die. A plethora of conventional processes is typically used, including for example, doping, photolithography, layering, etching, laser ablation, metallization, oxidation, layer removal, wafer thinning/planarization, die separation and packaging. Inasmuch as the major goals of semiconductor manufacturers generally typify increased performance and lower cost, considerations such as device density (with concomitant increased circuit speed and reduced power requirements) and enhanced reliability have taken a high priority. In addition, it may be increasingly important that repetitive operations be performed on an entire wafer prior to die separation (singulation), to speed production, reduce production costs, and increase semiconductor device uniformity and reliability and, ultimately, yield.
One way to increase the density of semiconductor devices in a semiconductor assembly is to stack semiconductor dice one upon another. The stacked semiconductor dice may be interconnected by forming conductive vias in through holes in one or more of the semiconductor dice. An interior of each of the vias may be coated with an electrical isolation material followed by an electrically conductive material to electrically connect the vias to integrated circuitry fabricated on an active surface of the semiconductor die and to form a plurality of hollow through-hole vias. Thus, the vias may provide a conductive pathway from the active surface of a semiconductor die to its back surface, enabling interconnection of vias on the back surface, the active surface, or both surfaces of the semiconductor die to external electrical contacts of another semiconductor die or to a carrier substrate. Through holes are typically formed by etching, laser ablation, or a combination thereof. In an etching method, photolithographic patterning of a photoresist is used to define the via locations, followed by wet (chemical) or dry (reactive ion) etching. Laser drilling has been used to form vias by ablating semiconductor material to form through holes extending through the entire thickness of a semiconductor die. The laser-drilled via may then be etched to clean slag from the via and smooth its walls.
Various conductive structures on a die or wafer may be interconnected by a conductive via and further through at least one of bond pads, component leads, metal wires, metal layers, and annular rings. Bond pads on semiconductor dice are typically formed from tungsten, aluminum, copper, or aluminum-copper alloys ranging from 1.5 to 1.0% or less copper. When formed of aluminum, the bond pads may be plated with nickel to deter oxidation and provide a solder-wettable surface. However, a layer of oxide may also form upon nickel, though not as rapidly as aluminum. Such a layer of nickel oxide may present a problem with adhesion or wetting of a molten metal (e.g., solder) thereto.
One of the problems encountered in the use of high density ball grid arrays (BGA), column grid arrays (CGA), or chip scale packaging (CSP) may occur when a through-wafer interconnect (TWI) of a substrate is connected to another substrate such as an electronic module or circuit board. Particularly, when the solder deposited on a bond pad associated with a hollow conductive via and is heated to a reflow temperature, molten solder may be wicked into the hollow through hole, depleting the ball of sufficient solder to complete the conductive connection.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,330 to Isaacs et al. describes a method for improving the connection of hollow through-hole vias in a printed circuit board (PCB) to an electronic module. As shown in this reference, each via is filled step-wise until completely filled with solder, prior to placement and attachment of solder balls of a module. However, multiple pass solder-plugging steps are required and assembly yield may be lower than desired. This method may sometimes result in other problems, including molten/softened solder drainage from the via by gravity or other influences and replacement by solder drawn from the solder ball attachment, compromising the solder ball electrical connection.
As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,076,726 to Hoffmeyer et al., it is proposed to plate the cylindrical via with a metal, such as nickel, which may not be wetted effectively by the reflowing of a lead-tin eutectic solder while using fluxes that allow effective wetting to copper. The bond pad of the via is copper plated to effect good wetting to a solder ball. The goal of the reference is to form a hollow (cylindrical) via which is not wettable for solder adhesion, while allowing the bond pad to be wetted by solder.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,734,560 to Kamperman et al., hollow plated through holes in a multi-layer circuit board are capped with a multi-layer cap to prevent the flow of solder into the through holes. The caps comprise a conductive layer attached to one or more insulating layers. The caps are configured in a sheet which may be attached over the field of through holes. However, as an impediment to implementation of such a configuration, cap locations on the sheet must be precisely positioned so as to be aligned with respective through holes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,363 to Hayakawa et al., a solder paste is used to interconnect the conductive planes on either of a printed circuit board through a via hole. The via hole is not plated and the solder paste is not reflowed. Conductive layers deposited on the substrate and over the via entrap the solder paste within the via hole. Because the solder paste is not reflowed, electrical continuity is established through particle-to-particle contact, which is not always reliable.
There are fundamental differences in forming vias in a circuit board and forming vias in a semiconductor wafer which contains many discrete microchip circuits. While a circuit board is typically manufactured at a desired final thickness, semiconductive materials such as silicon and the like are fragile materials subject to easy fracture. Thus, in contrast to circuit board fabrication, fabrication of electronic devices on an entire semiconductor wafer is typically conducted before the wafer is thinned by a chemical mechanical process (CMP) or back grinding to a desired final thickness. None of the above referenced patents refer to the formation of a conductive via or TWI in a semiconductor wafer such as comprising a plurality of integrated circuits or the like.
In light of efforts to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art, it may be appreciated that it would be advantageous to develop improved methods for forming TWIs through a semiconductor wafer.
The present invention comprises methods for making through-wafer interconnects in substrates such as semiconductor wafers and other substrates. The methods include the formation of a conductive through wafer interconnect, or TWI, having a dam structure at one or both ends. The one or more dam structures may be configured for preventing leakage or loss of solder from the via or TWI during high temperature excursions such as those which typically occur during fabrication, testing and packaging. The one or more dam structures may also provide a convenient base for the attachment of solder balls and the like. Thus, the invention may be useful for enabling column grid array (CGA), ball grid array (BGA) and other types of interconnection between stacked dice or stacked circuit boards, and/or in die-to-circuit board attachments. The present invention may also be useful for simply connecting active area bond pads to back-side conductors. Interconnects so formed may be fabricated in the wafer stage of manufacture, utilizing conventional wafer thinning techniques. At least one semiconductor die including a TWI and having at least one dam structure is encompassed by the present invention, as well as systems incorporating same.
One embodiment of a method of the present invention is generally described, infra, by the formation of at least one TWI in a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer in an intermediate stage of manufacture. Thus, at least one TWI may be formed following the creation of multiple identical integrated circuits (IC), including bond pads, on the active surface of the wafer. However, the methods may be utilized to form at least one TWI at any stage prior to the creation of multiple identical integrated circuits (IC) and bond pads on the active surface of the wafer. The methods of the invention may also be used to form at least one TWI in substrates without passing through a bond pad. The invention also includes electronic apparatuses and systems having at least one semiconductor die including at least one through-wafer interconnect comprising at least one dam structure.
In accordance with the invention, a plurality of TWIs may be formed in a substrate (e.g., a semiconductor wafer). Particularly, locations of a plurality of through-wafer interconnects may be selected for forming at least partially into the substrate. Further, a plurality of blind holes may be formed through any overlying structure (oxide, bond pads, etc.) into the substrate wherein a depth of each of the plurality of blind holes extends into the substrate at least to a final desired thickness thereof. Additionally, optionally, a passivation layer may be desirably applied upon the sidewalls and blind ends of the blind holes and a metal-wettable layer may be applied over the passivation layer within the blind holes. A plurality of vent holes may be formed from the opposite surface into which the plurality of blind holes are formed and may at least partially intersect the blind holes and form through holes. Also, molten solder may be deposited within the metal-wettable layer (blind hole portion) of the through holes and solidified. Put another way, an intermediate structure for fabricating a plurality of semiconductor devices is encompassed by the present invention. Particularly, such a semiconductor wafer may include a first surface and a second surface and a plurality of recesses formed into the substrate from the first surface. Further, the semiconductor wafer may include a plurality of vent holes extending from the second surface, wherein each of the plurality of vent holes at least partially intersects with a respective recess of the plurality of recesses and wherein each of the plurality of recesses is substantially filled with solder and each of the plurality of vent holes is substantially devoid of solder. The substrate may be thinned to a desired final substrate thickness as by back grinding, removing at least the vent holes and a portion of the substrate material underlying the recesses and forming solder-filled, through-wafer interconnects.
In a further aspect of the invention, at least one dam structure may be formed over at least one end of a via or TWI by electroless plating of a metal such as nickel or copper over at least one solder-filled metal end of the through holes, forming at least one cap or dam structure which may prevent drainage of solder therefrom during elevated temperatures at which solder melts. The exposed surface of the at least one dam structure may be photoresist etched to form a solder-retaining pattern to which a connector (e.g., solder ball) may be securely attached. The at least one dam structure may also be used to keep dissimilar materials located on either side thereof separated, and eliminate cross-contamination concerns. Accordingly, at least one semiconductor die or semiconductor die precursor structure (e.g., a semiconductor wafer) may be formed. Further, such a semiconductor die may be incorporated within a semiconductor device or system. For example, the methods of the invention may be particularly advantageous in the production of die-stacked devices, such as stacked DRAMs, SRAMs, PCRAMs, MRAMs, CAMs, flash memory devices, imagers, and the like. The method is also useful for simply connecting conductors on opposing surfaces of a thinnable substrate.
The methods of the invention offer substantial advantages over the prior art. The methods may solve the problems of solder leakage and may reduce an occurrence of unwanted voids in the solder. Reflow induced solder connection of a device (or wafer of devices) to another adjacent substrate or circuit board, etc. may be readily conducted without fear of solder loss at the elevated temperatures. The methods may be advantageous for enabling the production of high-density TWI arrays. Furthermore, all of the actions of the methods of the present invention may be conducted at a semiconductor wafer stage, whereby each action of the methods may simultaneously encompass all of the individual devices on the semiconductor wafer.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of skill in the art through consideration of the ensuing detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims. The drawings are idealized representations for better illustration of the methods of the invention, and various elements are not necessarily shown to scale.
In the drawings, which depict exemplary embodiments of various features of the present invention:
The invention comprises methods for forming through vias (“TV”) or through-wafer interconnects (“TWIs”) through a substrate structures. The term “via” is a general term denoting a conductor passing through a substrate structure. The term “through-wafer interconnect” is often used more specifically where the substrate structure is a wafer of semiconductor material (e.g., a semiconductor wafer). In this application, the terms “substrate” and “wafer” will be used interchangeably as encompassing any substrate material which may be subjected to a thinning process for reducing its thickness. Thus, the methods of the present invention relate to semiconductor devices whether in the wafer form or individualized die form that are thinnable to a final thickness. Accordingly, the term “substrate” refers not only to silicon wafers (e.g., monocrystalline silicon or polycrystalline silicon) but may also refer to silicon on insulator (“SOI”) substrates, silicon on sapphire (“SOS”) substrates, silicon on glass (“SOG”) substrates, epitaxial layers of silicon on a base semiconductor foundation, and other materials as known in the art, such as gallium arsenide, diamond, silicon-germanium, germanium, ruby, quartz, sapphire, silicon carbide and indium phosphide. Thus, the present invention may relate to semi-conductive or non-conductive substrates, without limitation.
It will be understood that methods for wafer fabrication and packaging which precede and follow the methods described herein are generally known to those of ordinary skill in the art and, thus, are not described apart from the context of the invention. Also, while the drawings show a single TWI 20 (see, for example,
For example, as shown in
First oxide layer 34 on a first substrate surface 14 is shown in
One method of the present invention is generally outlined in
Generally, the present invention contemplates that a plurality of bond pads formed on a first surface of a substrate may be electrically joined by TWIs to a second surface thereof. Furthermore, the substrate structure or wafer may be thinned from an initial thickness to a selected final thickness. It should be understood that the particular processes, materials, or combinations thereof employed for accomplishing individual actions may vary, resulting in many embodiments. A discussion of specific preferred embodiments follows, including references to exemplary variations and additions, among others, which may be, optionally, applied to the basic methods of the present invention.
As indicated in
Referring to
Although blind hole 18 may be formed by any of a variety of ways, the exemplary method shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Following deposition of the seed layer 52, the seed layer 52 and underlying passivation layer 48 may be removed (e.g., as by etching) from the exterior of substrate structure 10 and from bond pad surfaces 41, as shown in
Thus, as depicted in
For example, electroless nickel plating solutions are commercially available, such as NicPac 2.1, NicPac 2.2, and NicPac 2.3, which are available from PacTech GmbH (Berlin, Germany); and Ronamax® SMT, Duraposit® D, Niposit®, Niplate™, which are available from Rohm & Haas Electronic Materials (Philadelphia, Pa.) Such electroless nickel plating solutions may include nickel salts such as nickel sulfate, nickel chloride, nickel bromide, nickel fluoroborate, nickel sulfonate, nickel sulfamate, and nickel aryl sulfonates, as a source of nickel ions. Also, as known in the art, an electroless nickel solution may also include a reducing agent, an alkali for pH control, and complexing agents. During electroless plating, nickel ions are reduced to nickel by oxidation of the reducing agent. The nickel plating solution may be maintained at a temperature range from about 60° C. to about 100° C. A concentration of nickel ions in the electroless plating solution, the plating temperature, and the time of exposure (immersion time) may be selectively controlled to provide a desired thickness of conductive layer 54 on the sidewalls 28 and blind end 42.
As shown in
Optionally, the vent hole 56 may intersect the blind end 42 of blind hole 18 coaxially along central axis 50. Also, optionally, as shown in
Further, a vent hole may be sized so that a surface tension of a molten solder impedes introduction thereof within vent hole while being suitably sized for permitting the escape of gases from blind hole 18. Particularly,
Alternatively, as shown in
Various methods may be used for forming the vent hole 56, including laser drilling or ablation, dry etching (e.g., reactive ion etching), photochemical etching, masking and anisotropic etching, mechanical drilling, or other processes which will form openings in semiconductor (and other) substrate structure 10. Each of these methods may be utilized to produce blind holes, through holes, or combinations thereof in substrates, as known in the art. Regardless of the method used to form the vent hole 56, the vent hole 56 and blind hole 18 may generally require cleaning prior to at least partially filling blind hole 18 of the TWI 20 with solder 60. A currently preferred method for forming a vent hole 56 of small diameter (e.g., less than about 50 μm), of high aspect ratio (e.g., greater than about 1), or combinations thereof is laser ablation. In such an instance, a 6% tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) in propylene glycol solution may be used to clean the vent hole 56.
Turning now to
According to an improved wave soldering method, molten solder may form a vertical (or near vertical) stream impinging on the openings 32 of the blind holes 18 to be filled. The substrate structure 10 is held by a fixture (not shown) in a vertical, near-vertical (±about 45°), or other orientation (e.g., inverted or substantially horizontal) to be impinged upon by molten solder 60 whereby blind holes 18 are filled. The method is very effective for void-free filling of small blind holes and through holes with solder. This method is described in a co-pending Provisional Patent Application No. 60/606,798, filed Sep. 1, 2004, titled METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PLACING SUBSTRATES IN CONTACT WITH MOLTEN SOLDER, of Kirby et al., assigned to the assignee of the present invention and in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/140,420, filed May 27, 2005 and claiming the benefit of the referenced provisional patent application, the disclosure of each of which applications is incorporated in its entirety by reference herein. The method may include actions of repositioning the substrate structure 10 in several configurations and reflowing the solder 60 to ensure complete filling of each blind hole 18. Such a method may be very rapid and effective.
Another solder-filling method which may be used is to “shoot” solder balls into the blind hole 18 and then melted to flow. The actions may be repeated as necessary to completely fill the hole. One source of equipment for effecting such a method is available from Pac Tech GmbH of Nauen, Germany. Solder paste has also been used to fill blind holes in the prior art. However, with small diameter blind holes 18, having a diameter <about 50 μm, the use of solder paste may not be generally effective, because its high concentration of flux may cause voids in the TWI 20. Evaporation and electroplating of solder into blind hole 18 are also contemplated as deposition methods suitable for filling blind holes 18. Equipment for performing such methods is available from Silex Microsystems of Jarfalla, Sweden. All of the foregoing examples of solder deposition methods are to be taken as nonlimiting of the scope of the present invention, as other deposition methods and apparatus are also suitable.
Additionally, as shown in
In a further aspect of the present invention, as pictured in
Where substrate structure 10 is to be joined to ball attach pads 72 of another i.e., second substrate 68, as depicted in
In such an application, it should also be noted that dam 62 may serve as a barrier to prevent undesirable cross-contamination between dissimilar materials placed on either side thereof. For example, it may be desirable that the material of solder ball 70 may differ from that of solder 60 within an underlying TWI 20. In one instance, and by way of example only, solder 60 may comprise an Au/Sn solder, while solder ball 70, placed on and bonded to dam 62 by reflow, may comprise a Pb/Sn solder. The glass transition temperature χ2 of the material of dam 62 will, of course, be greater than the glass transition temperature χ1 of solder 60 as well as the glass transition temperature χ3 of solder ball 70 in order to maintain the integrity of the barrier. Thus, the respective physical, thermal and electrical characteristics of each different solder material may be readily maintained by dam 62.
In another aspect of the invention, not shown, a photolithographic damascene process may be used to electrically connect a dam or cap 62 to a surrounding bond pad 40. In the damascene process, a recess may be formed by etching or laser ablation between the dam 62 and bond pad 40, and filled with a conductor by, for example CVD or other deposition method.
In a further aspect of the invention, depicted in
In addition to providing a way of preventing solder loss during elevated temperature excursions during manufacturing operations, the methods of the invention enable avoidance of the use of wire bonding. In addition, the invention enables assembly of stacked dice and multi-chip modules (MCM) at high speed and accuracy while reducing the occurrence of defects. The method is contemplated for and especially suitable to be used at the wafer level, thus saving both manufacturing time and costs, including materials costs.
Of course, it should be understood that where a TWI is formed in a substrate comprising a semiconductor wafer having a plurality of semiconductor dice formed thereon or therein, individual semiconductor dice may be separated from one another (i.e., singulated) to form a plurality of individual semiconductor dice. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that at least one semiconductor die (or a device including same) may be fabricated by way of the methods of the present invention. Thus, at least one semiconductor die may include at least one dam structure according to the present invention, as discussed hereinabove. It is further noted that a semiconductor die so formed may be utilized in a computer or other electronic component environment. For example,
The present invention has been described in specific embodiments intended in all respects to be illustrative rather than limiting. It is to be understood that the invention defined by the appended claims is not to be limited by specific details set forth in the above description and that alternative embodiments will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention pertains without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.
