The present disclosure generally relates to integrated circuits. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to manufacturing integrated circuits.
Silicon substrates used in semiconductor devices have a high cost compared to other materials. For example, building passive devices on a glass substrate would result in lower cost components. Devices stacked on substrates, such as glass substrates, make use of through vias for communicating with other components. One potential application for glass substrates and through vias is liquid crystal displays. Through vias are manufactured in substrates using anisotropic or isotropic etching.
Anisotropic etches occur at different rates along different directions and result in substantially straight sidewalls through the substrate. Anisotropic etches include plasma etching, laser drilling, and mechanical drilling. Anisotropic etches are slow processes that decrease the throughput of manufacturing processes. Isotropic etching etch materials substantially equal in each direction of the substrate. Isotropic etches include wet etching and gas etching. Isotropic etches are lower cost and higher throughput than anisotropic etches, but the undercut resulting from etching in all directions can result in shorting of metal lines on the substrate. A conventional process for manufacturing through vias using isotropic etching is illustrated in
Referring to
Thus, there is a need for a process of manufacturing through vias in substrates using isotropic etching without shorting metal lines on the substrate.
According to one aspect of the disclosure, a method of manufacturing a through via includes patterning a block layer on a first side of a substrate. The method also includes exposing an opening in the block layer. The method further includes depositing a first conductive material on the block layer. The method also includes fabricating the through via on a second side of the substrate opposite the first side. The method further includes depositing a second conductive material in the through via to contact the first conductive material through the opening.
According to another aspect of the disclosure, an integrated circuit includes a substrate. The integrated circuit also includes a block layer having an opening on a first side of the substrate. The integrated circuit further includes a through via on a second side of the substrate extending through the substrate. The integrated circuit also includes a first conductive layer on the block layer extending into the opening. The integrated circuit further includes a second conductive layer on the through via coupling with the first conductive layer through the opening in the block layer.
According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, a method of manufacturing an integrated circuit includes the step of patterning a block layer on a first side of a substrate to form an opening. The method also includes the step of depositing a first conductive material on the block layer. The method further includes the step of fabricating the through via on a second side of the substrate facing opposite the first side. The method also includes the step of depositing a second conductive material in the through via to contact the first conductive material through the opening.
According to a further aspect of the disclosure, an integrated circuit includes a substrate. The integrated circuit also includes means for preventing shorting of metal lines having an opening on a first side of the substrate. The integrated circuit further includes a through via on a second side of the substrate extending through the substrate. The integrated circuit also includes a first conductive layer on the preventing means extending into the opening. The integrated circuit further includes a second conductive layer on the through via coupling with the first conductive layer.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present disclosure in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the disclosure. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiments disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the technology of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the disclosure, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the present disclosure.
For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
An exemplary process for manufacturing through vias in substrates using isotropic etching is presented. Shorting of metal lines on the substrate after isotropic etching is prevented by patterning a block layer on the substrate before deposition of metal lines on the substrate. The patterned block layer inhibits the opening formed for the through via from exposing more than a single metal line. As a result, each through via contacts only a single metal line. The exemplary process for manufacturing through vias improves reliability of the manufactured devices and increases the yield of manufacturing processes. The exemplary process also decreases the cost of manufactured devices through the use isotropic etches and low cost substrate materials such as glass.
The exemplary process continues to block 210 in which a first conductive layer is deposited.
After depositing the first conductive layer 308, the exemplary process etches a through via at block 215.
The exemplary process continues to block 220 and deposits a second conductive layer.
In another embodiment of the exemplary process illustrated in
The exemplary process for forming through vias in substrates with a block layer described above allows the formation of through vias using isotropic etching processes without significantly reducing reliability of the manufactured devices and without significantly reducing yield of the manufacturing processes. The block layer patterned during the exemplary process inhibits shorting between metal lines on the substrate. According to one embodiment of the exemplary process, through glass vias are manufactured in glass substrates using low cost isotropic etching. Substrates with through vias manufactured according to the process described above may be integrated into integrated circuits (ICs). The through vias may be used to couple devices stacked on the substrate. For example, passive devices such as capacitors and inductors, and MEMS devices such as RF filters may be formed on the glass substrate and coupled to the through vias. According to one embodiment, the glass substrate is stacked on a laminate package substrate. According to another embodiment, the glass substrate is connected to the printed circuit board.
In
Data recorded on the storage medium 504 may specify logic circuit configurations, pattern data for photolithography masks, or mask pattern data for serial write tools such as electron beam lithography. The data may further include logic verification data such as timing diagrams or net circuits associated with logic simulations. Providing data on the storage medium 504 facilitates the design of the circuit design 510 or the component 512 by decreasing the number of processes for designing integrated circuits.
The methodologies described herein may be implemented by various components depending upon the application. For example, these methodologies may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. For a hardware implementation, the processing units may be implemented within one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, electronic devices, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof.
For a firmware and/or software implementation, the methodologies may be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. Any machine-readable medium tangibly embodying instructions may be used in implementing the methodologies described herein. For example, software codes may be stored in a memory and executed by a processor unit. Memory may be implemented within the processor unit or external to the processor unit. As used herein the term “memory” refers to any type of long term, short term, volatile, nonvolatile, or other memory and is not to be limited to any particular type of memory or number of memories, or type of media upon which memory is stored.
If implemented in firmware and/or software, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Examples include computer-readable media encoded with a data structure and computer-readable media encoded with a computer program. Computer-readable media includes physical computer storage media. A storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer; disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
In addition to storage on computer readable medium, instructions and/or data may be provided as signals on transmission media included in a communication apparatus. For example, a communication apparatus may include a transceiver having signals indicative of instructions and data. The instructions and data are configured to cause one or more processors to implement the functions outlined in the claims.
Although the present disclosure and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the technology of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present disclosure. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.