Semiconductor constructions and methods of forming semiconductor constructions.
Commercial production of integrated circuit devices, such as memory dice, may involve fabrication of a large number of identical circuit patterns on a single semiconductor wafer or other bulk semiconductor substrate. It is a continuing goal of semiconductor manufacturers to increase the density of semiconductor devices fabricated on a given size of semiconductor substrate to achieve increased yield of semiconductor devices and enhanced performance thereof.
One method for increasing the density of semiconductor devices in a semiconductor assembly is to create vias (i.e., through-holes) that extend entirely through a semiconductor die; and specifically that extend from an active surface of the die to the opposing backside surface of the die. The vias may be filled with electrically conductive material to form through-substrate interconnects (which may also be referred to as through-wafer interconnects). The interconnects provide electrical pathways from the active surface of the die to the backside surface of the die. The through-substrate interconnects may be electrically coupled to electrical contacts that are along the backside of the die, and that extend to circuit components external of the die. In some applications, the die may be incorporated into a three-dimensional multichip module (3-D MCM), and the circuit components external of the die may be comprised by another semiconductor die and/or by a carrier substrate.
Various methods for forming through-substrate interconnects in semiconductor substrates have been disclosed. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,855,140, 7,626,269 and 6,943,106 describe example methods that may be utilized to form through-substrate interconnects.
Various problems may be encountered during formation of connections to through-substrate interconnects. It is therefore desired to develop new methods of forming connections to through-substrate interconnects, and to develop new through-substrate interconnect architectures.
In some embodiments, the invention includes methods in which photosensitive material is provided over electrically conductive posts (which may be through-wafer interconnects in some aspects), and then the photosensitive material is patterned to form openings over the posts. Subsequently, under bump metallurgy (UBM) may be formed within the openings and over the photosensitive material. The photosensitive material may remain in finished constructions as insulative material under conductive materials of the UBM. Some embodiments include constructions comprising photosensitive material adjacent electrically conductive posts, and comprising electrically conductive caps that are over the posts and that extend to over the photosensitive material.
Example embodiments are described with reference to
Referring to
The backside has a surface 15, and such backside surface is above the posts at the processing stage of
Base 12 may comprise monocrystalline silicon, and may be referred to as a semiconductor substrate, or as a portion of a semiconductor substrate. The terms “semiconductive substrate,” “semiconductor construction” and “semiconductor substrate” mean any construction comprising semiconductive material, including, but not limited to, bulk semiconductive materials such as a semiconductive wafer (either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials), and semiconductive material layers (either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials). The term “substrate” refers to any supporting structure, including, but not limited to, the semiconductive substrates described above.
The electrically conductive posts 20-22 may comprise any suitable electrically conductive compositions or combinations of compositions. In some embodiments, the posts may comprise one or more electrically conductive compositions formed within through-substrate vias (TSVs). In some embodiments, the posts may comprise copper.
Dielectric material 18 extends around posts 20-22, and electrically insulates the posts from base 12. The dielectric material may comprise any suitable composition or combination of compositions; including, for example, silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, etc. In some embodiments, the posts may comprise copper, and copper-barrier material (for instance, ruthenium-containing material) may be between the copper of the posts and the dielectric material 18.
Referring to
Referring to
The posts 20-22 of
The posts 20-22 may have any suitable configuration. For instance,
Although the processing stage of
Referring to
The photosensitive material 30 may comprise any suitable composition, and preferably comprises a dielectric composition suitable for remaining in a finished construction. In some embodiments, the photosensitive material comprises one or more materials selected from the group consisting of siloxane-containing materials, epoxy acrylate-containing materials, polyimide-containing materials, and poly(benzoxazole)-containing materials.
The photosensitive material may be a photo-imageable spin-on dielectric in some embodiments. Also, the photosensitive material may be a material which can be deposited at a temperature of less or equal to about 200° C. Utilization of low temperature for deposition of the photosensitive material may be advantageous, as bonding adhesives utilized to attach the die to a carrier wafer may be configured to release the die upon exposure to temperatures in excess of about 200° C.
The utilization of photosensitive material 30 advantageously provides a material which is readily patterned by subsequent exposure to electromagnetic radiation, and yet which can remain in a finished semiconductor construction as a dielectric material. For purposes of interpreting this disclosure and the claims that follow, a “photosensitive material” is a material which changes upon exposure to electromagnetic radiation so that exposed regions may be selectively removed relative to unexposed regions, or vice versa. The selective removal of the exposed regions relative to the unexposed regions, or vice versa, may be conducted utilizing a developer solution.
Referring to
Referring to
In some embodiments, the electrically conductive material 40 may be utilized as a seed material for subsequent electrolytic growth of copper. In such embodiments, the material 40 may, for example, comprise, consist essentially of or consist of a mixture of titanium and copper.
A patterned masking material 42 is formed over the electrically conductive material 40. In some embodiments, the patterned masking material 42 may comprise photolithographically-patterned photoresist. The patterned masking material 42 has openings 43-45 extending therethrough. The openings are directly over posts 20-22, and directly over portions of the thin regions 32 of photosensitive material 30.
Electrically conductive materials 46 and 48 are formed within openings 43-45. In some embodiments, material 46 may comprise copper electrolytically grown over the conductive material 40, and material 48 may comprise nickel or palladium electrolytically grown over the material 46. Although two materials 46 and 48 are formed within openings 43-45 in the shown embodiment, in other embodiments a single conductive material may be formed within the openings, or more than two materials may be formed within such openings. For instance, both of nickel and palladium may be formed over the copper-containing material 46 in some embodiments. The materials 46 and 48 may be ultimately incorporated into under bump metallurgy (UBM), and thus may comprise conventional compositions suitable for utilization in UBM in some embodiments.
Referring to
The caps 50-52 may have any suitable shapes, and
The edges of the caps 50-52 cover portions of the thin regions 32 of photosensitive material 30 in the shown embodiment, and leave other portions of the thin regions 32 uncovered (i.e., some portions of second thickness regions 32 extend outwardly beyond the edges of caps 50-52). In the shown embodiment, an entirety of the edge of the electrically conductive material of a cap (for instance, the edge 55 of cap 51) is directly against photosensitive material 30. In other embodiments (not shown) dielectric material (for instance, silicon dioxide or silicon nitride) may be provided between the conductive material of cap and the photosensitive material 30.
The construction 10a of
Although the openings 60-62 are wider than the posts 20-22 in the shown embodiment, in other embodiments the openings may be a comparable to the widths of the posts, and in yet other embodiments the openings may be narrower than the posts so that only portions of the upper surfaces of the posts are exposed.
Referring to
The patterned masking material 42 is formed over the electrically conductive material 40. The patterned masking material has openings 70-72 extending therethrough. The openings are directly over posts 20-22, and directly over portions of photosensitive material 30 adjacent the posts.
Electrically conductive material 66 is formed within openings 70-72. In some embodiments, material 66 may comprise the materials 46 and 48 described above with reference to
Referring to
The caps 74-76 may have any suitable shapes, and
The embodiment of
Referring to
Some of the embodiments described herein may be advantageously relatively simple to incorporate into existing fabrication processes as compared to prior art methods, in that such embodiments may utilize tools which already exist in semiconductor fabrication facilities, such as photo-processing tools, etc. In some embodiments, the photosensitive material 30 described above may be a photo-imageable spin-on dielectric. Such materials can have photosensitive resolution of less or equal to 1 micrometer, and can have sufficient thermal resistance to tolerate high-temperature stacking procedures that may be utilized during a die packaging process. Some embodiments may enable reduced through thickness variation (TTV) across a wafer relative to prior art processes.
The particular orientation of the various embodiments in the drawings is for illustrative purposes only, and the embodiments may be rotated relative to the shown orientations in some applications. The description provided herein, and the claims that follow, pertain to any structures that have the described relationships between various features, regardless of whether the structures are in the particular orientation of the drawings, or are rotated relative to such orientation.
The cross-sectional views of the accompanying illustrations only show features within the planes of the cross-sections, and do not show materials behind the planes of the cross-sections in order to simplify the drawings.
When a structure is referred to above as being “on” or “against” another structure, it can be directly on the other structure or intervening structures may also be present. In contrast, when a structure is referred to as being “directly on” or “directly against” another structure, there are no intervening structures present. When a structure is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another structure, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other structure, or intervening structures may be present. In contrast, when a structure is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another structure, there are no intervening structures present.
In some embodiments, a semiconductor construction comprises an electrically conductive post extending through a semiconductor die. The post has an upper surface above a backside surface of the die, and has a sidewall surface extending between the backside surface and the upper surface. A photosensitive material is over the backside surface and along the sidewall surface. Electrically conductive material is directly against the upper surface of the post. The electrically conductive material is configured as a cap over the post. The cap has an edge that extends laterally outwardly beyond the post and encircles the post. An entirety of the edge is directly over the photosensitive material.
In some embodiments, a semiconductor construction comprises a plurality of electrically conductive posts extending through a semiconductor die. The posts have upper surfaces above a backside surface of the die, and have sidewall surfaces extending between the backside surface and the upper surfaces. A photosensitive material is over the backside surface and along the sidewall surfaces. Electrically conductive material caps are directly against the upper surfaces of the posts and directly over regions of the photosensitive material adjacent the posts. The photosensitive material has a first thickness in regions between the caps and has a second thickness in regions directly under the caps. The second thickness is less than the first thickness. Upper surfaces of the second thickness regions are below the upper surfaces of the posts.
In some embodiments, a semiconductor construction comprises a plurality of electrically conductive posts extending through a semiconductor die. The posts have upper surfaces above a backside surface of the die, and have sidewall surfaces extending between the backside surface and the upper surfaces. A photosensitive material is over the backside surface and along the sidewall surfaces. Electrically conductive material caps are directly against the upper surfaces of the posts and directly over regions of the photosensitive material adjacent the posts. The photosensitive material has a first thickness in regions between the posts and has a second thickness in regions adjacent the posts. The second thickness is less than the first thickness. Upper surfaces of the first thickness regions are above the upper surfaces of the posts.
In some embodiments, a method of forming a semiconductor construction comprises forming a photosensitive material across a plurality of through-wafer interconnects, and photo-patterning the photosensitive material to expose upper surfaces of the interconnects while leaving regions of the photosensitive material between the interconnects. The method also comprises forming electrically conductive material directly against the exposed upper surfaces of the interconnects and directly against the photosensitive material. The electrically conductive material forms caps over the interconnects, with the caps having edges that extend laterally outwardly beyond the interconnects and that encircle the interconnects. The edges are entirely directly over the photosensitive material.
In compliance with the statute, the subject matter disclosed herein has been described in language more or less specific as to structural and methodical features. It is to be understood, however, that the claims are not limited to the specific features shown and described, since the means herein disclosed comprise example embodiments. The claims are thus to be afforded full scope as literally worded, and to be appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents.