This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2017-033328 filed on Feb. 24, 2017, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device including a fuse element to be fused by laser irradiation and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device.
There is known a method of adjusting a resistance value, or a method of performing trimming adjustment of a redundant circuit in a semiconductor device by irradiating with a laser a fuse element made of, for example, polysilicon, metal, or high-melting point metal, so as to fuse the fuse element.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Sho 60-91654, there is proposed a technology enabling a fuse element to be fused by a laser having low energy in order to suppress a crack of a lower substrate, which is caused by a laser having increased energy.
However, the inventor of the present invention has found out that a crack is more liable to occur in a base insulating film as a semiconductor device is more highly integrated, that is, the number of laminated layers of metal wiring lines and the number of layers of inter-layer insulating films each increase and the thickness of a protective insulating film increases.
As illustrated in
Further, it has been found that it is difficult to stably fuse a fuse element when a difference between a lower limit value and an upper limit value of desired energy of a laser becomes extremely small and the protective insulating film 84 has a thickness that is twice or more of that of the base insulating film 82.
As the protective insulating film 84 becomes thicker, a laser needs to have higher energy. The reason for the fact is inferred to be that breaking strength of the protective insulating film 84 is increased and the protective insulating film 84 cannot be caused to scatter unless a laser having increased energy is radiated in accordance with the increased breaking strength of the protective insulating film 84. Further, the following may be considered to be the reason why the cracks 86 are more liable to occur in the base insulating film 82 when the protective insulating film 84 becomes thicker. Specifically, when the breaking strength of the protective insulating film 84 is increased, the protective insulating film 84 scatters less easily at the time when the fuse element melts and evaporates. As a result, the ratio of stress applied to corner portions in the two obliquely downward directions increases.
In view of the above, the present invention has an object to provide a semiconductor device in which a crack in a base insulating film is prevented from occurring and a fuse element can be stably fused, and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, there are provided a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device that are described below.
That is, the semiconductor device includes: a base insulating film; a fuse element formed on the base insulating film, and including a laser irradiation portion having a lengthwise direction and a widthwise direction; and a protective insulating film for covering the fuse element, in which the laser irradiation portion has, in the lengthwise direction, chamfers between a bottom surface of the laser irradiation portion and a first side surface of the laser irradiation portion and between the bottom surface and a second side surface of the laser irradiation portion, the bottom surface being in contact with the base insulating film, the first side surface being located at one end of the laser irradiation portion in the widthwise direction, the second side surface being located at another end of the laser irradiation portion in the widthwise direction.
Further, the method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: forming a base insulating film on a semiconductor substrate; forming a fuse layer on the base insulating film; forming, after depositing an insulating layer on the fuse layer, an insulating layer mask on a region of the insulating layer in which a fuse element is to be formed; forming the fuse element, in which a corner portion between a bottom surface of the fuse element and a side surface of the fuse element is chamfered, by dry etching the fuse layer with use of the insulating layer mask as an etching mask; and forming a protective insulating film on the fuse element.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the fuse element has the chamfers formed by chamfering the corner portions between the side surfaces and the bottom surface of the laser irradiation portion. With this configuration, it is possible to relax concentration of stress applied obliquely downward at the time when the fuse element is caused to melt and evaporate even when irradiation energy of a laser is increased in accordance with a thickness of the protective insulating film. Accordingly, the semiconductor device in which cracks are prevented from occurring in the base insulating film and the fuse element can be stably fused can be achieved.
Now, embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the drawings.
As illustrated in
The laser irradiation portion 13 is made of a conductive material which can be cut by irradiation with a laser, for example, polysilicon, high-melting point metal, such as titanium and cobalt, or metal, such as aluminum and copper. In
The contact portions 14 are portions including contact regions 11 in contact with a metal wiring line (not shown), and are made of a conductive material, for example, polysilicon, high-melting point metal, or metal. However, the material of the contact portions 14 does not need to be the same as that of the laser irradiation portion 13. For example, there may be employed a configuration in which the laser irradiation portion 13 is made of polysilicon while the contact portions 14 are formed of silicide layers obtained by silicidation of the polysilicon with high-melting point metal.
Further, as illustrated in
As the base insulating film 2, a LOCOS insulating film or an STI insulating film for element isolation is used when the fuse element 3 is made of polysilicon. Further, when the fuse element 3 is made of metal, a BPSG film and an inter-layer insulating film for isolation between wiring lines are further laminated. However, the configuration of the base insulating film 2 is not limited to the films made of those materials as long as the base insulating film 2 serves as an insulating film.
On the fuse element 3, a protective insulating film 4, which is a silicon oxide film or a silicon nitride film, is formed. The protective insulating film 4 is formed in order to avoid damage to or deterioration of the fuse element 3 due to a direct contact of the fuse element 3 with moisture or a foreign substance. In order to fulfill its role, the protective insulating film 4 is formed of any one of a BPSG film, an inter-layer insulating film, and a passivation film, or a combination thereof. The protective insulating film 4 is not particularly limited to those described above as long as the protective insulating film 4 serves as an insulating film.
As illustrated in
In the first embodiment, the bottom surface and top surface of the laser irradiation portion 13 are parallel to each other, which is similar to the related art.
By the way, the inventor of the present invention has observed the following phenomenon. Specifically, when the protective insulating film 4 has a thickness that is 2.5 times or more of that of the base insulating film 2, a fusing failure of the fuse element 3 is liable to occur. Accordingly, while energy of a laser needs to be increased, in this case, cracks are liable to occur in the base insulating film 2. The inventor of the present invention considers the following as the reason for the occurrence of that phenomenon.
When the laser irradiation portion 13 melts and evaporates by laser irradiation and explodes due to increased vapor pressure, protruded corner portions of the laser irradiation portion 13 are extruded to the outside due to an expansion action at the time when the laser irradiation portion 13 melts and evaporates. Then, stress is concentrated to recessed portions of the insulating film, which are in contact with the protruded corner portions. Accordingly, at the time when the insulating films at the corner portions in four oblique directions in the cross section of the laser irradiation portion 13 are radially extruded, if the protective insulating film 4 is thin, the protective insulating film 4 breaks to scatter along two obliquely upward directions of the protective insulating film 4 having low breaking strength. On the other hand, when the protective insulating film 4 on the laser irradiation portion 13 is thick and hard and the protective insulating film 4 in contact with the corner portions in the two obliquely upward directions of the laser irradiation portion 13 thus breaks less easily, stress is concentrated to the base insulating film 2 in contact with the corner portions in two obliquely downward directions of the laser irradiation portion 13 on its bottom surface side. When the stress exceeds breaking strength of the base insulating film 2, cracks occur in the two obliquely downward directions.
In other words, when the protective insulating film 4 becomes thicker, a permissible lower limit of energy of the laser rises in order to cause the protective insulating film 4 to scatter simultaneously with the melting and evaporating of the fuse element 3, and a permissible upper limit of energy of the laser lowers in order to avoid cracks in the base insulating film 2. As a result, it becomes difficult to stably fuse the fuse element 3.
In the first embodiment, the chamfers are formed by chamfering the corner portions in the two obliquely downward directions along the lengthwise direction of the laser irradiation portion 13 as illustrated in
In the first embodiment, the protective insulating film 4 in contact with the corner portions in the two obliquely upward directions of the laser irradiation portion 13 easily breaks at the time when the laser irradiation portion 13 melts and evaporates. Thus, cracks in the base insulating film 2 can be prevented from occurring in a case in which the protective insulating film 4 is thick. Accordingly, it is possible to provide the semiconductor device in which the fuse element 3 can be stably fused even when the protective insulating film 4 is thick due to multi-layering of metal wiring lines.
Next, a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device according to the first embodiment is described with reference to
First, as illustrated in
Next, a photoresist 9 is applied onto the fuse layer 7, and is processed into an insulating layer mask having a shape of the fuse element 3 with the use of a photolithography technology.
Then, as illustrated in
In general, it is known that, in dry etching with the use of the RIE method, a narrow portion called “notch” is generated at a lower part of a material to be etched when over etching is excessively performed after removing the material to be etched on an insulator and exposing the underlain insulator. It is considered that this phenomenon occurs because, in the over etching, ions in etching species stagnate on the insulator under the material to be etched, and a track of ions radiated later is bent, with the result that etching proceeds to side walls at the lower part of the material which receives the etching.
The first embodiment utilizes this phenomenon, and the corner portions at the lower part of the side surfaces of the fuse element 3 are chamfered by generating notches in the fuse element 3 with the use of positive ions 10 generated during etching.
Then, as illustrated in
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention is described.
In
Similarly to the first embodiment, the stress applied to the corner portions in the two obliquely downward directions on the bottom surface side of the fuse element 3 is relaxed at the time when the laser irradiation portion 13 of the fuse element 3 having the configuration described above melts and evaporates to increase the vapor pressure and explode. In the second embodiment, the corner portions in the two obliquely upward directions on a top surface side of the fuse element 3 are each formed into an acute angle of less than 90 degrees. Thus, at the time when the fuse element 3 melts and evaporates by laser irradiation, the stress is more concentrated at those corner portions in the two obliquely upward directions than in the first embodiment, thereby increasing a breaking effect of the protective insulating film 4 on the top surface. Accordingly, the semiconductor device according to the second embodiment has an advantage of having a higher effect of preventing cracks from occurring in the base insulating film 2 than that of the first embodiment.
Next, a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device according to the second embodiment is described with reference to
First, as illustrated in
Next, as illustrated in
Further, after the photoresist 9 is removed, as illustrated in
In general, in dry etching with the use of the RIE method, both processes of etching and deposition of secondary product generated during etching simultaneously occur. The process of etching dominantly progresses on a surface of the material to be etched, while the process of the deposition of secondary product progresses more dominantly than etching on side walls of the material to be etched due to less irradiation of ions. Thus, the secondary product serves as protection of the side walls, and etching in the vertical direction progresses more than that in the horizontal direction. As a result, an anisotropic shape of the material to be etched tends to be achieved.
One factor contributing to the secondary product protecting the material to be etched from etching in the horizontal direction may be the material of the etching mask. In the second embodiment, the etching mask is changed from a photoresist which tends to generate a carbon-based secondary product to the insulating film being, for example, the silicon oxide film, thereby reducing the effect of the protection of side walls. Thus, etching gradually progresses under the mask insulating film 8 in the direction of the side surfaces of the fuse element 3. As a result, the final cross section of the fuse element 3 has a shape of a reversely tapered trapezoid.
Then, as illustrated in
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention is described.
In
The laser irradiation portion 13 of the fuse element 3 of the third embodiment has the rounded corner portions of the side surfaces located at one short part in the widthwise direction on the bottom surface side. Accordingly, the stress concentration to the corner portions in the two obliquely downward directions can be relaxed at the time when the laser irradiation portion 13 of the fuse element 3 of the third embodiment is irradiated with a laser to melt and evaporate. Further, in the third embodiment, the corner portions of both ends of the top surface of the laser irradiation portion 13 are each formed into an acute angle of less than 90 degrees and are acuter than the corner portions in the two obliquely upward directions on the top surface side of the fuse element 3 of the second embodiment. Thus, at the time when the fuse element 3 melts and evaporates by laser irradiation, stress is more concentrated at the corner portions in the two obliquely upward directions than in the second embodiment, thereby facilitating breakdown of the protective insulating film 4 on the top surface. Accordingly, the semiconductor device according to the third embodiment can achieve a higher effect of preventing cracks from occurring in the base insulating film 2 than that of the first embodiment.
Next, a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device according to the third embodiment is described with reference to
First, as illustrated in
Next, as illustrated in
The fuse element 3 obtained by adopting those steps is formed inside the insulating film recessed portion 12 of the base insulating film 2, which is formed by isotropic etching. In addition, the corner portions in the two obliquely downward directions on the bottom surface side of the fuse element 3 are rounded along inner walls of the insulating film recessed portion 12, while the corner portions in the two obliquely upward directions on the top surface side of the fuse element 3 are formed into the acute angles.
Then, as illustrated in
Each of the embodiments of the present invention described above may also be used in combination thereof in various ways. For example, a fourth embodiment of the present invention obtained by combining the first embodiment and the second embodiment is illustrated in
Further, the configuration described above can be obtained by adopting a manufacturing method, which adopts the mask insulating film 8 as an etching mask for the fuse layer 7 similarly to the second embodiment and involves performing over etching excessively similarly to the first embodiment.
As described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various combinations and modifications can be employed without departing from the gist of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2017-033328 | Feb 2017 | JP | national |