The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-097777 filed on Apr. 26, 2011 including the specification, drawings and abstract is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and relates in particular to a semiconductor device in which the semiconductor chip is mounted over the package substrate.
Semiconductor devices and in particular the field of multifunction semiconductor devices such as SoC (System On a Chip) must provide an ever-increasing number of functions on the internal semiconductor chip. A greater number of semiconductor chip functions require a larger total number of pads for the input and output of signals for those functions. Increasing the number of pads normally necessitates a larger semiconductor chip and semiconductor package size.
Yet at the same time, the manufacturing cost of the semiconductor device must also be reduced. Accomplishing these goals requires technical advances in the semiconductor chip manufacturing process to shrink the size of the semiconductor chip. Achieving these mutually exclusive conditions necessitates miniaturizing the semiconductor chip and package substrate while cutting the cost of the overall semiconductor device.
A semiconductor integrated circuit relating to this technology is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-252363. In the layout of this semiconductor integrated circuit, multiple I/O buffer regions utilized during input and output of signals to and from external sections, and for input from external power supplies are mounted in the periphery of the core region where the desired circuits are formed. A feature of this semiconductor integrated circuit is that at least one power supply pad and ground pad, and a signal pad for inputting and outputting signals to and from external sections are mounted perpendicular to the scribe line over the outer circumference of the chip nearest to the I/O buffer region, and arrayed in rows within the applicable I/O buffer region.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-244293 discloses technology relating to a semiconductor element. Over the main surface of this semiconductor element, multiple signal electrodes utilized for input or output of signals are arrayed along the sides of the main surface. A feature of this semiconductor element is that power supply or ground electrodes are arrayed at a length longer than the applicable signal electrodes between the signal electrodes and the sides of the main surface.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-133470 discloses technology relating to a package. The package is comprised of a substrate and a semiconductor chip. The substrate includes an upper surface over which are mounted a ground ring, a power ring, and a conductive trace. The semiconductor chip mounted over the upper surface includes multiple bonding pads along the periphery. These bonding pads include innermost bonding pads, inner row bonding pads, outer row bonding pads, and outermost row bonding pads arrayed in at least four rows. The innermost row bonding pads and inner row bonding pads are comprised of signal pads. The outer row bonding pads and outermost row bonding pads are comprised of power pads and ground pads.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-311379 discloses technology relating to a semiconductor device. In this semiconductor device, semiconductor elements are mounted over the package, and wire bonding couples the semiconductor elements to the package. In this semiconductor device, reference voltage pads are mounted over the inner side of the signal pads over the upper surface of the semiconductor elements. In this semiconductor device, reference voltage pads are mounted over the outer side of the signal pads over the upper surface of the package. In this semiconductor device, bonding wires at reference voltage potential coupling the reference voltage pads on the semiconductor elements to the reference voltage pads of the package are mounted above the signal bonding wires coupling the signal pads of the package to the signal pads over the semiconductor element.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-004528 discloses technology relating to a semiconductor device. This semiconductor device includes a semiconductor chip and a mounting substrate. The semiconductor chip is a chip having multiple electrode pads functioning as the signal pads and power supply pads. The mounting substrate includes the semiconductor chip mounted over the surface, along with multiple stitches electrically coupled to electrode pads by conductive wires. In this semiconductor device, the mounting substrate includes multiple mounting electrodes comprised of signal electrodes and power supply electrodes arrayed along the rear side, and each mounting electrode is respectively electrically coupled to a stitch by way of internal wiring. The electrode pads are comprised of inner pads arranged over the inner side along the periphery of the semiconductor chip, and outer pads arrayed over that external side. This semiconductor device includes sub-electrode pads over the inner region of the electrode pads that are configured as power supply pads among the inner pads.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-010492 discloses technology relating to a semiconductor device. This semiconductor device is comprised of a semiconductor substrate, a mounting substrate, multiple pads, multiple wires, and multiple wire bonding parts. Here, a circuit is formed over the semiconductor substrate. The mounting substrate is coupled to the rear side of the semiconductor substrate. The pads are electrically coupled to the circuit corresponding to the signal, the power supply voltage, and the reference voltage, and are arrayed linearly perpendicular to the rim edge nearest within the main surface of the semiconductor substrate. The wires is coupled at one end to the pads. The wire bonding parts formed over the mounting substrate is coupled at the other ends of the wires. The signal pads for input and output of signals are mounted over the side farthest from the edge within the pad row where the pads are linearly arrayed. Among the wire bonding parts, the signal wire bonding parts for input and output of signals are installed at positions over the mounting substrate farther from the semiconductor substrate than the other wire bonding parts.
A ground ring terminal 130 is mounted over the ring-shaped region at the innermost circumference enclosing the semiconductor chip 110 on the package substrate 112. A power supply ring-shaped terminal 140 is mounted over the ring-shaped region adjacent to the outer side of the ground ring-shaped terminal 130. A signal terminal 160 is mounted in the outer side of the power supply ring-shaped terminal 140.
Each type of pads 120 is grouped into at least quadruple ring-shaped regions over the semiconductor chip 110. A ground pad 121 is arrayed here over in the ring-shaped region at the outermost circumference. A power supply pad 122 is arrayed over the ring-shaped region at the outer circumference adjacent to the inner side of the outermost circumference. Signal pads 123 and 124 are respectively mounted over the ring-shaped region of the inner circumference adjacent to the inner side of the ring-shaped region of the outer circumference, and the ring-shaped region at the innermost circumference adjacent to the inner side of the ring-shaped region of the outer circumference.
A first bonding wire 121a couples the ground pad 121 to the ground ring-shaped terminal 130. A second bonding wire 122a couples the power supply pad 122 to the power supply ring-shaped terminal 140. A third bonding wire 123a couples the signal pad 123 in the inner circumferential ring-shaped region to the signal ring-shaped terminal 160. A fourth bonding wire 124a couples the signal pad 124 in the innermost circumferential ring-shaped region to the signal ring-shaped terminal 160.
In a semiconductor device of the related art shown in
However, the overall semiconductor device utilizing the technology of the related art shown in
The method for resolving the problems of the related art is hereinafter described while utilizing the reference numerals used in the embodiments (Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments). These reference numerals were added to clarify the interrelation between the description (What is claimed is) and the embodiments (Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments). However these reference numerals must not be utilized to interpret the technical range of the invention as described in the claims (What is claimed is).
According to one aspect of the present invention, the semiconductor device includes a semiconductor chip (10) and a package substrate (20). The semiconductor chip (10) is here comprised of power supply pads (11), ground pads (12), and signal pads (13-15). The package substrate (20) contains the semiconductor chip (10). The package substrate (20) is comprised of a first terminal group (21, 22) and a second terminal group (23-25). The first terminal group (21, 22) is arrayed in a ring-shaped region at the innermost circumference along the periphery of the semiconductor chip (10). The second terminal group (23-25) is arrayed over the periphery of the semiconductor chip (10), and further over the outer side of the innermost circumference of the ring-shaped region. The first terminal group (21, 22) is comprised of a power supply terminal group (21), and a ground terminal group (22). Here, the power supply group (21) is coupled by way of the bonding wires to the power supply pads (11). The ground terminal group (22) is coupled by way of the bonding wires to the ground pads (12). The second terminal group (23-25) is comprised of a signal terminal group (23-25) coupled by way of the bonding wires to the signal pads (13-15).
According to the aspects of the present invention, in the semiconductor device, the power supply and ground terminals at the periphery of the semiconductor chip over the package substrate can be mounted in one row portion of ring space. The technology of the related art requires a two-row portion of ring space so that the semiconductor device can be reduced in size by an equivalent amount, the overall length of the bonding wires can be shortened, and therefore a lower cost can be achieved.
The embodiments for implementing the semiconductor device of the present invention are described next while referring to the drawings.
The coupling relation of the structural elements in the semiconductor device in
The power supply pad 11 and the ground pad 12 are mounted at the outermost circumference of the ring-shaped region over the semiconductor chip 10. The power supply terminal 21 and the ground terminal 22 are mounted at the innermost circumference of the ring-shaped region over the package substrate 20.
The power supply pad 11 is coupled by way of the bonding wire 30 to the power supply terminal 21 over the package substrate 20. Multiple power supply pads 11 may here be jointly coupled to the same power supply terminal 21. The power supply terminal 21 jointly coupled in this way to multiple power supply pads 11 are here called the joint power supply terminals 21 to distinguish them from the power supply terminal 21 coupled in a one-to-one relation to a single power supply pad 11. The reason for jointly coupling multiple power supply pads 11 by way of one joint power supply terminal 21 amounts to nothing more than for each bonding wire to convey a signal of the same electrical potential; and also because there is no need to deal with noise problems due to crosstalk, even if the respective gaps between wires are close to each other compared to the bonding wire for normal signals.
The ground pad 12 is coupled by way of the bonding wire 30 to the ground terminal 22 over the package substrate 20. Multiple ground pads 12 may here be jointly coupled to the same ground terminal 22. The power terminals 22 jointly coupled to the ground pads 12 are here called joint ground terminals 22 to distinguish them from the ground terminals 22 coupled in a one-to-one relation to a single ground pad 12.
A portion of the signal pads 13 are formed in the ring-shaped region adjacent to the inner side of the outermost circumferential ring-shaped region over the semiconductor chip 10. Other signal pads 14 are mounted in the ring-shaped region at the innermost circumference over the semiconductor chip 10. A portion of the signal terminals 23 are mounted in the ring-shaped region adjacent to the outer side of the ring-shaped region at the innermost circumference over the package substrate 20. Other signal terminals 24 are mounted in the ring-shaped region at the outermost circumference of the package substrate 20. The signal pads 13 are coupled by way of the bonding wire 30 to the signal terminal 23 of the package substrate 20. The signal pads 14 are coupled by way of the bonding wire 30 to the signal terminal 24 of package substrate 20. The reason for jointly coupling multiple ground pads 12 to one joint ground terminal 22 amounts to nothing more than for each bonding wire to convey a signal of the same electrical potential; and also because there is no need to deal with noise problems due to crosstalk, even if the respective gaps between wires are close to each other compared to the bonding wire for normal signals.
The joint power terminals 21, joint ground terminals 22 and the signal terminals 23, 24 over the package substrate 20 are coupled by way of contact holes and conductive layers to the BGA27 the same as in ordinary cases and there are no particular specifications here otherwise.
The total number of pads 11-14, the total number of terminals 21-24, the total number of ring-shaped region and the total number of ring-shaped regions over the package substrate given here are at most merely examples and do not limit the present invention.
In one ideal example of the present embodiment, the size of the joint power supply terminal 21 along the arrayed direction is made some several times longer than the length of the signal terminals 23 in order that multiple power supply pads 11 can be jointly coupled to one joint power supply terminal 21. The size of the joint ground terminal 22 along the array direction is in the same way made several times longer than the length of the signal terminals 23, in order that multiple ground pads 12 can be jointly coupled to one joint ground terminal 22. This placement allows eliminating the gap that would ordinarily be provided between the adjacent terminals 21-24, and also leads to further downsizing of the semiconductor device. Stated in more general terms, the surface area of each of the joint power supply terminals 21 subjected to bonding by the bonding wire is larger than the bonding surface area at each of the signal terminals 23. In the same way, the surface area of each joint ground terminal 22 bonded by the bonding wire has a bonding wire surface area that is larger than the bonding surface area over each signal terminal 23 bonded by the bonding wire.
The power supply terminals 21 and the ground terminals 22 moreover are mounted alternately along the ring-shaped region at the innermost circumference over the package substrate 20. This placement reduces the offset of the power supply terminals 21 and the ground terminals 22 mounted along the periphery of the semiconductor chip 10, and increases the degree of freedom for internal circuit design within the semiconductor chip 10.
By combining all of these measures, the power supply pad 11 over the semiconductor chip 10 are clustered together by coupling them to the same power supply terminal 21. The ground pads 12 over the semiconductor chip 10 are in the same way clustered together by coupling them to the same ground terminal 22.
The pads 11, 12, and 13 over the semiconductor chip 10 are preferably arrayed offset in every other ring-shaped region so as to achieve an overall so-called staggered (zigzag) layout. Making this placement allows easily avoiding contact and electrical shorts between the bonding wires 30.
A first difference between
A second difference between
Upon comparing
The pitch of the signal terminals over the package substrate in the vertical direction here is set to L1. Compared to the related art technology, the size of the package substrate in the present embodiment can be reduced by the length L1 on each of the four sides so that even just this reduction serves to lower the cost.
Further, the pitch of the signal pads over the semiconductor chip in the vertical direction is set to L2. Compared to the related art technology, the size of the semiconductor chip can be reduced by the length L2 on each of the four sides, so that even just this reduction serves to lower the cost.
In the semiconductor device of the related art shown in
In the semiconductor device of the present embodiment shown in
The present embodiment is capable of reducing the length and the total number of the required bonding wires so that even just this reduction serves to lower the cost.
In the related art technology shown in
So even with the same total number of multiple ring-shaped regions, the present embodiment is capable of reducing the size of the semiconductor device and can therefore be rendered at a lower cost.
Adding these changes makes the surface area occupied by the power supply terminal 21 and the ground terminal 22 over the package substrate 20 somewhat larger than the first embodiment of the present invention. However this change provides a further degree of freedom in placement of the power supply terminal 21 and the ground terminal 22 over the package substrate 20. Consequently, a further degree of freedom is obtained in the same way for the power supply pad 11 and the ground pad 12 over the semiconductor chip 10, and the design of the overall circuitry for the semiconductor chip 10 becomes easier.
In
The power supply pads 11 and the ground pads 12 over the semiconductor device of the present invention are basically clustered in the outermost circumferential ring-shaped region over the semiconductor chip. However, there are no prohibitions on making an exceptional placement of a portion of the signal pads 13 in the outermost circumferential ring-shaped region over the semiconductor chip. The power supply terminal 21 and the ground terminal 22 in the semiconductor device of the present invention can in the same way basically be clustered in the innermost circumferential ring-shaped region over the package substrate. However, there is no prohibition on making the exceptional placement of a portion of the signal terminals 23 in the outermost circumferential ring-shaped over the package substrate.
In the case in
In the semiconductor device of the present embodiment, the power supply pads 11 and the ground pads 12 are basically clustered in the outermost circumferential ring-shaped region over the semiconductor chip 10. However, the exceptional placement of a portion of the ground pads 12 in areas other than the outermost circumferential ring-shaped region over the semiconductor chip 10 is not prohibited. The power supply terminals 21 and the ground terminals 22 in the semiconductor device of the present invention are basically clustered in the innermost circumferential ring-shaped region over the package substrate 20. However, the exceptional placement of a portion of the ground terminals 22 in other than the innermost circumferential ring-shaped region over the package substrate 20 is not prohibited.
The bonding wire 30 coupling the ground terminal 22 and the ground pad 12 in the exceptional placement in
In the case of
In the above description, various types of the terminals 11-15 and various types of the pads 21-25 formed in the ring-shaped region were arrayed linearly at each side of the semiconductor device, however this placement is at most only an example and a curved array for example can be utilized.
The configurations in these embodiments can be freely combined within a range that is not technically contradictory. In the semiconductor device of the present invention, the single power terminals 21, the joint power supply terminals 21, the single ground terminals, the joint ground terminals and the signal terminals 23 may for example be mixed together in the innermost circumferential rig-shaped region enclosing the mounted semiconductor chip 10 over the package substrate 20.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2011-097777 | Apr 2011 | JP | national |