This U.S. non-provisional patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2012-0012926, filed on Feb. 8, 2012, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Inventive concepts relate to semiconductor packages and methods of manufacturing the same and, more particularly, to semiconductor packages including a plurality of semiconductor chips vertically stacked, and methods of manufacturing the same.
As electronic devices become more highly integrated and include ever-increasing functionality, improved techniques for mounting a plurality of semiconductor chips within the same, common, package are required. In an approach for improving integration, a multi-stack semiconductor package can be employed. Such multi-stacked semiconductor packages include semiconductor chips that are stacked in a vertical direction on a common package board or substrate. This configuration offers many challenges, including the tight design constraints placed on bonding wires and bonding bumps employed to electrically connect the stacked semiconductor chips to the semiconductor board.
Inventive concepts relate to semiconductor packages and methods of manufacturing the same.
In embodiments of inventive concepts, a semiconductor package comprises: a board including a board pad; a plurality of semiconductor chips mounted on the board, the semiconductor chips including chip pads, respectively; bumps disposed on the chip pads, respectively; and a wire disposed between the chip pads and the bumps, the wire electrically connecting the chip pads of the plurality of semiconductor chips and the board pad of the board to each other.
In some embodiments, the chip pads are disposed on edges of upper surfaces of the semiconductor chips, respectively; and an nth semiconductor chip positioned above a n−1th semiconductor chip is positioned at a side of a n−1th chip pad of the n−1th semiconductor chip for exposing the n−1th chip pad.
In some embodiments, the wire comprises: valley-portions corresponding to points of contact between the wire and the chip pads, respectively; and ridge-portions corresponding to portions of the wire between the points of contact, the ridge portions spaced apart from sidewalls of the semiconductor chips, respectively.
In some embodiments, the wire is disposed on the chip pad and crosses a central region of an upper surface of the chip pad; and the bump is disposed on the wire.
In some embodiments, the wire electrically connecting the chip pads and the board pad to each other is a unitary body.
In some embodiments, the wire is spaced apart from, and avoids contact with, sidewalls of the semiconductor chips.
In some embodiments, the semiconductor package further comprises: an uppermost semiconductor chip on the semiconductor chips and including a chip pad; and an uppermost bump on the chip pad of the uppermost semiconductor chip, wherein the wire is connected to a top end portion of the uppermost bump.
In some embodiments, the semiconductor package further comprises: a board bump on the board pad and electrically connected to the wire.
In embodiments of inventive concepts, a method of manufacturing a semiconductor package, comprises: providing a plurality of semiconductor chips on which chip pads are respectively formed; vertically stacking the plurality of semiconductor chips on a board including a board pad so as to expose the chip pads; providing an uppermost bump on the chip pad of an uppermost semiconductor chip of the semiconductor chips; providing a unitary wire connecting the uppermost bump to the board pad; and providing bumps on the chip pads of the stacked semiconductor chips under the uppermost semiconductor chip, respectively, the bumps adhering the wire to the chip pads, and the bumps electrically connected to the chip pads, respectively.
In some embodiments, forming the wire comprises: extending a wire from the uppermost bump to form ridge-portions and valley portions of the wire, the ridge portions of the wire corresponding to sidewalls of the semiconductor chips, the ridge portions spaced apart from the sidewalls, and the valley-portions of the wire corresponding to points of contact between wire and the chip pads of the semiconductor chips.
In some embodiments, the valley-portions of the wire are not in direct contact with the chip pads.
In some embodiments, the wire is electrically adhered to the board pad.
In some embodiments, the method further comprises: forming a board bump on a portion of the wire adhered to the board pad.
In embodiments of inventive concepts, a semiconductor package comprises: a substrate including at least one substrate pad; a plurality of semiconductor chips stacked on one another and on the substrate, each of the semiconductor chips including at least one chip pad, the semiconductor chips being positioned relative to one another so that their respective chip pads are exposed; and a wire electrically connecting at least one of the chip pads of the respective plurality of semiconductor chips with at least one of the substrate pads of the substrate, wherein the wire includes a plurality of valley portions corresponding to points of contact between the wire and the chip pads, respectively and ridge-portions corresponding to portions of the wire between the points of contact, the ridge portions spaced apart from sidewalls of the plurality of respective semiconductor chips.
In some embodiments, the wire is unitary.
In some embodiments, the semiconductor package further comprises a plurality of conductive bumps electrically connecting the wire to the at least one of the chip pads of the respective plurality of semiconductor chips.
In some embodiments, the semiconductor package further comprises a conductive bump electrically connecting the wire to the at least one of the substrate pads of the substrate.
In some embodiments, the ridge portions are positioned to avoid contact between the wire and sidewalls of the semiconductor chips.
In some embodiments, the plurality of semiconductor chips are shifted in horizontal position with respect to each other.
In some embodiments, the at least one substrate pad is positioned on an upper surface of the substrate, and wherein the at least one chip pad is positioned on an upper surface of the corresponding semiconductor chip.
The inventive concepts will become more apparent in view of the attached drawings and accompanying detailed description.
The inventive concepts will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the inventive concept are shown. The advantages and features of the inventive concepts and methods of achieving them will be apparent from the following exemplary embodiments that will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted, however, that the inventive concepts are not limited to the following exemplary embodiments, and may be implemented in various forms. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments are provided only to disclose the inventive concepts and let those skilled in the art know the category of the inventive concept. In the drawings, embodiments of the inventive concepts are not limited to the specific examples provided herein and are exaggerated for clarity.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit. As used herein, the singular terms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it may be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present.
Similarly, it will be understood that when an element such as a layer, region or substrate is referred to as being “on” another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, the term “directly” means that there are no intervening elements. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising,”, “includes” and/or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Additionally, the embodiment in the detailed description will be described with sectional views as ideal exemplary views of the inventive concepts. Accordingly, shapes of the exemplary views may be modified according to manufacturing techniques and/or allowable errors. Therefore, the embodiments of the inventive concepts are not limited to the specific shape illustrated in the exemplary views, but may include other shapes that may be created according to manufacturing processes. Areas exemplified in the drawings have general properties, and are used to illustrate specific shapes of elements. Thus, this should not be construed as limited to the scope of the inventive concepts.
It will be also understood that although the terms first, second, third etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. Thus, a first element in some embodiments could be termed a second element in other embodiments without departing from the teachings of the present inventive concepts. Exemplary embodiments of aspects of the present inventive concepts explained and illustrated herein include their complementary counterparts. The same reference numerals or the same reference designators denote the same elements throughout the specification.
Moreover, exemplary embodiments are described herein with reference to cross-sectional illustrations and/or plane illustrations that are idealized exemplary illustrations. Accordingly, variations from the shapes of the illustrations as a result, for example, of manufacturing techniques and/or tolerances, are to be expected. Thus, exemplary embodiments should not be construed as limited to the shapes of regions illustrated herein but are to include deviations in shapes that result, for example, from manufacturing. For example, an etching region illustrated as a rectangle will, typically, have rounded or curved features. Thus, the regions illustrated in the figures are schematic in nature and their shapes are not intended to illustrate the actual shape of a region of a device and are not intended to limit the scope of example embodiments.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the inventive concepts will be described with reference to the drawings.
Referring to
In some embodiments, the board 100 may comprise a printed circuit board or other type of base or substrate suitable for supporting the vertically stacked semiconductor chips 110, 120, 130, 140. In some embodiments, one or more interconnects, or board pads 102, may be disposed on an edge or outer region of the board 100. In some embodiments, a plurality of such board pads 102 may be provided. The one or more board pads 102 may each comprise a conductive material such as lead (Pb), or other suitable conductive material.
For the purpose of ease and convenience in explanation, a stack of four semiconductor chips 110, 120, 130, and 140 will be described as an example hereinafter. A first semiconductor chip 110, a second semiconductor chip 120, a third semiconductor chip 130, and a fourth semiconductor chip 140 may be sequentially stacked on the board 100. However, the inventive concepts are not limited to the number of the semiconductor chips, and fewer than four, or more than four, such semiconductor chips may be employed in the stack.
In some embodiments, of the first to fourth semiconductor chips 110, 120, 130, and 140 may be smaller in size, for example, smaller in horizontal surface area than that of the board 100. Additionally, in some embodiments, the first to fourth semiconductor chips 110, 120, 130, and 140 may be of the same kind or type. However, embodiments of the present inventive concepts are not limited thereto, and semiconductor chips of larger horizontal surface area and chips of different kinds or types can be employed.
First to fourth chip pads 114, 124, 134, and 144 may be disposed on the first to fourth semiconductor chips 110, 120, 130, and 140, respectively. The first to fourth chip pads 114, 124, 134, and 144 may be disposed on edges of the first to fourth semiconductor chips 110, 120, 130, and 140, respectively. Each of the first to fourth chip pads 114, 124, 134, and 144 may be provided in plural. The first to fourth chip pads 114, 124, 134, and 144 may include a conductive material such as aluminum (Al).
The first semiconductor chip 110 may be disposed on the board 100 at a side of the board pad 102 in such a manner or position so as to expose the board pad 102. That is, the first semiconductor chip 110 may be stacked relative to the board pad 102 so as to be shifted toward another edge of the board 100, for exposing the board pad 102. As illustrated in the drawings, the board pad 102 may be disposed on a right edge region of the board 100 and the first semiconductor chip 110 may be shifted in position toward a left edge of the board 100 for exposing the board pad 102.
A first adhesive film 112 may be applied or positioned between the board 100 and the first semiconductor chip 110, so that the first semiconductor chip 110 may thereby be adhered to the board 100. As illustrated in the drawings, the first chip pad 114 may be disposed on a surface of the first semiconductor chip 110 that is different than a surface of the first semiconductor chip 110 on which the first adhesive film is disposed. For example, the first chip pad 114 may be disposed on a top surface of the first semiconductor chip 110 and the first adhesive film 112 may be disposed on, or otherwise interface with, a bottom surface of the first semiconductor chip 110.
The second to fourth semiconductor chips 120, 130, and 140 may similarly be disposed on the respective, underlying, first to third semiconductor chips 110, 120, and 130 for exposing the first to third chip pads 114, 124, and 134, respectively. That is, the second to fourth semiconductor chips 120, 130, and 140 may similarly be shifted in position toward another edge of the board 100. Thus, in some embodiments, the first to fourth semiconductor chips 110, 120, 130, and 140 may have a stepped structure and may be mounted on the board 100 as illustrated in the drawings.
In some embodiments, the first and second semiconductor chips 110 and 120 may similarly be adhered to each other by a second adhesive film 122 positioned therebetween, the second and third semiconductor chips 120 and 130 may be adhered to each other by a third adhesive film 132 positioned therebetween, and the third and fourth semiconductor chips 130 and 140 may be adhered to each other by a fourth adhesive film 142 positioned therebetween. In some embodiments, the first to fourth adhesive films 112, 122, 132, and 142 may comprise die attach films (DAF) generally used in contemporary package techniques; however, other suitable bonding methods may equally apply.
Referring to
In some embodiments, the first to fourth bumps 152, 154, 156, and 158 may have horizontal cross-sectional areas that are smaller than horizontal areas of the first to fourth chip pads 114, 124, 134, and 144, respectively. For example, as illustrated in
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According to an embodiment illustrated in
According to embodiments illustrated in
The wire 170 may include a plurality of ridge-portions R and a plurality of valley-portions T. The valley-portions T may correspond to connecting portions of the wire 170 that are disposed between the chip pads 114, 124, 134, and 144 and the bumps 152, 154, 156, and 158, respectively. The ridge-portions R may correspond to portions of the wire 170 that are adjacent to sidewalls of the semiconductor chips 110, 120, 130, and 140, respectively. The plurality of ridge-portions R may suppress or prevent contact of the wire 170 and the sidewalls of the semiconductor chips 110, 120, 130, and 140. In some embodiments, the geometries of the ridge-portions R are configured to prevent such contact. Since conductive patterns may be exposed at the sidewalls of the semiconductor chips 110, 120, 130, and 140 without the presence of intervening insulation during a cutting process used for separating the semiconductor chips 110, 120, 130, and 140 from a wafer, the sidewall of each of the semiconductor chips 110, 120, 130, and 140 can be physically separated from the wire 170, so s to avoid contact therewith.
Referring to
[Method of Manufacturing Semiconductor Package]
Hereinafter, for the purpose of ease and convenience in explanation, the same elements as described above will be indicated by the same reference numerals or the same reference designators.
Referring to
A fourth bump 158 may be formed on the fourth chip pad 144 corresponding to the uppermost chip pad by a capillary 200. The capillary 200 may include a body 202, a hole (not shown) penetrating the body 202, and a nozzle NZ connected to the hole. A wire 170 may be provided through the hole, and the nozzle NZ may widen at an end portion thereof.
Formation of the fourth bump 158 will now be briefly described. First, a free air ball (FAB) may be formed at the end portion of the nozzle NZ of the capillary 200. A wire 204 positioned in the capillary 200 may be exposed at the end portion of the nozzle NZ and then a high-voltage may be applied to the end portion of the capillary 200 to melt the exposed wire 204. Thus, in this manner, the free air ball FAB may be formed. The free air ball FAB may be bonded to the fourth chip pad 144, thereby forming the fourth bump 158.
Referring to
In more detail, the capillary 200 may be moved in position from the fourth bump 148 in a vertical direction and in a horizontal direction, so that the wire 170 may be formed to include a plurality of ridge-portions R and a plurality of valley-portions T with a predetermined angle therebetween. The predetermined angle may be varied several times while the wire 170 is formed from the fourth bump 158 to the board pad 102.
Forming the wire 170 from the fourth bump 158 to the valley-portion T corresponding to the third chip pad 134 will be described as an example. The capillary 200 may be moved from the fourth bump 158 to form the ridge-portion R of the wire 170 adjacent to a sidewall of the fourth semiconductor chip 140 and to form the valley-portion T of the wire 170 adjacent to the third chip pad 134. In some embodiments, the valley-portion T of the wire 170 may be formed on a center of the third chip pad 134 when observed in a plan view.
As illustrated in
Meanwhile, as illustrated in
Similarly to the process forming the valley-portion T of the wire 170 of the third chip pad 134 from the fourth bump 158, the wire 170 may be made to extend to be connected from the fourth bump 158 to the board 102 via the third, second, and first chip pads 134, 124, and 114. Referring to
According to some embodiments of the inventive concepts, an apparatus capable of changing the angle of the wire 170 may be utilized for forming the wire 170 that connects the uppermost semiconductor chip 140 of the semiconductor chips 110, 120, 130, and 140 and for causing the wire to have the plurality of ridge-portions R and the plurality of valley-portions T. For example, the apparatus may comprise ICONN apparatus of Kulicke & Soffa Pte Ltd of the USA and/or UTC-3000 apparatus of Sinkawa Co. of Japan. The wire 170 may be formed in the ICONN apparatus by applying PS advanced loop mode. The wire 170 may be formed in the UTC-3000 apparatus by applying ICP multi loop mode. These apparatus are described as example apparatus that may be utilized by the systems and methods of the present inventive concepts. However, the inventive concepts are not limited to use of the above apparatus.
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As described herein with reference to
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When the memory device 310 applied to the memory card 300 includes the semiconductor package according to embodiments of the inventive concept, it is possible to suppress the damage of the semiconductor chips, and reliability of the resulting memory card is thus improved.
Referring to
According to embodiments of the inventive concept, after the wire is formed to be adjacent to the chip pads and to be spaced apart from the semiconductor and is formed from the uppermost chip pad to the board, the wire may be adhered to the chip pads during the formation of the bumps. Thus, it is possible to reduce the amount of physical pressure and energy applied to the chip pads. As a result, even though the relative thicknesses of the semiconductor chips is made to decrease, it is possible to minimize or prevent damage to the chip pads and reliability of the resulting devices can thereby be increased.
While the inventive concepts have been described with reference to example embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventive concepts. Therefore, it should be understood that the above embodiments are not limiting, but illustrative. Thus, the scope of the inventive concepts is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing description.
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