Claims
- 1. A method for segregating an integrated circuitry chip from a wafer, the method comprising:circumscribing the integrated circuitry chip with at least one recess, said at least one recess having a particular depth extending into the wafer from a front side of the wafer; and etching bulk wafer material from a back side of the wafer to achieve a particular thickness of the wafer, said thickness of the wafer being at most equal to said particular depth; wherein said etching step comprises use of a magnetic mirror plasma chamber which is controlled using a magnetic mirror field and an orthogonally rotating electric field.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of etching bulk wafer material comprises etching at atmospheric pressure.
- 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said particular depth is at most equal to a depth of at least one integrated circuitry feature.
- 4. The method of claim 3 wherein said at least one integrated circuitry feature is a via.
- 5. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising the step of:forming a recess extending from the front side of the wafer, the recess having a depth at least equal to said particular depth.
- 6. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising the step of removing through mechanical grinding a portion of the bulk wafer material from the back side of the wafer.
- 7. A system for segregating an integrated circuitry chip from a wafer, the system comprising:means for circumscribing the integrated circuitry chip with at least one recess on a front side of the wafer, said at least one recess having a particular depth; and etching means for removing bulk wafer material from a back side of the wafer to achieve a particular thickness of the wafer, said thickness of the wafer being at most equal to said particular depth; wherein said etching means comprises a magnetic mirror plasma chamber which is controlled using a magnetic mirror field and an orthogonally rotating electric field.
- 8. The system of claim 7 wherein said etching means comprises an atmospheric plasma etcher.
- 9. The system of claim 7 wherein said particular depth is at most equal to a depth of at least one integrated circuitry feature.
- 10. The system of claim 7, further comprising means for laminating said front side of the wafer.
- 11. The system of claim 7, further comprising means for transferring the integrated circuitry chip.
- 12. The system of claim 7, the system further comprising etching means for removing a residue material from said back side of the wafer.
- 13. The system of claim 7, the system further comprising means for forming a recess extending from the front side of the wafer, the recess having a depth at least equal to said particular depth.
- 14. The System of claim 7 wherein said plasma chamber is constructed of essentially non-ferrous materials.
- 15. A method for segregating an integrated circuitry chip from a wafer and exposing at least one integrated circuitry feature, the at least one integrated circuitry feature having a depth extending from a front side of the wafer, the method comprising:circumscribing the integrated circuitry chip with at least one recess on the front side of the wafer, said at least one recess having a particular depth; and etching bulk wafer material from a back side of the wafer to achieve a particular thickness of the wafer, said thickness of the wafer being at most equal to one integrated circuitry feature and at most equal to said particular depth; wherein said etching step comprises use of a magnetic mirror plasma chamber which is controlled using a magnetic mirror field and an orthogonally rotating electric field.
- 16. The method of claim 15 wherein said step of etching bulk wafer material comprises the step of etching at atmospheric pressure.
- 17. The method of claim 15 wherein said step of etching bulk wafer material comprises the step of etching with a plasma at atmospheric pressure.
- 18. The method of claim 15,wherein the magnetic mirror plasma chamber is constructed of essentially non-ferrous materials.
- 19. The method of claim 15,wherein the magnetic mirror plasma chamber is constructed of essentially non-ferrous materials, and wherein the plasma ions are created remote to the plasma chamber.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/133,296 (now abandoned) filed on Apr. 26, 2002 and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/336, 786, filed on Oct. 26, 2001 and entitled “Wafer Thinning Process”, and which is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60/336786 |
Oct 2001 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10/133296 |
Apr 2002 |
US |
Child |
10/390977 |
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US |