Active solid-state devices (e.g. – transistors – solid-state diode – Combined with electrical contact or lead – Ball or nail head type contact – lead – or bond
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-30
2003-09-09
Clark, Sheila V. (Department: 2815)
Active solid-state devices (e.g., transistors, solid-state diode
Combined with electrical contact or lead
Ball or nail head type contact, lead, or bond
C257S765000, C257S758000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06617697
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to an assembly provided with a component and a substrate, said component comprising a first connecting structure and said substrate comprising a second connecting structure, and with an intermediate layer arranged between the component and the substrate.
Gold bumps in combination with a so-called ACF (Anisotropic Conductive Film) material may be used for fastening and electrical contacting of a chip with an integrated circuit on a substrate. For this purpose, the gold bumps on the chip are aligned with contact regions on the substrate and electrically connected thereto by means of ACF materials.
In the present state of the art of semiconductor manufacturing technology, the manufacture of the chip or the wafer and the manufacture of the gold bumps are spatially separated from one another. The reason for this is the incompatibility of the two processes. The gold bumps are created by gold-plating of the chip surface and subsequent lithographic structuring. As a noble metal, however, gold may readily contaminate portions of the equipment used for manufacturing the wafer, which would have dramatic consequences for the manufacturing output and performance of the wafer.
The spatial separation of the two manufacturing processes leads to a higher cost, for example because complicated logistics are necessary, several clean rooms are to be made available, and the lead times in the factories are longer.
Efforts to manufacture bumps from materials other than noble metals usually failed in that the bumps were not compatible with the Al pads on the chips which serve as supply contacts for the circuits on the chips. Thus, for example, neither Pt nor Pd can be contacted with the Al pads of a chip without brittle alloys of the two metals being formed. These brittle alloys degrade the electrical contact.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,449 describes a bump of Pd, Pt, or Ni. Two intermediate layers are provided between the bump and the Al pad. The first intermediate layer is an adhesion layer of tungsten or an alloy of tungsten, while the second intermediate layer comprises tungsten and a metal chosen from the group of Pd, Pt, Ni with a concentration gradient.
It is disadvantageous that two additional layers must be provided in this structure and that the second intermediate layer must have a concentration gradient, which clearly complicates the deposition and renders the manufacturing process more expensive.
It is an object of the present invention to counteract the disadvantages of the prior art and to provide an assembly with a component and a substrate which can be manufactured inexpensively.
This object is achieved by means of an assembly provided with a component and with a substrate, said component comprising a first connecting structure and said substrate comprising a second connecting structure, and with an intermediate layer arranged between the component and the substrate, wherein the first connecting structure of the component comprises aluminum.
The use of aluminum as a material for the first connecting structure renders the manufacture of the component simpler and less expensive, because only one layer is to be provided.
It is preferred that the component is a chip with an integrated circuit which comprises an upper metal layer.
The use of aluminum as the material for the first connecting structure (the so-called bumps) renders it possible for the latter to be manufactured in the same factory as the chip with the integrated circuit. This does away with the transport cost, and the logistics are simplified.
In addition, connecting structures comprising aluminum can be manufactured by means of sputtering and known photolithographic processes. These processes are less expensive and much less complicated than the process (electroplating) for manufacturing connecting structures comprising gold. Furthermore, the distances between the connecting structures may be made smaller by means of these processes. This is advantageous for the fastening of integrated circuits, which are becoming ever more complicated.
In addition, the sputtered connecting structures comprising aluminum have a uniform layer thickness, and fluctuations in the layer thickness of the first connecting structures merely lie in the nm range.
It is particularly strongly preferred that the first connecting structure of the component is directly connected to the upper metal layer of the integrated circuit.
No layers need be provided between the upper metal layer of the integrated circuit, the Al pads, and the first connecting structure of the component thanks to the use of aluminum in the connecting structure of the component. The contact may be achieved, for example, simply via a hole in the protective layer of the chip with the integrated circuit. The hole is filled with aluminum during the manufacture of the first connecting structure.
It is preferred that the intermediate layer comprises an ACF (Anisotropic Conductive Film) material.
A compact, coherent connection between the component and the substrate is obtained by means of an ACF material, which comprises a synthetic resin with conductive particles. The use of first connecting structures comprising aluminum on the component, which structures can be manufactured with a small fluctuation in the layer thickness, renders it possible for the conductive particles of the ACF material to have a small particle diameter. The density of conductive particles within the ACF material can be increased as a result of this. This leads to a low contact resistance between the component and the substrate.
It may be preferred that the intermediate layer comprises a polymeric material.
The intermediate layer may comprise a polymeric material for the purpose of manufacturing also a compact, coherent structure between the component and the substrate. In this embodiment, the electrical contacting between the first connecting structure and the second connecting structure takes place by means of thermocompression bonding. In this case, the first connecting structures comprising aluminum of the component are directly connected to a second connecting structure of the substrate, usually a supply line comprising copper with a gold coating. The resulting intermediate spaces are filled up with the polymeric material in this embodiment.
It is furthermore preferred that the substrate is chosen from the group of glass and foil.
After leaving the factory the finished chips with connecting structures comprising aluminum may be mounted immediately on glass (chip on glass, COG) or foil (chip on foil, COF).
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patent: 5600180 (1997-02-01), Kusaka et al.
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patent: 5949142 (1999-09-01), Otsuka
patent: 6002180 (1999-12-01), Akram et al.
patent: 6016013 (2000-01-01), Baba
patent: 6335568 (2002-01-01), Yuzawa et al.
patent: 6465879 (2002-10-01), Taguchi
Baumgartner Peter
Solo De Zaldivar Jose
Clark Sheila V.
Koninklijke Philips Electronics , N.V.
Waxler Aaron
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