Bonding pad structure

Details Bonding pad structure Bonding pad structure

2001-05-23

2004-09-21

Nguyen, Cuong (Department: 2811)

Active solid-state devices (e.g., transistors, solid-state diode

Combined with electrical contact or lead

Of specified material other than unalloyed aluminum

C257S762000, C257S765000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06794752

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to a metal interconnect, and more specifically relates to a bonding pad structure interposed between a copper layer and a bonding wire and a method for making the same.
2. Description of Related Art
As the requirement on the complexity and precision of an integrated circuit design keeps increasing in order to reduce the feature size of a semiconductor device and increase the integration of an integrated circuit, a semiconductor device has to contain more than two metal layers to achieve the fabrication of high-density metal interconnects on a limited surface of a chip. Conventionally, aluminum is used as the material of a metal layer. However, as the design rules of a semiconductor device get finer and higher, the requirements of lower resistivity and higher reliability increase as well. Since copper has better conductivity and reliability than that of aluminum, copper has become a new material used in the metal layers.
FIGS. 1A through 1C
are the cross-sectional views showing a conventional metallization process. Referring to
FIG. 1A
, a number of copper interconnects are formed on a provided semiconductor substrate
10
, wherein the semiconductor substrate
10
has some pre-formed devices, such as a transistor (not shown). A multi-interconnect layer
12
is used here to represent all formed copper interconnects. A top copper layer
14
is formed on the top of the multi-interconnect layer
12
, and is surrounded by insulation layer
13
.
Referring next to
FIG. 1B
, an insulation film
16
is deposited on the top of the top copper layer
14
, preferably by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, wherein the insulation film includes SiN or SiON. Then, a passivation layer
18
is formed on top of the insulation film
16
, wherein the passivation layer
18
includes borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG), phosphosilicate glass (PSG), spin-on glass (SOG), or other dielectric materials. The preferable method for forming the passivation layer
18
is also a CVD process.
Referring to
FIG. 1C
, the passivation
18
and the insulation film
16
are patterned and etched through in sequence by a photolithography process and an etching process for forming a pad window
19
to expose the top copper layer
14
.
The foregoing fabrication process for a top copper layer
14
tends to manifest an occurrence of oxidation on the copper layer before or during the next bonding process for connecting the top copper layer to a bonding wire, because the top copper layer
14
is exposed to the air. The oxidation of copper decreases the conductivity and the reliability of a copper interconnect, and further causes a short that might possibly damage the whole integrated circuit.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the foregoing description, it is therefore an objective of the invention to provide a bonding pad structure and method for making the same, for providing a better adhesion property between the copper layer and the bonding wire.
According to the object mentioned above, the invention provides a bonding pad structure. A passivation layer over a copper layer has a pad window to expose a portion of the copper layer. A barrier layer is conformal to a profile of the pad window. And an aluminum pad is located in the pad window. Thereby, a better adhesion property is provided between the copper layer and the bonding wire.
In regard to the structure above, the invention provides a method for manufacturing an interconnection structure as follows. A substrate with a copper layer over the substrate is provided. A passivation layer is formed over the copper layer and then a pad window is formed within the passivation to expose a portion of the copper layer. A barrier layer is formed over the passivation layer and the pad window. After a portion of the barrier layer over the passivation layer is removed, a metal layer is formed over the passivation layer and filled in the pad window. A portion of the metal layer is removed to expose the passivation layer. Preferably, the metal layer is an aluminum layer. The portion of the metal layer can be removed by a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process, or an etching process.
The invention further provides another method for manufacturing an interconnection structure above as follows. First, a substrate with a copper layer over the substrate is provided, and a passivation layer is formed over the copper layer. A pad window within the passivation layer is formed to expose a portion of the copper layer. A barrier layer is formed over the passivation layer and the pad window and then a metal layer is formed over the barrier layer and filled in the pad window. A portion of the metal layer and the barrier layer is removed to expose the passivation layer. Preferably, the metal layer is an aluminum, aluminum alloy or aluminum dominated layer. The portion of the metal layer and the barrier layer can be removed by a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process, or an etching process.
The invention further provides a bonding pad structure. A passivation layer is located over a copper layer having a pad window to expose a portion of the copper layer. A barrier layer is conformal to a profile of the pad window and extended along the surface of the passivation layer from the pad window. And an aluminum pad is located over the barrier layer.
The invention also provides a method for manufacturing an interconnection structure above, comprising steps as follows. A substrate with a copper layer over the substrate is provided. A passivation layer is formed over the copper layer, and a pad window is formed within the passivation layer to expose a portion of the copper layer. A barrier layer is then formed over the passivation layer and the pad window. A metal layer is formed over the barrier layer and filled in the pad window. Next, a photoresist layer is formed over the metal layer, wherein the photoresist layer has a pattern covering the pad window. A portion of the metal layer and the barrier layer are removed to expose the passivation layer. And the photoresist layer is removed. Preferably, the metal layer is an aluminum layer. The portion of the metal layer and the barrier layer can be removed by an etching process.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5723822 (1998-03-01), Lien
patent: 5955781 (1999-09-01), Joshi et al.
patent: 6376371 (2002-04-01), Jain et al.

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