Active solid-state devices (e.g. – transistors – solid-state diode – Specified wide band gap semiconductor material other than... – Diamond or silicon carbide
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-06
2003-02-04
Smith, Mathew (Department: 2825)
Active solid-state devices (e.g., transistors, solid-state diode
Specified wide band gap semiconductor material other than...
Diamond or silicon carbide
C257S076000, C257S098000, C257S289000, C257S330000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06515303
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to integrated circuits formed in semiconductor materials and in particular relates to methods for forming via openings in semiconductor substrates and the resulting structures. More particularly, the invention relates to the use of such vias to form monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) in silicon carbide (SiC).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the manufacture of via openings (“vias”) in integrated circuits (ICs), and in particular relates to a method of forming such vias in silicon carbide in order to take advantage of silicon carbide's electronic, thermal, and mechanical properties in the manufacture and use of monolithic microwave integrated circuits.
MMICs
In its most basic sense, a monolithic microwave integrated circuit is an integrated circuit; i.e., a circuit formed up a plurality of devices; in which all of the circuit components are manufactured on top of a single semiconductor substrate, and which is designed to operate at microwave frequencies. As is generally the case with integrated circuits, the advantage of placing the device and circuit components on a single substrate is one of saving space. Smaller circuit size offers numerous advantages for electronic circuits and the end-use devices that incorporate such circuits. In general, the end use devices can be smaller while offering a given set of functions, or more circuits and functions can be added to devices of particular sizes, or both advantages can be combined as desired. From an electronic standpoint, integrated circuits help reduce or eliminate problems such as parasitic capacitance loss that can arise when discrete devices are wire-bonded to one another to form circuits. These advantages can help integrated circuits operate at improved bandwidths as compared to circuits that are “wired” together from discrete components.
Wireless communications systems represent one area of recent and rapid growth in integrated circuits and related commercial technology. Such systems are exemplified, although not limited to, cellular radio communication systems. One estimate predicts that the number of wireless subscribers for such phones will continue to grow worldwide and will exceed 450 million users in the immediate future. The growth of such technologies will require that devices are smaller, more powerful and easier to manufacture. These desired advantages apply to base, relay and switching stations as well as to end user devices such as the cellular phones themselves.
As recognized by those of ordinary skill in this art, many wireless devices, and in particular cellular phone systems, operate in the microwave frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum. Although the term “microwave” is somewhat arbitrary, and the boundaries between various classifications or frequencies are likewise arbitrary, an exemplary choice for the microwave frequencies would include wavelengths of between about 3,000 and 300,000 microns (&mgr;), which corresponds to frequencies of between about 1 and 100 gigahertz (GHz).
As further known by those of ordinary skill in this art, these particular frequencies are most conveniently produced or supported by certain semiconductor materials. For example, although discrete (i.e., individual) silicon (Si) based devices can operate at microwave frequencies, silicon-based integrated circuits suffer from lower electron mobility and are generally disfavored for frequencies above about 3-4 Ghz. Silicon's inherent conductivity also limits the gain that can be delivered at high frequencies.
Accordingly, devices that operate successfully on a commercial basis in the microwave frequencies are preferably formed of other materials, of which gallium arsenide (GaAs) is presently a material of choice. Gallium arsenide offers certain advantages for microwave circuits and monolithic microwave integrated circuits, including a higher electron mobility than silicon and a greater insulating quality.
Because of the frequency requirements for microwave devices and microwave communications, silicon carbide is a favorable candidate material for such devices and circuits. Silicon carbide offers a number of advantages for all types of electronic devices, and offers particular advantages for microwave frequency devices and monolithic microwave integrated circuits. Silicon carbide has an extremely wide band gap (e.g., 2.996 electron volts (eV) for alpha SiC at 300K as compared to 1.12 eV for Si and 1.42 for GaAs), has a high electron mobility, is physically very hard, and has outstanding thermal stability, particularly as compared to other semiconductor materials. For example, silicon has a melting point of 1415° C. (GaAs is 1238° C.), while silicon carbide typically will not begin to disassociate in significant amounts until temperatures reach at least about 2000° C. As another factor, silicon carbide can be fashioned either as a semiconducting material or a semi-insulating material. Because insulating or semi-insulating substrates are often required for MMICs, this is a particularly advantageous aspect of silicon carbide.
MMICs are fabricated with backside metallic ground planes, to which contacts must be made from various points in the MMIC, for example at transmission line terminations. Traditionally, this has been accomplished by wire bonds. Although wire bonding techniques can be used for other devices that operate at other frequencies, they are disadvantageous at microwave frequencies in silicon carbide devices. In particular, wires tend to cause undesired inductance at the microwave frequencies at which silicon carbide devices are capable of operating. For frequencies above 10 GHz, wire bonding simply must be avoided altogether. Accordingly, such wire bonding is desirably—and sometimes necessarily—avoided in silicon carbide-based MMICs.
The use of conductive vias (i.e., via openings filled or coated with metal) to replace wire bonds is a potential solution to this problem. To date, however, opening vias in silicon carbide has been rather difficult because of its extremely robust physical characteristics, which, as noted above, are generally advantageous for most other purposes.
Etching and Etchants
Etching is a process that removes material (e.g., a thin film on a substrate or the substrate itself) by chemical or physical reaction or both. There are two main categories of etching: wet and dry. In wet etching, chemical solutions are used to etch, dry etching uses a plasma. Silicon carbide does not lend itself rapidly to wet etching because of SiC's stability and high bond strength. Consequently, dry etching is most often used to etch silicon carbide.
In dry etching, a plasma discharge is created by transferring energy (typically electromagnetic radiation in the RF or microwave frequencies) into a low-pressure gas. The gas is selected so that its plasma-state etches the substrate material. Various fluorine-containing compounds (e.g., CF
4
, SF
6
, C
4
F
8
) are typically used to etch silicon carbide and different plasma reactor systems may also use gas additives such as oxygen (O
2
), hydrogen (H
2
), or argon (Ar). The plasma contains gas molecules and their dissociated fragments: electrons, ions, and neutral radicals. The neutral radicals play a part in etching by chemically reacting with the material to be removed while the positive ions traveling towards a negatively charged substrate assist the etching by physical bombardment.
Reactive ion etching (RIE) systems typically use one RF generator. The RF power is fed into one electrode (the “chuck,” on which the wafers are placed), and a discharge results between this electrode and the grounded electrode. In such systems, the capacitive nature of RF energy coupling limits the density of the plasma, which in turn leads to lower etch rates of silicon carbide. In RIE systems, plasma density and ion energy are coupled and cannot be independently controlled. When RF input power increases, plasma density and ion energy both increase. As a result, RIE systems cannot produce the type of high dens
Cree Inc.
Smith Mathew
Summa & Allan P.A.
Yevsikov V.
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