Active solid-state devices (e.g. – transistors – solid-state diode – Incoherent light emitter structure – With housing or contact structure
Reexamination Certificate
2003-02-06
2004-06-15
Fahmy, Wael (Department: 2814)
Active solid-state devices (e.g., transistors, solid-state diode
Incoherent light emitter structure
With housing or contact structure
C257S098000, C257S100000, C257S666000, C257S671000, C257S676000, C257S677000, C250S239000, C250S556000, C250S566000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06750479
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a semiconductor component and a method for identifying a semiconductor component.
It is generally known that semiconductor components can be produced in a panel on a common base substrate such as a silicon wafer. After the semiconductor substrates individually equipped with electronic/electromechanical components are produced, they are diced, which can take place by cutting up the base substrate. The individual semiconductor substrates are then placed on the mounting area of a lead frame and joined with contact sections of the lead frame using bonding wires. In a spraying procedure known as “transfer molding”, also referred to as transfer forming, the semiconductor substrate is then embedded—except for its leads formed by the contact portions—in a housing part made of a mold compound. This procedure is described, for example, in “Advanced Microsystems for Automotive Applications 99, D. D. Ricken, W. Gessner, pg. 126ff”.
It is often necessary to identify the original position of an individual semiconductor substrate on the base substrate after dicing and production of the finished semiconductor components. This can be necessary, for example, in order to compare preliminary measurement results carried out on the base substrate with final measurement results carried out on the finished, diced semiconductor component. It is therefore desirable to be able to identify the individual semiconductor substrates on the base substrate. Optically detectable identification codes on the semiconductor substrates have the disadvantage that they can no longer be identified after the semiconductor substates are embedded in the housing part. For this reason, the mold compound must first be partially removed, e.g., by etching, so that the identification code of the semiconductor substrate is optically detectable and can be evaluated. The opened and partially destroyed semiconductor element is then no longer usable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The semiconductor component according to the invention has the advantage that the semiconductor component can be identified and the original position of the semiconductor substrate—on the base substrate—contained in the semiconductor component can be identified without destroying the semiconductor component. This is achieved by means of an identifier located directly or indirectly on the semiconductor substrate that can be read out using ultrasound from outside the housing part of the semiconductor component. In doing so, full advantage is taken of the fact that the plastic compound of the housing part is permeable to ultrasound, so that an image of the surface structure of the semiconductor element equipped with the identifier can be generated using an ultrasonic device by measuring different trajectories of the irradiated ultrasonic waves or by measuring the ultrasonic waves reflected on the semiconductor component. Said image is then evaluated in order to identify the semiconductor component.
In principle, the identifier can be produced in various ways. It is particularly simple, however, when the identifier is formed by a pattern of recesses in a surface section of the semiconductor substrate or a component located thereon. The recesses can be produced by etching, for example. This is particularly advantageous in the case of semiconductor sensors with which the electronic/electromechanical components on the sensor are formed by etching micromechanical structures and are covered with a cap piece that is also produced by etching. The recesses can then be formed advantageously on an inner side—facing the semiconductor substrate—of the cap piece located on the semiconductor substrate. This is particularly advantageous when the plastic material of the housing part is acoustically well adapted to the material of the semiconductor substrate and the cap piece. In this case, the ultrasonic wave is reflected only slightly on the boundary layer between the housing part and the semiconductor substrate and/or the cap piece. A gas or vacuum is contained in the hollow space formed by the semiconductor substrate and the cap piece, so that an acoustic mismatch always exists on the boundary surface between the inside of the cap piece and the hollow space. The identifier located on the inside of the cap piece is therefore particularly easy to detect using an ultrasonic microscope. Using anisotropic etching, it can be achieved that the interior walls of the recesses are tilted at an angle relative to the surface section in which the recesses are produced, so that the ultrasonic waves are advantageously reflected obliquely to the direction of arrival in the region of the recesses.
In another exemplary embodiment it is provided that the identifier located on the semiconductor substrate or the component is formed by a pattern that is composed of a material layer or a layer system of various materials in which ultrasound propagates at a different speed than in the material of the semiconductor substrate or the component. In this case, advantage is taken of the fact that the application of such a pattern results in an acoustic mismatch of reflectivity, so that an ultrasonic wave is reflected differently on the boundary surface between the pattern material and the semiconductor substrate or component, and/or on the boundary surfaces of two layers of a structured layer system forming the pattern than on the points of the surface of the semiconductor substrate on which the pattern is not provided.
According to another exemplary embodiment, the reflectivity of the ultrasonic wave is changed by changing the adhesive strength of the housing material on the semiconductor substrate. Advantageously, the housing part can be made of a mold compound, and the identifier located on the semiconductor substrate or a component located thereon is formed by means of a pattern composed of a material to which the mold compound adheres more poorly than to the material of the semiconductor substrate or the component. This can be achieved, for example, by forming the identifier out of a pattern of silver spots. By delaminating the mold compound at the points of the surface of the semiconductor substrate equipped with the silver spots, the relectance of the irradiated ultrasonic wave changes, so that the identifier can be read out using an ultrasonic receiver.
It is also possible to form the identifier located on the semiconductor substrate or a component located thereon by means of a pattern composed of a material to which the mold compound adheres better than to the material of the semiconductor component or the component. For example, the identifier on the semiconductor element can be formed by means of a pattern of polyimide spots to which the mold compound of the housing part adheres better than to the semiconductor substrate.
Furthermore advantageous is a method for identifying a semiconductor component that comprises at least one semiconductor substrate equipped with electronic/electromechanical components that, together with a plurality of further semiconductor substrates, is produced on a common base substrate in a panel, whereby the semiconductor substrates, after production, are diced and placed on a lead frame and, finally, except for their respective leads, are enclosed in a housing part, and in which all semiconductor substrates in the panel—before dicing—are equipped with an identifier identifying the position of the respective semiconductor substrate on the base substrate, which said identifier is located directly or indirectly on the semiconductor substrate, and the identification of a selected semiconductor substrate—after dicing and placement in the housing part—is read out using an ultrasonic device from outside the housing part to identify the semiconductor component. An ultrasonic microscope can be used advantageously as the ultrasonic device.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4701999 (1987-10-01), Palmer
patent: 5834648 (1998-11-01), Sue et al.
patent: 5909122 (1999-06-01), Impini et al.
patent: 5984190 (1999-11-01), Nevill
patent: 6089095 (2000
Fahmy Wael
Nguyen Dilinh
Robert & Bosch GmbH
Striker Michael J.
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