Semiconductor device manufacturing: process – Making device array and selectively interconnecting
Reexamination Certificate
2003-04-11
2004-08-17
Nelms, David (Department: 2818)
Semiconductor device manufacturing: process
Making device array and selectively interconnecting
C438S128000, C438S130000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06777269
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a two-terminal circuit that is incorporated in a semiconductor integrated circuit device with a multilayer structure, a semiconductor integrated circuit that includes the two-terminal circuit, a method for changing design information that represents the two-terminal circuit, and a design aiding device that provides an aid in changing design information that represents the two-terminal circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In response to recent demands for smaller, faster, and more power-saving semiconductor IC (integrated circuit) devices, semiconductor IC devices with a multilayer structure have been commercialized. A semiconductor IC device with a multilayer structure is constructed by laminating, on a semiconductor substrate, a plurality of layers of circuit elements including insulators, metal wiring lines, wells, contacts, poly silicon, etc.
A semiconductor IC device with a multilayer structure exhibits improved packaging density because a three-dimensional circuit is formed on a semiconductor substrate in the semiconductor IC device. The improved packaging density, together with the finer-line processes, contributes to achieving smaller, faster, and more power-saving features of the semiconductor IC device.
To form the layers of the circuit elements on the semiconductor substrate, a plurality of masks showing layout patterns corresponding to the layers are used. The layers of the circuit elements are formed one after another, by repeatedly processing the semiconductor substrate using a mask showing the corresponding layout pattern.
Some conventional semiconductor IC devices with a multilayer structure have switches for various purposes.
A conventional switch referred to herein intends to mean a part of a predetermined layer that is formed as being in the electrically connected state or in the electrically disconnected state. In accordance with a layout pattern corresponding to the predetermined layer, the part being in the electrically-connected state is formed by filling the part with a conductive material such as a metal wiring line and poly silicon, or the part being in the electrically-disconnected state is formed by leaving the part as an insulating part.
The state of such switches is set different for each prototype version of semiconductor IC devices or for each manufacturing lot of semiconductor IC devices. The following describes use examples of such switches.
(1) Semiconductor IC devices are each provided with a switch, and a circuit that delays a signal for which a timing adjustment is expected, by a time period in accordance with the state of the switch. When a semiconductor IC device of a certain prototype version is found to have a defective relating to a timing of such a signal, the state of a switch in a semiconductor IC device of a new version is changed to adjust the timing of the signal. By doing so, the defective can be eliminated in the semiconductor IC device of the new version.
(2) The state of switches is set different for each design version of semiconductor IC devices. By doing so, each semiconductor IC device is given an ID number for identifying its design version.
(3) An original layout pattern is designed so as to execute all or some of the functions in accordance with the state of switches included therein. By changing the state of the switches of the original layout pattern, a number of layout patterns that are based on the original layout pattern and that each differ in a range of executing the functions can be generated. By doing so, a variety of semiconductor IC devices with different additional features can be manufactured efficiently.
As described above, such conventional switches set different for each prototype version, each manufacturing lot, and the like, are integrated into semiconductor IC devices to achieve various purposes such as defective correction, version identification, and more efficient manufacturing.
Here, the following describes a conventional way to manufacture the above semiconductor IC device of the new version in which the state of the switch has been changed. First, a new layout pattern for the layer including the switch is drafted by a designer. A new mask is prepared according to the drafted layout pattern for the layer. A semiconductor substrate is then newly processed using the newly prepared mask for the layer including the switch and the previously used masks for the other layers.
The problem here is that the time and cost required for preparing masks are substantial because a method for optically correcting proximity effect and the like is employed to deal with the recent trend of finer lines. One solution for reducing the time and cost required for such remake of semiconductor IC devices, accordingly, is to reduce the number of masks to be newly prepared.
To manufacture the semiconductor IC device of the new version in which the state of the switch has been changed with the above conventional technique, however, preparation of the new mask for the layer including the switch cannot be avoided as described above. Here, suppose that another defective is found in a layer other than the layer including the switch. According to the above conventional technique, a new mask for that layer also needs to be prepared for the purpose of correcting the defective. In this case, two new masks in total need to be prepared. This situation may be a failure in reducing the time and cost for manufacturing semiconductor IC devices.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above problem, the present invention aims to provide a two-terminal circuit that is formed in a multilayer semiconductor IC device so as to extend over a plurality of layers thereof, and that makes it possible to manufacture a new two-terminal circuit that differs from the two-terminal circuit of the present invention in the state of a circuit part in one freely-chosen layer and accordingly in the signal transmission state being switched between the signal-transmittable state and the signal-untransmittable state. The two-terminal circuit of the present invention can therefore contribute to reducing the manufacturing time and cost. Further, the present invention aims to provide a semiconductor IC device including the above two-terminal circuit, a method for changing design information representing the above two-terminal circuit, and a design aiding device that provides an aid in changing design information representing the above two-terminal circuit.
(1) A two-terminal circuit of the present invention is formed in a multilayer semiconductor integrated circuit device so as to extend over a plurality of layers thereof, and is characterized by including a plurality of signal paths, each of which is laid at one or more of the plurality of layers to connect two terminals of the circuit, and includes a restricted part at each of the one or more layers, the restricted part being formed either in (a) a connected state for permitting transmission of a signal at the restricted part of the signal path or in (b) a disconnected state for preventing transmission of a signal at the restricted part of the signal path, wherein each of the plurality of layers includes at least different one of the plurality of signal paths that is laid thereat.
According to this construction, each of the layers includes at least one different signal path that is laid thereat. Therefore, by forming one restricted part of the one different signal path laid at each layer to be in the disconnected state and all the other restricted parts to be in the connected state, a first two-terminal circuit that is in the state incapable of transmitting a signal can be manufactured. Based on the first two-terminal circuit, a second two-terminal circuit in which restricted parts included in a freely-chosen layer are in the connected state and that is in the state capable of transmitting a signal can be manufactured.
The following is a case where a second semiconductor integrated circuit device including the second two-te
Nelms David
Nguyen Thinh T
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