Active solid-state devices (e.g. – transistors – solid-state diode – Physical configuration of semiconductor – With electrical contact in hole in semiconductor
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-05
2004-04-13
Nadav, Ori (Department: 2811)
Active solid-state devices (e.g., transistors, solid-state diode
Physical configuration of semiconductor
With electrical contact in hole in semiconductor
C257S048000, C257S698000, C438S015000, C438S667000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06720641
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is generally directed to semiconductor structures, and more particularly to a semiconductor structure having electrically conductive probes extending from a backside of the semiconductor structure to selected regions in the substrate of the semiconductor structure.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
During manufacture of an integrated circuit, electronic components are formed upon and within a front side surface of a semiconductor structure having opposed front side and backside surfaces. The components are inter-coupled with electrically conductive interconnect lines to form an electronic circuit. Signal lines that are to be connected to external devices are terminated at flat metal contact regions called input/output (I/O) pads. Following manufacture, the integrated circuit, or “chip,” is typically secured within a protective semiconductor device package. Each I/O pad of the chip is then connected to one or more terminals of the device package. The terminals of a device package are typically arranged about the periphery of the package. The I/O pads of the chip are electrically connected to the terminals of the device package. Some types of device packages have terminals called “pins” for insertion into holes in a printed circuit board (PCB). Other types of device packages have terminals called “leads” for attachment to flat metal contact regions on an exposed surface of a PCB.
As integrated circuit fabrication technology improves, manufacturers are able to integrate more and more functions onto single silicon substrates. As the number of functions on a single chip increases, however, the number of signal lines that need to be coupled to external devices also increases. The corresponding numbers of required I/O pads and device package terminals increase as well, as do the complexities and costs of the device packages. Constraints of high-volume PCB assembly operations place lower limits on the physical dimensions of and distances between device package terminals. As a result, the areas of peripheral-terminal device packages having hundreds of terminals are largely proportional to the number of terminals. These larger packages with fine-pitch leads are subject to mechanical damage during handling or testing. Mishandling can result in a loss of lead co-planarity, adversely affecting PCB assembly yields. In addition, the lengths of signal lines from chip I/O pads to device package terminals increase with the number of terminals, and the high frequency electrical performance of larger peripheral-terminal device packages suffers as a result.
Grid array semiconductor device packages have terminals arranged in a two-dimensional array across an underside surface of the device package. As a result, the physical dimensions of grid array device packages having hundreds of terminals are much smaller than their peripheral-terminal counterparts. Such smaller packages are highly desirable in portable device applications such as laptop and palmtop computers and hand-held communications devices such as cellular telephones. In addition, the lengths of signal lines from chip I/O pads to device package terminals are shorter, thus the high-frequency electrical performances of grid array device packages are typically better than those of corresponding peripheral-terminal device packages. Grid array device packages also allow the continued use of existing PCB assembly equipment developed for peripheral-terminal devices.
An increasingly popular type of grid array device package is the ball grid array (“BGA”) device package.
FIG. 1
is a cross-sectional view of an example BGA device
10
. The device
10
includes an integrated circuit
12
mounted upon a larger package substrate
14
. Substrate
14
includes two sets of bonding pads: a first set of bonding pads
16
on an upper surface adjacent to integrated circuit
12
and a second set of bonding pads
18
arranged in a two-dimensional array across an underside surface. Integrated circuit
12
includes a semiconductor substrate
20
having multiple electronic components formed within a circuit layer
22
upon a front side surface of semiconductor substrate
20
during wafer fabrication. The electronic components are connected by electrically conductive interconnect lines to form an electronic circuit. Multiple I/O pads
24
are also formed within circuit layer
22
. I/O pads
24
are typically coated with solder to form solder bumps
26
.
The integrated circuit is attached to the package substrate using the controlled collapse chip connection method, which is also known as the C4® or flip-chip method. During the C4 mounting operation, solder bumps
26
are placed in physical contact with corresponding members of the first set of bonding pads
16
. Solder bumps
26
are then heated long enough for the solder to reflow. When the solder cools, I/O pads
24
of integrated circuit
12
are electrically and mechanically coupled to the corresponding members of the first set of bonding pads
16
of the package substrate. After integrated circuit
12
is attached to package substrate
14
, the region between integrated circuit
12
and package substrate
14
is filled with an under-fill material
28
to encapsulate the C4 connections and provide additional mechanical benefits.
Package substrate
14
includes one or more layers of signal lines that connect respective members of the first set of bonding pads
16
and the second set of bonding pads
18
. Members of the second set of bonding pads
18
function as device package terminals and are coated with solder, forming solder balls
30
on the underside surface of package substrate
14
. Solder balls
30
allow BGA device
10
to be surface mounted to an ordinary PCB. During PCB assembly, BGA device
10
is attached to the PCB by reflow of solder balls
30
just as the integrated circuit is attached to the package substrate.
The C4 mounting of integrated circuit
12
to package substrate
14
prevents physical access to circuit layer
22
for failure analysis and fault isolation. Thus, an alternative approach is to construct an electrically conductive probe that extends from the backside
40
of the substrate
20
to selected signal lines in the interconnect layer
22
. The criteria for choosing the signal lines are based upon those signal lines that are expected to be at a certain signal level in accordance with a given test. As the density of components on the substrate
20
increases, it is becoming increasingly difficult to construct a probe that extends between the components. That is, there is an increasing risk that the probe may make contact with a component, for example, the drain region of a transistor, or otherwise interfere with the desired electrical characteristics of the component. Therefore, a semiconductor structure that addresses the aforementioned problems associated with flip-chip testing is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Generally, the present invention relates to a semiconductor structure having an electrically conductive probe that extends from the back side of an integrated circuit through the substrate to a selected region in the substrate.
In one embodiment, the invention is a semiconductor structure that comprises: a substrate having a first surface and a second surface; an active region disposed in and at the second surface of the substrate; and an electrically conductive probe extending from the first surface of the substrate to the active region.
In another embodiment, the semiconductor structure comprises: a substrate having a first surface and a second surface; a transistor including source and drain regions disposed in and at the second surface of the substrate; a well region surrounding the source and drain regions; and an electrically conductive probe extending from the first surface of the substrate to the well region.
A plurality of probes are provided in another embodiment of the invention. The semiconductor structure comprises: a substrate having a first surface and a second surface; a plurality of transistors, each including
Birdsley Jeffrey David
Goruganthu Rama R.
Ring Rosalinda M.
Advanced Micro Devices , Inc.
Nadav Ori
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