Method for manufacturing metal pattern on electronic component
By combining physical vapor deposition and grinding processes with MEMS etching technology, the problems of applicability and recycling difficulty of thick film layers in the production of metal patterns of precious metal resistor elements have been solved, achieving low-cost and efficient precious metal recycling and reducing production costs.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202410953130.0
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Patents(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-07-16
- Publication Date
- 2025-09-12
- Estimated Expiration
- 2044-07-16
AI Technical Summary
In the existing technology for producing metal patterns of precious metal resistor elements, there are problems such as the stripping process is not suitable for thick film layers, the ion beam etching equipment has high maintenance costs and serious waste of resources, resulting in high production costs and difficulty in recycling.
Physical vapor deposition and physical grinding processes are used, combined with MEMS etching technology, to form metal pattern grooves and fill them with precious metal materials. Physical grinding is used to make the metal layer flush with the insulating layer, and the residue exists in a single substance form, which is easy to recycle.
It realizes the production of metal film layers suitable for various thicknesses, reduces the difficulty of precious metal recycling, reduces the frequency of equipment maintenance and resource waste, and reduces the manufacturing cost of electronic components.
Smart Images
Figure CN118910565B_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor manufacturing, in particular to a method for manufacturing metal patterns on electronic components. Background Art
[0002] Temperature, as a fundamental physical quantity, is closely intertwined with daily human production and life activities. Therefore, temperature measurement sensors are widely used in industrial production, machinery manufacturing, medical treatment, chemical engineering, aerospace, and other fields. Platinum resistors, a commonly used temperature measurement element, vary in resistance with temperature, offering high measurement accuracy and increasing market demand year by year. Platinum, the sensitive material in platinum resistors, has excellent resistance-temperature characteristics and high linearity. Compared to similar resistive temperature measurement elements such as nickel resistors, positive temperature coefficient thermistors (PTCs), and negative temperature coefficient thermistors (NTCs), platinum resistors offer higher measurement accuracy and better long-term stability.
[0003] Since metals (such as platinum) have low resistivity, a certain designed resistance value is generally achieved by making metal pattern structures. Currently, the main processes for making metal patterns include wet etching, lift-off, ion beam etching, dry etching, etc.
[0004] The lift-off process is a pattern transfer technique widely used in semiconductor manufacturing and micro-nanotechnology. This process is primarily used to produce high-quality electrodes and other finely patterned structures, particularly for difficult-to-etch materials such as precious metals or other non-corrosive materials. The basic steps of the lift-off process include: first, a patterned photoresist structure is obtained on a substrate using a photolithography process; then, a target coating (such as a platinum thin film) is deposited on the mask using a thin film deposition process; and finally, a stripping solution (also called a stripping solution) is used to dissolve the photoresist, thereby obtaining a target metal pattern structure consistent with the pattern. However, due to the photoresist stripping process, when the target film layer is thick, the photoresist sidewalls are covered by the target film layer, blocking contact with the stripping solution, resulting in lift-off failure. Therefore, the lift-off process is not suitable for patterning thicker target film layers. Furthermore, the thickness of thin-film platinum resistors that meet national standards is generally above 1 μm, and the lift-off method does not meet the production requirements of thin-film platinum resistors.
[0005] Ion beam etching is a mainstream process for producing platinum metal patterns for thin-film platinum resistors, which can meet the production needs of thin-film platinum resistor films. However, the ion beam etching equipment has a slow etching rate for platinum, and the platinum etching products are not volatile. The products are deposited on the inner wall of the equipment cavity and the core components of the etching equipment (such as the structural surface of the ion source components). Moreover, since platinum is conductive, the inner wall of the equipment cavity and the ion source need to be regularly maintained and cleaned to ensure the normal operation of the equipment. At the same time, platinum etching products are difficult to recycle, resulting in a waste of precious metal resources and a high production cost for platinum resistors. More importantly, the production of metal patterns on high-performance electronic components mainly uses precious metal materials such as gold, silver, platinum, ruthenium and rhodium, which particularly need to be recycled after the metal patterns are produced. Summary of the Invention
[0006] In response to the above-mentioned defects, the purpose of the present invention is to propose a method for producing metal patterns on electronic components, which is suitable for the production of metal patterns of target metal film layers of various thicknesses. At the same time, the precious metals in the residues mainly exist in the form of elements, and the recovery of precious metal materials is easy, which greatly reduces the manufacturing cost of electronic components.
[0007] To achieve this object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:
[0008] A method for manufacturing a metal pattern on an electronic component comprises the following steps:
[0009] A1: Cleaning the substrate of electronic components;
[0010] A2: The insulating material is deposited on the upper surface of the substrate using a physical vapor deposition process to form an insulating layer;
[0011] A3: A metal pattern is engraved on the insulating layer through a physical engraving process to form a metal pattern groove;
[0012] A4: The precious metal material is deposited through a physical vapor deposition process to fill the metal pattern grooves to the upper surface of the insulating layer to form a metal layer;
[0013] A5: The upper surface of the metal layer is ground to the same level as the upper surface of the insulating layer through a physical grinding process to form a metal pattern.
[0014] Furthermore, the physical etching process in step A3 is a MEMS process.
[0015] Furthermore, the physical vapor deposition process in step A4 is a pulsed DC magnetron sputtering process or a high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering process.
[0016] Furthermore, in step A5, a physical grinding process is used while adding a grinding liquid.
[0017] Furthermore, the method further includes step A6: collecting the residue and recovering the precious metal material through chemical and physical separation methods.
[0018] Furthermore, the physical grinding process in step A5 is to grind the metal layer using a wafer grinding and thinning machine.
[0019] Furthermore, the step A1 includes the following sub-steps:
[0020] A11: Ultrasonic cleaning of the substrate using acetone, anhydrous ethanol, and ultrapure water in sequence;
[0021] A12: Place the substrate in a clean oven and set the baking temperature to 150°C for 1 hour.
[0022] Furthermore, in step A4, when the precious metal material is used to fill the metal pattern grooves by a pulsed DC magnetron sputtering process or a high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering process, the precious metal material is used to fill the metal pattern grooves by inclined sputtering.
[0023] The technical solution provided by the present invention may have the following beneficial effects: In order to achieve the production of metal patterns suitable for target metal film layers of various thicknesses, and to facilitate the recovery of precious metal materials after the metal patterns are produced on electronic components using precious metal materials, the following metal pattern production steps are designed:
[0024] A1: The substrate of the electronic component serves as the carrier of the metal pattern. It is necessary to ensure that the carrier surface is clean and free of other impurities that affect the recovery of precious metal materials. In order to improve the purity of the recycled precious metal materials, the substrate must be cleaned.
[0025] A2: The insulating material is prepared as an insulating layer on the upper surface of the substrate through the physical vapor deposition process. Compared with the chemical vapor deposition process, the physical vapor deposition process will not produce chemical reactions to produce new substances, which will affect the subsequent recovery of precious metal materials. The chemical vapor deposition process of metal materials produces precious metal elements through the reaction of special metal gas sources (containing corresponding precious metal elements). It is often used in advanced semiconductor processes, mainly ALD, MOCVD, etc., and the equipment is expensive and the cost is high.
[0026] A3: A metal pattern is engraved on the insulating layer through a physical engraving process to form a metal pattern groove for precious metal materials to fill in to form a metal pattern. This eliminates the need to use a physical engraving process (such as ion beam etching) to engrave the precious metal material to form a metal pattern, thereby preventing the precious metal material from being deposited on the inner wall of the equipment cavity and the core components of the equipment, making it difficult to recycle. In addition, for the engraving of the insulating layer, the insulating materials mostly use common oxides such as aluminum oxide and silicon oxide, which are non-conductive and do not affect the normal operation of the equipment, thus reducing the equipment maintenance cycle.
[0027] A4: Precious metal materials are also deposited through physical vapor deposition to fill the metal pattern grooves on the upper surface of the insulating layer to form a metal layer, which reduces the difficulty of recycling precious metal materials.
[0028] A5: The upper surface of the metal layer is ground to the same level as the upper surface of the insulating layer through a physical grinding process to form a metal pattern, so that the grinding residue is a pure precious metal material (existing in a single substance form), which is easy to recycle; and it avoids the use of a stripping process, and is suitable for target metal film layers of various thicknesses (i.e., the thickness of the metal pattern or the insulating layer).
[0029] In summary, the metal pattern production method is applicable to target metal film layers of various thicknesses, and the final residue components are mostly the insulating material in step A3 and the precious metal material in step A5, and the precious metal material occupies a large proportion. Therefore, the precious metal material of the residual species can be recovered by simple separation, which greatly reduces the difficulty of recycling the precious metal material, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost of electronic components. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0030] Figure 1 The present invention is a flowchart of a method for manufacturing a metal pattern on an electronic component according to one embodiment of the present invention.
[0031] Figure 2 Yes Figure 1 The manufacturing state of the metal pattern on the electronic component in step A3 is shown Figure 1 .
[0032] Figure 3 Yes Figure 1 The manufacturing state of the metal pattern on the electronic component in step A4 is shown Figure 2 .
[0033] Figure 4 Yes Figure 1 The manufacturing state of the metal pattern on the electronic component in step A5 is shown Figure 3 .
[0034] Among them: substrate 1, insulating layer 2, metal pattern groove 3, metal layer 4, metal pattern 5. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0035] The following describes embodiments of the present invention in detail. Examples of the embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals throughout represent the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are intended only to explain the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention.
[0036] In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood to indicate or imply relative importance or implicitly specify the number of the technical features indicated. Therefore, a feature specified as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the described features. In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, "plurality" means two or more, unless otherwise specifically specified.
[0037] In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise expressly specified or limited, the terms "installed," "connected," and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense. For example, they may refer to fixed connections, detachable connections, or integral connections; they may refer to direct connections or indirect connections through an intermediate medium; they may refer to internal communication between two components or an interaction between two components. Those skilled in the art will understand the specific meanings of the above terms in the embodiments of the present invention based on specific circumstances.
[0038] The following combination Figures 1 to 4 , describing a method for manufacturing a metal pattern on an electronic component according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0039] A method for manufacturing a metal pattern on an electronic component comprises the following steps:
[0040] A1: Cleaning substrate 1 of electronic components;
[0041] A2: an insulating material is deposited on the upper surface of the substrate 1 to form an insulating layer 2 by a physical vapor deposition process;
[0042] A3: A metal pattern is engraved on the insulating layer 2 through a physical engraving process to form a metal pattern groove 3;
[0043] A4: The precious metal material is deposited into the metal pattern groove 3 to the upper surface of the insulating layer 2 by a physical vapor deposition process to form a metal layer 4;
[0044] A5: The upper surface of the metal layer 4 is ground to the same level as the upper surface of the insulating layer 2 by a physical grinding process to form a metal pattern 5.
[0045] The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a metal pattern on an electronic component. In a preferred embodiment, Figures 1 to 4 As shown, in order to achieve the production of metal patterns suitable for target metal film layers of various thicknesses and to make it easier to recycle precious metal materials after the metal patterns are produced on electronic components using precious metal materials, the following metal pattern production steps are designed:
[0046] A1: The substrate 1 of the electronic component serves as a carrier of the metal pattern 5. The carrier surface must be clean and free of other impurities that affect the recovery of precious metal materials. In order to improve the purity of the recycled precious metal materials, the substrate 1 is cleaned.
[0047] A2: The insulating material is prepared as an insulating layer 2 on the upper surface of the substrate 1 through a physical vapor deposition process. Compared with the chemical vapor deposition process, the physical vapor deposition process will not produce chemical reactions to produce new substances, which will affect the subsequent recovery of precious metal materials. The chemical vapor deposition process of metal materials produces precious metal elements through the reaction of special metal gas sources (containing corresponding precious metal elements). It is often used in advanced semiconductor processes, mainly ALD, MOCVD, etc., and the equipment is expensive and the cost is high.
[0048] A3: If Figure 2 As shown, a metal pattern is engraved on the insulating layer 2 through a physical engraving process to form a metal pattern groove 3 for the precious metal material to fill to form the metal pattern 5, thereby eliminating the need to use a physical engraving process (such as ion beam etching) to engrave the precious metal material to form the metal pattern 5, thereby avoiding the precious metal material from being deposited on the inner wall of the device cavity and the core components of the device, making it difficult to recycle; and for engraving the insulating layer 2, the insulating material mostly uses common oxides such as aluminum oxide and silicon oxide, which are not conductive and do not affect the normal operation of the equipment, thereby reducing the equipment maintenance cycle.
[0049] A4: If Figure 3 As shown, the precious metal material is also filled into the metal pattern groove 3 to the upper surface of the insulating layer 2 through the physical vapor deposition process to form a metal layer 4, thereby reducing the difficulty of recycling the precious metal material.
[0050] A5: If Figure 4 As shown, the upper surface of the metal layer 4 is ground to the same level as the upper surface of the insulating layer 2 through a physical grinding process to form a metal pattern 5, so that the grinding residue is a pure precious metal material (existing in a single substance form), which is easy to recycle; and avoids the use of a stripping process, and is suitable for target metal film layers of various thicknesses (i.e., the thickness of the metal pattern 5 or the insulating layer 2).
[0051] In summary, the metal pattern production method is applicable to target metal film layers of various thicknesses, and the final residue components are mostly the insulating material in step A3 and the precious metal material in step A5, and the precious metal material occupies a large proportion. Therefore, the precious metal material of the residual species can be recovered by simple separation, which greatly reduces the difficulty of recycling the precious metal material, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost of electronic components.
[0052] Furthermore, the physical etching process in step A3 is a MEMS process.
[0053] In this embodiment, it is more efficient to use the MEMS process for the insulating layer 2 formed by depositing insulating material; first, a pattern mask structure is formed on the surface of the insulating layer 2 by photolithography, and then the insulating layer material is etched by etching techniques such as reactive ion etching (RIE), deep plasma etching (DRIE) and ion beam etching (IBE). After etching is completed, the photoresist above the insulating layer is removed to complete the preparation of the metal pattern groove 3.
[0054] Furthermore, the physical vapor deposition process in step A4 is a pulsed DC magnetron sputtering process or a high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering process.
[0055] In this embodiment, a metal layer 4 is prepared by filling the metal pattern groove 3 to the upper surface of the insulating layer 2 through a pulsed DC magnetron sputtering process or a high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering process, which can solve the problems of unstable DC magnetron sputtering voltage in an oxygen-containing atmosphere, which leads to arcing on the target surface, oxidation of the target, and diffusion of impurity elements into the metal layer 4, as well as low RF magnetron sputtering rate, which is not suitable for industrial production. Practice has proved that during the sputtering process of the pulsed DC magnetron sputtering process or the high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering process, the voltage is stable and the film formation rate meets the production requirements. At the same time, the pulsed DC magnetron sputtering process or the high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering process has a higher particle ionization rate than the DC magnetron sputtering process, and the sputtered particles have greater energy, which is beneficial to improving the bonding strength between the metal layer 4 and the substrate 1 and the density of the film, and has better filling performance.
[0056] Furthermore, in step A5, a physical grinding process is used while adding a grinding liquid.
[0057] In this embodiment, because the grinding liquid is generally composed of silicon carbide, diamond, aluminum oxide, etc., and does not react with precious metal materials, adding grinding liquid when grinding the metal layer 4 is beneficial to improving the surface smoothness of the metal pattern 5, and can also dissolve the precious metal materials splashed during the grinding process into the grinding liquid, avoiding the splashing of precious metal materials, making it difficult to collect more precious metal materials, and causing waste.
[0058] Furthermore, the method further includes step A6: collecting the residue and recovering the precious metal material through chemical and physical separation methods.
[0059] In this embodiment, when collecting the residue, the grinding liquid can be directly collected. The grinding liquid contains the precious metal material to be recovered. Nitric acid is added to the collected grinding liquid to dissolve the insulating material in the grinding liquid, and then the ground precious metal material can be obtained by filtering.
[0060] Furthermore, the physical grinding process in step A5 is to grind the metal layer 4 using a wafer grinding and thinning machine.
[0061] In this embodiment, electronic components that generally have extremely high requirements for the flatness of the chip surface adopt a high-precision chemical mechanical polishing process (CMP). The CMP equipment is expensive and requires the intervention of chemical reactions. Considering that the metal patterns that need to be produced are generally various sensors (such as platinum resistors), the requirements for the flatness of the chip surface are not so high. Therefore, for cost considerations and to avoid affecting the recovery of precious metal materials, it is preferred to use a wafer grinding and thinning machine to grind the metal layer 4.
[0062] Furthermore, step A1 includes the following sub-steps:
[0063] A11: ultrasonically clean substrate 1 using acetone, anhydrous ethanol, and ultrapure water in sequence;
[0064] A12: Place substrate 1 in a clean oven and set the baking temperature to 150°C for 1 hour.
[0065] In this embodiment, in order to further prevent other impurity elements from affecting the recovery of precious metal materials and improve the purity of the recovered precious metal materials, a strict cleaning method is adopted: first, acetone, anhydrous ethanol and ultrapure water are used to ultrasonically clean the substrate 1 in sequence to remove particulate matter and organic contamination on the surface of the substrate 1; then it is placed in a clean oven, the baking temperature is set to 150°C, the duration is 1 hour, and baking is carried out to remove water vapor.
[0066] Furthermore, in step A4, when the precious metal material is used to fill the metal pattern groove 3 by a pulsed DC magnetron sputtering process or a high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering process, the precious metal material is used to fill the metal pattern groove 3 by inclined sputtering.
[0067] In this embodiment, the noble metal material is filled into the metal pattern groove 3 by inclined sputtering, which is beneficial to reducing the splashing of the noble metal material, lowering the difficulty of collecting the noble metal material, and achieving higher filling efficiency.
[0068] Other structures and operations of the method for manufacturing a metal pattern on an electronic component according to an embodiment of the present invention are well known to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail here.
[0069] Throughout this specification, reference to terms such as "embodiment" or "example" indicates that the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described in conjunction with that embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, schematic representations of these terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.
[0070] While embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions, and variations may be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, and that the scope of the invention is defined by the claims and their equivalents.
Claims
1. A method for producing a metal pattern on an electronic component, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: A1: Cleaning the substrate of electronic components; A2: The insulating material is deposited on the upper surface of the substrate using a physical vapor deposition process to form an insulating layer; A3: A metal pattern is engraved on the insulating layer through a physical engraving process to form a metal pattern groove; A4: The precious metal material is deposited through a physical vapor deposition process to fill the metal pattern grooves to the upper surface of the insulating layer to form a metal layer; The physical vapor deposition process in step A4 is a pulsed DC magnetron sputtering process or a high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering process; A5: The upper surface of the metal layer is ground to the same level as the upper surface of the insulating layer through a physical grinding process to form a metal pattern; In step A5, a physical grinding process is used while adding a grinding liquid; The method further comprises step A6: collecting the residue and recovering the precious metal materials through chemical and physical separation methods.
2. The method for producing a metal pattern on an electronic component according to claim 1, wherein: The physical etching process in step A3 is a MEMS process.
3. The method for producing a metal pattern on an electronic component according to claim 1, wherein: The physical grinding process in step A5 is to grind the metal layer using a wafer grinding and thinning machine.
4. The method for producing a metal pattern on an electronic component according to claim 1, wherein: The step A1 includes the following sub-steps: A11: Ultrasonic cleaning of the substrate using acetone, anhydrous ethanol, and ultrapure water in sequence; A12: Place the substrate in a clean oven and set the baking temperature to 150°C for 1 hour.
5. The method for producing a metal pattern on an electronic component according to claim 1, wherein: In step A4, when the precious metal material is used to fill the metal pattern grooves by a pulsed DC magnetron sputtering process or a high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering process, the precious metal material is used to fill the metal pattern grooves by inclined sputtering.
Citation Information
Patent Citations
Preparation method of metal fine structure
CN116169022A