Amorphous Dielectric Stacked Structures for Low Parasitic Capacitance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
As the degree of integration of integrated circuits increases, parasitic capacitance between conductor patterns rises, leading to signal transmission delays in electronic devices, necessitating the use of insulating materials with a low dielectric constant to mitigate this issue.
Innovation Solution
A stacked structure comprising amorphous material layers with a dielectric constant of 2.5 or less and an intermediate layer with a thickness less than the amorphous layers, maintaining a low overall dielectric constant by preventing crystallization, achieved through the use of amorphous boron nitride and two-dimensional materials like graphene or transition metal dichalcogenides.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the thickness of the stacked structure is increased to provide sufficient insulation, then the insulation performance is improved, but the overall dielectric constant increases leading to increased parasitic capacitance
Solution Approach 1:
The stacked structure is divided into multiple thin amorphous material layers (each with thickness t1) separated by ultrathin intermediate layers (with thickness t2 < t1). This segmentation allows the structure to achieve sufficient total thickness for insulation while maintaining low dielectric constant, because each amorphous layer remains thin enough to prevent crystallization. The segmentation principle directly resolves the contradiction by enabling thick overall structure without proportionally increasing parasitic capacitance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite stacked structure alternating amorphous material layers with intermediate layers. The amorphous material layers provide the primary insulation function with low dielectric constant (2.5 or less), while the intermediate layers prevent crystallization and maintain the amorphous state. This composite approach allows achieving both sufficient insulation performance and low parasitic capacitance that cannot be achieved with single-material thick layers.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If amorphous material layers are made thin to maintain low dielectric constant, then parasitic capacitance is reduced, but the overall thickness is insufficient for adequate insulation
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple thin amorphous material layers are stacked with intermediate layers in between. Each thin layer maintains low dielectric constant individually, and the cumulative thickness of multiple layers provides sufficient insulation. The segmentation enables the structure to be both thin enough to maintain low parasitic capacitance and thick enough to provide adequate insulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution transitions from a single-dimensional thick layer approach to a multi-layer stacked structure. By adding the dimension of layer multiplication rather than simply increasing single layer thickness, the structure achieves sufficient insulation performance through cumulative thickness while each individual layer remains thin enough to maintain low dielectric constant and low parasitic capacitance.
3Reliability
If the thickness of amorphous material layers is increased to improve insulation, then insulation performance is improved, but crystallization occurs increasing the dielectric constant
Solution Approach 1:
The amorphous material is segmented into multiple thin layers separated by intermediate layers. Each thin layer remains below the critical thickness for crystallization, maintaining the amorphous state. The intermediate layers act as physical barriers that prevent crystal growth across layer boundaries. This segmentation enables achieving sufficient total thickness for insulation while each individual layer remains thin enough to prevent crystallization.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediate layers serve as intermediary barriers between amorphous material layers. These intermediate layers prevent direct interaction and crystal growth propagation between adjacent amorphous layers, allowing each layer to maintain its amorphous state independently. The intermediaries enable the stacked structure to achieve greater total thickness without inducing crystallization in the amorphous material layers.
Data Source
AI summary
A stacked structure includes a plurality of amorphous material layers each having a first dielectric constant and a first thickness, and an intermediate layer disposed between the plurality of amorphous material layers and having a second dielectric constant and a second thickness less than the first thickness, wherein the first dielectric constant may be 2.5 or less, a difference between the first dielectric constant and the second dielectric constant may be less than or equal to twice the first dielectric constant, and an overall dielectric constant of the stacked structure may be 2.5 or less.