Concentric Guard Rings with Defect-Confined Regions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Integrated circuits face mechanical stress during packaging, leading to failures and defects in interconnects due to the mismatch in thermal expansion coefficients and mechanical stresses, which existing technologies struggle to mitigate effectively.
Innovation Solution
A guard ring structure with concentric sound and flawed groups of guard rings, where defects are intentionally located in 'don't care' regions, using directed self-alignment block copolymers to form alternating regions with precise pitch alignment, ensuring defects are confined to specific areas and do not randomly occur, thereby enhancing structural integrity and reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional guard ring structures are used without intentional defect placement, then defects occur randomly throughout the structure, but this leads to unpredictable failures and reduced reliability in critical regions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by intentionally placing defects in don't care regions before the guard ring structure is fully operational. This proactive defect placement prevents random defects from occurring in critical regions during manufacturing and operation, thereby improving reliability while maintaining manufacturing feasibility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements local quality by creating different regions within the guard ring structure with different defect tolerances. Critical regions are designed to be defect-free while don't care regions intentionally contain defects. This spatial variation in quality requirements allows the structure to maintain high reliability in essential areas while accepting controlled imperfections in non-critical areas
2Manufacturing precision
If directed self-alignment block copolymers are used to form alternating regions with precise pitch alignment, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies self-service by utilizing the self-assembling properties of block copolymers to automatically form the desired alternating regions with precise pitch alignment. The directed self-alignment mechanism allows the material to organize itself into the required pattern without extensive external intervention, thereby achieving high manufacturing precision while limiting the increase in device complexity to only what is necessary for the self-assembly process
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The guard ring structure effectively confines defects to non-critical regions, improving the structural integrity and electrical isolation of integrated circuits, reducing random defects and enhancing the reliability of integrated circuits by controlling the location and nature of defects within the guard ring structure.
Implementation Method 1
using directed self-alignment block copolymers to form alternating regions with precise pitch alignment
Data Source
AI summary
A guard ring structure includes a plurality of first groups of concentric guard rings encompassing an active region of an integrated circuit, the concentric guard rings of the first groups having a guard ring pitch of less than 80 nm. The concentric guard rings of the first groups have a single, closed path that is distinct from an adjacent guard ring and defines a rectangular geometry with rounded corners. Second groups of guard rings are interspersed with and concentrically arranged with the first groups, where each corner region of the second groups include at least one guard ring defect. A method of fabricating a guard ring structure for an integrated circuit is also disclosed.