Semiconductor Via Structure for Higher-Quality 3D Chip Bonding
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Solution Overview
Problem
The development of three-dimensional integrated circuits (3DICs) faces challenges in reducing bonding failure risk, particularly in ensuring high bonding quality during the stacking of semiconductor chips.
Innovation Solution
A method for manufacturing semiconductor structures involves forming a substrate with a dielectric layer, creating holes, depositing a barrier material and conductive layers, and selectively removing these layers to form a barrier material layer and via elements, ensuring the barrier material layer's upper surface is higher than the dielectric layer's, which enhances bonding surface area and quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If conventional bonding technology is used to stack multiple semiconductor chips, then space utilization is improved and component density is increased, but bonding failure risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The method performs preliminary actions by forming the barrier material layer with its upper surface higher than the dielectric layer surface before bonding occurs. This preliminary height difference ensures that during bonding, the barrier material layer maintains proper alignment and contact without forming rounding corners or sloping surfaces, thereby preventing bonding failures while enabling high component density
Solution Approach 2:
The invention applies local quality by creating a specific structural configuration where the barrier material layer's upper surface is locally higher than the dielectric layer surface. This localized height difference is maintained in the regions where bonding occurs, ensuring optimal bonding quality and reliability at critical interfaces while allowing overall high component density
2Reliability
If the barrier material layer upper surface is made higher than the dielectric layer upper surface, then bonding quality is improved and bonding failure is reduced, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The required height difference between the barrier material layer and dielectric layer surfaces is established in advance during the barrier material deposition process, before bonding operations. This preliminary formation of the height difference eliminates the need for complex post-processing steps to achieve proper bonding surfaces, thereby improving bonding quality without significantly increasing manufacturing complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The invention controls the thickness parameter of the barrier material layer to be greater than the combined thickness of the dielectric layer and any overlying layers at the bonding interface. By adjusting this thickness parameter during deposition, the desired height relationship is achieved, ensuring bonding quality while using standard manufacturing processes
3Manufacturing precision
If the barrier material layer upper surface is higher than the dielectric layer upper surface, then rounding corners and sloping surfaces are prevented, but material usage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The increased barrier material thickness is applied locally only at the bonding interface regions where maintaining surface flatness and preventing rounding corners is critical. Other regions of the barrier material layer can have reduced thickness, thereby achieving the required manufacturing precision at critical locations while minimizing overall material usage
Data Source
AI summary
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor structure is provided. The method includes: providing a substrate and a dielectric layer on the substrate; forming a hole in the dielectric layer; forming an initial barrier material layer and a conductive layer on an upper surface of the dielectric layer and in the hole; removing part of the initial barrier material layer and part of the conductive layer to form a barrier material layer and a via element in the hole respectively and expose the upper surface of the dielectric layer. An upper surface of the barrier material layer is higher than the upper surface of the dielectric layer.