Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for editing an integrated circuit

US6159753A · kind A · utility

5Cited by
10References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 20, 1996
Grant dateDec 12, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 20, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01L21/76892
  • WIPO fieldSemiconductors
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for editing an integrated circuit. In one embodiment, an integrated circuit substrate is placed into a laser chemical vapor deposition (LCVD) tool and a conductive metal film is deposited onto the integrated circuit substrate over an area of interest. The integrated circuit substrate is subsequently placed into a focused ion beam (FIB) tool where an optional FIB cleaning step is performed on the conductive element deposited by the LCVD tool to help ensure that a good electrical contact can be made. The FIB tool is also used to introduce any desired cuts into signal lines of the integrated circuit to complete edits. The FIB is also used to remove passivation over integrated circuit nodes of interest to expose buried metal lines for subsequent coupling to the conductive element deposited with the LCVD tool. The FIB tool is then used to deposit a focused ion beam chemical vapor deposition (FIBCVD) conductive element between the exposed integrated circuit nodes of interest and the conductive element deposited with the LCVD tool. As a result, a new conductive element between the nodes of interest is formed through the conductive elements formed by both the LCVD…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.