Deep trench crackstops under contacts

US8237246B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Matthew S. Angyal · Stormville, US
• Lawrence A. Clevenger · Saratoga Springs, US
• Vincent J. McGahay · Poughkeepsie, US
• Satyanarayana V. Nitta · Poughquag, US
• Shaoning Yao · Wappingers Falls, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 19, 2010
• Grant date: Aug 7, 2012
• Expiry date: Nov 12, 2030

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H10D62/117
• WIPO field: Semiconductors
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Deep trenches formed beneath contact level in a semiconductor substrate function as crackstops, in a die area or in a scribe area of the wafer, and may be disposed in rows of increasing distance from a device which they are intended to protect, and may be located under a lattice work crackstop structure in an interconnect stack layer. The deep trenches may remain unfilled, or may be filled with a dielectric material or conductor. The deep trenches may have a depth into the substrate of approximately 1 micron to 100 microns, and a width of approximately 10 nm to 10 microns.