Chip-scale packages
Improved chip-scale packages wherein semiconductor die side surfaces are free of the material defects associated with prior art chip-scale package formation. In one embodiment, chip-scale package includes a semiconductor die includes an active surface, an opposing passive surface, and a plurality of etched side surfaces extending from the active surface to the passive surface. A first protective coating may extend over the active surface of the semiconductor die and a second protective coating may extend over the passive surface of the semiconductor die wherein one of the first protective coating and the second protective coating extends over the plurality of etched side surfaces of the semiconductor die.
This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 10/690,417, filed Oct. 20, 2003, pending.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to packaging of semiconductor dice. More particularly, the present invention relates to improved processes for separating and coating semiconductor dice at the wafer level to form individual chip-scale packages.
2. State of the Art
A solid-state electronic device in the form of a semiconductor die or chip is typically manufactured of materials such as silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide or indium phosphide. Circuitry is formed on an active surface of the semiconductor die and may include further circuit levels within the die itself. Bond pads are also formed on the active surface to provide electrical contacts for the semiconductor die circuitry. Due to the materials used and the intricate nature of construction, a semiconductor die is highly susceptible to physical damage or contamination from environmental conditions such as moisture.
Conventionally, a semiconductor die has been protected by mounting it within a plastic, metal or ceramic package that prevents physical contact with the die and provides hermetic sealing. The package also includes conductive leads for attaching the die bond pads to outside electrical connections. The materials required for this packaging approach increase cost, while resulting in a larger device size that takes up valuable real estate when mounted to a carrier substrate. The added lead structure may also influence processing speed, and further presents opportunities for moisture incursion at interfaces between the conductive leads and other packaging materials.
Some efforts to reduce the size and cost of these electronic devices have resulted in doing away entirely with the above-described packaging materials. Instead, the semiconductor die is protected by forming what is commonly referred to as a chip-scale package (CSP). In a typical example of this packaging method, a protective coating is added to surfaces of the semiconductor die itself, and conductive bumps are formed over the die bond pads using a variety of known techniques such as screen printing or by ball bumping with wire-bonding equipment. The bumps may then be electrically connected to circuitry on a carrier substrate by tape automated bonding (TAB), or may be directly attached thereto by mounting the semiconductor die in a flip-chip fashion on the carrier substrate. Alternatively, the conductive bumps may be omitted, and the CSP may be attached to a carrier substrate using conventional wire bonds.
Materials used for formation of the protective coating on the surfaces of the semiconductor die may include, for example, silicon nitride (SiN), silicon dioxide (SiO2), or other materials like epoxy or polymers. In the prior art, these coatings would be deposited on the active and passive surfaces of a wafer containing an array of semiconductor die locations, and the wafer would subsequently be singulated to provide individual semiconductor dice. A resulting semiconductor die using this method suffers from the fact that its sides, and specifically the sides of its active surface, are left exposed after the wafer singulation. The possibility remains, therefore, that moisture may enter the sides of the die and damage nearby circuitry.
In order to rectify these shortcomings, various attempts have been made to add additional protective coatings to the sides of a semiconductor die. One approach to coating side surfaces has been to first form cuts or channels in the active surface of a wafer to at least partially expose the sides of each semiconductor die, and then deposit the protective coating onto the wafer. In this manner, the protective coating material enters the channels surrounding each die, and subsequent singulation of the wafer along the channels provides semiconductor dice having active surface and partial side surface coatings. Examples of such a process are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,094 to Ting, U.S. Pat. No. 5,933,713 to Farnworth and U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,605 to Akram et al. While these methods provide at least partial side surface protective coatings, they may require additional processing of the semiconductor dice on an individual basis to completely coat the sides or back of the semiconductor dice.
Another problem with these methods is that formation of the channels in the active surface of the wafer is typically accomplished using processes that may cause damage to the semiconductor material on the side surfaces of a completed semiconductor die. The channels may be formed, for instance, by cutting with a dicing saw or a laser. When the channels are cut using a dicing saw, diamond particles in the saw may leave nicks and scratches in the cutting surface. Similarly, when the channels are formed by laser cutting, heat from the laser energy may negatively affect the semiconductor material along the channel surfaces, leaving what is sometimes referred to as a heat-affected zone (HAZ). These material defects may result in crack propagation from stress concentrations that will damage the active circuitry adjacent to the channels, or may degrade the semiconductor material to a point where it exhibits current leakages or other undesirable electrical properties. This problem is further aggravated by the fact that the area available for cutting between adjacent semiconductor dice in a wafer, sometimes referred to as a street, is constantly being decreased to save space. For example, while wafers have previously typically been formed with 150-micron street widths, the current manufacturing technology involves forming narrower streets on the order of 100 microns. The reduction in width means that any material defects in the surfaces of channels will be closer to the active circuitry of a semiconductor die and will, therefore, be more likely to cause damage.
In view of the above, it would be desirable to have an improved method for separating and coating the surfaces of semiconductor dice at the wafer level.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention, in several embodiments, relates to improved chip-scale packages formed by methods that enable applications of protective coatings to multiple surfaces of semiconductor dice while remaining in a wafer level array. The methods also provide semiconductor die side surfaces that are free of the material defects associated with prior art chip-scale package formation.
In a first embodiment according to the present invention, channels are formed in the active surface of a wafer to expose side surfaces of an array of semiconductor dice contained in the wafer. The channels are initially formed along streets between adjacent semiconductor die locations by cutting with a dicing saw or a laser to a depth extending below the active circuitry of the wafer. The surfaces of the channels are then etched to remove defects in the semiconductor material resulting from cutting with the dicing saw or laser. Once the channels are completed, a protective coating is deposited on the active surface of the wafer to seal the active surface and at least a portion of the side surfaces of each semiconductor die. Finally, the wafer is singulated along the channels to provide a plurality of individual chip-scale packages having protective coatings covering the semiconductor die active surface and at least a portion of the side surfaces.
In a variation of the above embodiment, after depositing the protective coating on the active surface of the wafer, material is removed from the back surface of the wafer by a backgrinding or other planarization process to a depth that exposes the channels. A second protective coating is deposited on the back surface of the wafer, and the wafer is singulated along the channels to provide chip-scale packages having protective coatings covering the semiconductor die active surface, all of the side surfaces and the semiconductor die back surface.
In a further variations after exposing the channels by backgrinding or planarization, the back surface of the wafer is etched to a depth such that a portion of protective coating material in the channels protrudes from the back surface of the wafer. When the second protective coating is deposited the protruding coating material assists in anchoring the second protective coating in place.
In a second embodiment according to the present invention, the protective coating is deposited on the active surface of the wafer without forming channels in the active surface. Instead, channels are formed in the back surface of the wafer after depositing the protective coating on the active surface of the wafer. As with the first embodiment, the channels are initially formed along streets between adjacent semiconductor die locations by cutting with a dicing saw or a laser. The surfaces of the channels are then etched to remove defects in the semiconductor material resulting from cutting with the dicing saw or laser and to expose the protective coating formed on the wafer active surface through the channels. Once the channels are completed, a second protective coating is deposited onto the back surface of the wafer and over the protective coating in the channels, and the wafer is singulated along the channels to provide chip-scale packages having protective coatings covering the semiconductor die active surface, all of the side surfaces and the semiconductor die back surface.
Other and further features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following descriptions of the various embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the following embodiments are provided for illustrative and exemplary purposes only, and that numerous combinations of the elements of the various embodiments of the present invention are
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGSIn the drawings, which illustrate what is currently considered to be the best mode for carrying out the invention:
The following embodiments of the present invention are provided as examples to assist in a thorough understanding of the present invention. It should be apparent, however, that various additions, modifications and combinations of the embodiments are within the scope of the present invention. In the accompanying drawings, various aspects of the present invention are illustrated to more clearly show the chip-scale packaging structures and methods for their formation. Common elements of the illustrated embodiments are designated with like reference numerals. The drawings are not meant to be illustrative of actual views of any particular portion of a chip-scale packaging structure, but are merely idealized schematic representations which are employed to more clearly and fully depict the invention in connection with the following description.
Illustrated in drawing
Bond pads 14 are also formed on active surface 8 to provide external electrical contacts for the circuitry of each semiconductor die location 4. As described above, bond pads 14 may be electrically connected to higher-level circuitry on a carrier substrate using various techniques, including flip-chip mounting, TAB, or conventional wire bonding. While not depicted in
Turning to
After channels 16 have been cut and etched,
It is also possible that protective coating 42 may be formed on wafer 2 using a known stereolithographic process. In stereolithography, protective coating 42 may be formed by curing superimposed layers of a photocurable liquid polymer over active surface 8 by exposure to a source of electromagnetic radiation. Under this process, the photopolymer over bond pads 14 may be left uncured, thereby forming apertures 44 in protective coating 42. Examples of stereolithographic processes suitable for forming protective coating 42 are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,432,752 to Farnworth and U.S. Pat. No. 6,326,698 to Akram, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
As previously discussed, conductive bumps 46 may sometimes be formed on bond pads 14 when electrical connection is accomplished by a flip-chip or TAB-type connection.
In some instances, however, it may be necessary or desirable to completely seal semiconductor dice 104, such as when intended for use in extreme environments or when circuit layers 6 are highly sensitive to moisture. In a variation of the above-described embodiment, wafer 2 may be further processed prior to singulation in order to completely seal the individual semiconductor dice 104.
Turning to
In
With either of the above-described variations to the first embodiment of the present invention, it is noted that exposing protective coating 42 within channels 16 through passive surface 12 also provides a mechanism for back side alignment of wafer 2 in subsequent processing. Conventionally, back side alignment of a wafer has been difficult because the pattern of semiconductor dice 104 along streets 10 is not visible on passive surface 12. By exposing protective coating 42 through passive surface 12 in the present invention, the locations of semiconductor dice 104 may be easily viewed for alignment, such by an automated vision system having cameras that enable precision alignment using pattern recognition.
In a second embodiment according to the present invention shown in
Once the saw-cutting or laser-cutting process is complete, an etching process is carried out to remove the cutting-induced material defects in side surfaces 72 such as the scratches 28 or HAZ 34 described with respect to the first embodiment. As in the first embodiment,
In the second embodiment of the present invention, a backgrinding or planarization process may also be carried out on passive surface 12 of wafer 2. While removing semiconductor material from passive surface 12 is not required to expose protective coating 42 as in the first embodiment, it may be desirable for other reasons. Reducing the thickness of wafer 2, for example, minimizes the final die size and reduces the time and expense associated with cutting wafer 2 during subsequent singulation into individual chip-scale packages. Furthermore, backgrinding or planarization may remove undesirable contaminants which may have been introduced into passive surface 12 of the wafer 2 during fabrication. With the second embodiment, removal of semiconductor material from passive surface 12 by a backgrinding or planarization process may be carried out prior to cutting channels 70. Alternatively, the etching process itself can be carried out in such a way that the etching solution is applied to remove material from passive surface 12 at the same time side surfaces 72 and base portion 76 are etched within channels 70.
All of the above-illustrated embodiments and variations thereof of the present invention provide chip-scale packaging for semiconductor dice with simplified and reduced sealing processes carried out at the wafer level. Furthermore, the side surfaces of the separated semiconductor dice include a substantially smooth layer of semiconductor material that is substantially free of the defects associated with prior art processes. Although the present invention has been depicted and described with respect to the illustrated embodiments, various additions, deletions and modifications are contemplated within its scope. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description. Further, all changes which may fall within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims and elements and features thereof are to be embraced within their scope.
Claims
1. A chip-scale package, comprising:
- a semiconductor die having an active surface, an opposing passive surface, and a plurality of etched side surfaces extending from the active surface to the passive surface;
- a first protective coating extending over the active surface of the semiconductor die; and
- a second protective coating extending over the passive surface of the semiconductor die wherein one of the first protective coating and the second protective coating extends over the plurality of etched side surfaces of the semiconductor die.
2. The chip-scale package of claim 1, wherein the first protective coating extends over the plurality of etched side surfaces of the semiconductor die.
3. The chip-scale package of claim 2, wherein a portion of the first protective coating protrudes beyond the passive surface of the semiconductor die and a portion of the second protective coating is adhered to a side of the portion of the first protective coating protruding beyond the passive surface of the semiconductor die.
4. The chip-scale package of claim 1, wherein the second protective coating extends over the plurality of etched side surfaces of the semiconductor die.
5. The chip-scale package of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first protective coating and the second protective coating comprises a polymer sealant material.
6. The chip-scale package of claim 5, wherein the polymer sealant material comprises a photocurable polymer sealant material.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 17, 2005
Publication Date: Apr 20, 2006
Inventors: Warren Farnworth (Nampa, ID), Kyle Kirby (Boise, ID), William Hiatt (Eagle, ID)
Application Number: 11/281,631
International Classification: H01L 23/58 (20060101);