METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A WAFER LEVEL CHIP SCALE PACKAGE
A semiconductor wafer with semiconductor chips having chip pads and a passivation layer is provided. First and second dielectric layers are sequentially formed on the passivation layer. The first and second dielectric layers form a ball pad area that includes an embossed portion, i.e., having a non-planar surface. A metal wiring layer is formed on the resulting structure including the embossed portion. A third dielectric layer is formed on the metal wiring layer. A portion of the third dielectric layer located on the embossed portion is removed to form a ball pad. A solder ball is formed on the embossed ball pad. With the embossed ball pad, the contact area between the solder balls and the metal wiring layer is increased, thereby improving the connection reliability.
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The present application is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/690,782, filed on Oct. 21, 2003, now pending, which claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 2002-64513, filed on Oct. 22, 2002, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a wafer level chip scale package.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lately, the electronic industry has been seeking to manufacture electronic products that are extremely small, light weight, operate at high speeds, have multiple functions and have high performance, all at an effective cost. One of the methods used to try to attain such a goal is a package assembly technique. Thanks to this technique, new types of packages have been developed, for example, a chip scale or chip size package (CSP). The CSP has a number of advantages over typical plastic packages. Of all the advantages, the most important is the package size. According to international semiconductor associations, such as the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC), and Electronic Industry Association of Japan (EIAJ), the CSP is defined as a package whose size is not larger than 1.2 times the size of the chip.
The CSP has been mainly employed in electronic products requiring miniaturization and mobility, such as digital camcorders, portable telephones, notebooks, and memory cards. CSPs include semiconductor devices such as digital signal processors (DSP), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), and micro controllers. CSPs also include memory devices such as dynamic random access memories (DRAM) and flash memories. Use of CSPs having memory devices is steadily increasing. Over fifty varieties of CSPs are at present being developed or produced all over the world.
The CSP has, however, some drawbacks. For example, there are some difficulties in obtaining acceptable reliability of the package. Further, the CSP needs additional equipment requiring large quantities of raw and/or subsidiary materials and high per unit costs of production, which causes a reduction in price competition.
In order to overcome these drawbacks, a wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP) has appeared as a solution.
Generally, a package is manufactured through wafer fabrication, cutting, and assembly processes. The package assembly process employs separate equipment and raw/subsidiary materials from those of the wafer fabrication process. The WLCSP, however, can allow manufacture of the packages as final products at wafer level, i.e. without dividing them into individual chips. The WLCSP can apply the equipment and processes used for the wafer fabrication process to complete the package assembly process as well. Therefore, the WLCSP may allow the manufacture of packages at a more effective cost.
Referring to
The semiconductor chip 14 comprises the chip pads 11 and a passivation layer 13. The chip pads 11 are electrically connected to an integrated circuit (IC) of the silicon substrate 12. The passivation layer 13 protects the IC and the chip pads 11. The chip pads 11 are made of Al and the passivation layer 13 is made of oxide film or nitride film.
A dielectric layer 22 (hereinafter referred to as a first dielectric layer) is formed on the passivation layer 13 at a predetermined thickness, and is used for formation of the metal wiring layer 21. The first dielectric layer 22 overlies the passivation layer 13, leaving a portion of each chip pad 11 exposed.
A metal base layer 25 is formed on the chip pad 11 and the first dielectric layer 22, in the position on which the metal wiring layer 21 is to be formed.
The metal wiring layer 21 is formed on the first dielectric layer 22 toward the center of the silicon substrate 12. The metal wiring layer 21 is connected to the chip pads 11. The ball pads 23 are formed at the ends of the metal wiring layer 21 for formation of the solder balls 28.
Another dielectric layer 24 (hereinafter referred to as a second dielectric layer) is formed to a predetermined thickness on the entire surface of the silicon substrate 12 except for the ball pads 23. The second dielectric layer 24 covers the passivation layer 13, the metal wiring layer 21, and the first dielectric layer 22.
After the solder ball 28 is placed on a ball pad 23, the solder ball 28 is fixed or connected to the ball pad 23 through a solder reflow process using heat.
The conventional CSP 20 has several disadvantages. For example, the size of the solder ball 28 is small and the ball pad 23 is exposed only through a connection hole 27 formed in the second dielectric layer 24. Thus, the contact area between the ball pad 23 and the solder ball 28 is relatively small. The narrower the pitch between two adjacent ball pads 23 is, the smaller the contact area between the ball pad 23 and the solder ball 28 must be. Therefore, the connection reliability of the solder ball 28 to the ball pad 23 is reduced together with the reduction of the pitch between the ball pads 23. In addition, the ball pad 23 is formed in a circular shape and is enclosed by the second dielectric layer 24. Thus, even though the solder ball 28 is not metallically connected with the second dielectric layer 24, it is in contact with it. This plus the fact that the connection of the solder ball 28 is made only to the flat surface of the ball pad 23 may reduce the connection reliability of the solder ball 28 to the ball pad 23.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAn integrated circuit (IC) is created on or in a semiconductor substrate such as silicon substrate by a wafer fabrication process. The IC is electrically connected to a plurality of chip pads. A passivation layer is formed on an upper surface of the substrate for protection of the chip pads and the IC. A semiconductor chip contains both the IC and the chip pads. A semiconductor wafer includes these semiconductor chips and scribe lines. The scribe lines are used to divide the semiconductor chips. A first dielectric layer is formed on the passivation layer, leaving a portion of each chip pad exposed. A second dielectric layer is formed on the first dielectric layer to expose the chip pad. The second dielectric layer has an embossed portion such that a portion of the first dielectric layer where a ball pad is to be formed is exposed. A metal wiring layer is formed on the second dielectric layer and the embossed portion for the redistribution of the chip pad. The metal wiring layer is also connected to the chip pad. A third dielectric layer is then formed on the metal wiring layer and the second dielectric layer for protection of the metal wiring layer. A ball pad is formed by removing a portion of the third dielectric layer located on the embossed portion. A solder ball is placed on the ball pad including the embossed portion of the second dielectric layer. The semiconductor wafer is cut along the scribe lines to obtain wafer level chip scale packages.
The embossed portion may be formed such that the ring shape of the second dielectric layer remains on the exposed circular shape of the first dielectric layer. The embossed portion may include a concave portion of the first dielectric layer and a convex portion of the second dielectric layer. The convex portion may have a discontinuous ring shape. The diameter of the convex portion may be smaller than that of the concave portion. The area of the convex portion may be approximately equal to that of the concave portion inside the convex portion.
The first dielectric layer may be formed such that the passivation layer inside the ring-shaped second dielectric layer is exposed.
The second dielectric layer may be formed such that the passivation layer inside the ring-shaped second dielectric layer is exposed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThese and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily understood with reference to the following detailed description thereof provided in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate like structural elements, and, in which:
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
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Conventional photolithography and etching techniques are used to expose the chip pads 31 through the second dielectric layer 44 and to embossed portion 50. The second dielectric layer 44 may also be made of a material including, but not limited to, polyimide or BCB.
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Before the formation of the metal wiring layer 41, a metal base layer 45 may be formed where the metal wiring layer 41 is to be formed. The metal base layer 45 may serve as an adhesive, a diffusion barrier, or a plating base layer for the metal wiring layer 41. The metal base layer 45 may be Ti/Cu, Ti/Ti—Cu/Cu, Cr/Cr—Cu/Cu, TiW/Cu, Al/Ni/Cu, or Al/NiV/Cu.
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The area of the convex portion 54 may be approximately equal to the area of the concave portion 52 inside the convex portion 54, for improved connection reliability between the solder ball 60 and the ball pad 43.
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Although the present invention described above employs the ball placement method, the solder ball 60 may be formed by other methods such as plating, stencil printing, or metal jet methods.
After the package is manufactured at wafer level as described above, the packages are divided along the scribe lines (36 of
Although the previously described embodiment shows the convex portion 54 as a continuous ring-shape, the convex portion 54 may have a discontinuous ring-shape, as shown in
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Because the formation of the metal wiring layer 241 and the metal base layer 245 in this embodiment are the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof is herein omitted.
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Although this embodiment shows a continuous ring-shaped convex portion 254 between the first concave portion 252a and the second concave portion 252b, the convex portion 254 may be discontinuously formed as shown in
Referring to
After the package manufacture is completed through the above described embodiments, the wafer is divided along the scribe lines to obtain a wafer level chip scale package 270.
In the embodiment described in
The ball pad may be selected according to the thicknesses and material properties of the first and second dielectric layers 242, 244. For example, if the second dielectric layer 244 has a thickness of 15 μm or greater, the ball pad of the embodiment right above (
In accordance with the present invention, an embossed portion is formed inside the ball pad and the metal wiring layer is formed on the embossed portion. Thus, the contact area between the solder ball and the metal wiring layer can be significantly increased, thereby improving the connection reliability between the ball pad and the solder ball.
Although the exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail hereinabove, it should be understood that many variations and/or modifications of the basic inventive concepts herein taught, which may appear to those skilled in the art, will still fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.
Claims
1. A wafer level chip scale package (CSP), comprising:
- a semiconductor chip having chip pads and a passivation layer exposing chip pads;
- a first patterned dielectric layer disposed on the passivation layer; and
- a second patterned dielectric layer, the first and second patterned dielectric layers exposing the chip pads,
- wherein the first and second patterned dielectric layers have an embossed portion comprising a concave portion and a convex portion, the concave portion exposing a portion of the first patterned dielectric layer where a ball pad is to be formed, the convex portion being formed of the second patterned dielectric layer.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the concave portion comprises a circle shape, and the convex portion comprises a ring shape and having a smaller diameter than the concave portion.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the convex portion comprises a discontinuous ring shape.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the area of the concave portion inside the convex portion is approximately equal to the area of the convex portion.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 21, 2007
Publication Date: Jun 14, 2007
Applicant: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. (Gyeonggi-do)
Inventors: Jin-Hyuk LEE (Kyungki-Do), Gu-Sung KIM (Kyungki-Do), Dong-Ho LEE (Kyungki-Do), Dong-Hyeon JANG (Seoul)
Application Number: 11/677,478
International Classification: H01L 23/48 (20060101);