Method for Fabricating Array-Molded Package-On-Package
A method and apparatus for fabricating a semiconductor device are disclosed. The method attaches semiconductor chips (130) on a sheet-like insulating substrate (101) integral with two or more patterned layers of conductive lines and vias and with contact pads (103) in pad locations. A mold is provided, which has a top portion (210) with metal protrusions (202) at locations matching the pad locations. The protrusions are shaped as truncated cones of a height suitable to approach the pad metal surface in the closed mold cavity. The substrate and the chip are loaded onto the bottom mold portion (310); the mold is closed by clamping the top portion onto the bottom portion so that the protrusions are aligned with the contact pads, approaching the pad surface. After pressuring encapsulation compound into the cavity, the mold is opened; the encapsulated device has apertures to the pad locations. Any residual compound formed on the pads is removed by laser, plasma, or chemical to expose the metal surface.
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The present invention is related in general to the field of semiconductor devices and processes and more specifically to the structure and fabrication method of low-profile, vertically integrated package-on-package integrated circuit assemblies.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ARTThe thickness of today's semiconductor package-on-package products is the sum of the thicknesses of the semiconductor chips, electric interconnections, and encapsulations, which are used in the individual devices constituting the building-blocks of the products. This simple approach, however, is no longer acceptable for the recent applications especially for hand-held wireless equipments, since these applications place new, stringent constraints on the size and volume of semiconductor components used for these applications.
Furthermore, while the market place renewed a push to shrink semiconductor devices both in two and in three dimensions, the miniaturization effort included packaging strategies for thinner semiconductor devices as well as electronic systems. This trend to reduce product thickness initiated an increasing tendency to have product warpage problems, especially in thin assemblies, caused by the mismatch in the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) between the semiconductor chip, the plastic substrates, the molding compound, the solder balls, and the printed circuit board. For instance, with silicon as the semiconductor material and plastic FR-4 as substrate material, the difference in CTE is about an order of magnitude. Warpage is aggravated by repeated temperature cycles and solder reflows. Warpage can lead to some of the most debilitating problems encountered by semiconductor assemblies such as the fracture and separation of solder joints, or the separation of materials followed by moisture ingress.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONApplicants recognize an existing need to shrink semiconductor devices both in two and in three dimensions, especially for a device-stacking and package-on-package method for semiconductor devices as well as electronic systems. Specifically, applicants recognize an existing need to design production equipment such as molds, to fabricate devices directly usable for assembling package-on-package the products.
The invention solves the problem by constructing one mold portion with contours so that the molded device will offer direct coupling with another device to form a package-on-package product. In addition, the new fabrication method is low-cost and simplified, and the products provide improved testability and thus yield. Using these contoured molds, stacking chips and packages will shorten the time-to-market of innovative products such as vertically integrated semiconductor systems, which utilize available chips of various capabilities (for example processors and memory chips), eliminating the wait for a redesign of chips.
Based on the contoured mold equipment, package-on-package devices can be produced with excellent electrical performance, mechanical stability free of warping, and high product reliability. Further, it is a technical advantage that the fabrication method is flexible enough to be applied for different semiconductor product families and a wide spectrum of design and process variations.
One embodiment of the invention is a method for fabricating a semiconductor device. A semiconductor chip is assembled on a sheet-like insulating substrate integral with two or more patterned layers of conductive lines and conductive vias and contact pads in pad locations. A mold is provided, which has a top portion with metal protrusions at locations matching the pad locations; the protrusions are shaped as truncated cones of a height suitable to approach the pad metal surface in the closed mold cavity. The bottom mold portion is featureless. The substrate with the chip is loaded onto the bottom mold portion; the mold is closed by clamping the top portion onto the bottom portion so that the protrusions are aligned with the contact pads, approaching the pad surface. A cavity is thus formed by the top portion. After pressuring encapsulation compound into the cavity, the mold is opened. The encapsulation of the molded device has apertures to the pad locations. Finally, any residual compound formed on the pads is removed to expose the metal surface.
The protrusions approach the pad metal surface in the closed cavity to a distance between 0 and 100 μm. The compound formed in that distance can be removed either by shining laser light into the compound apertures, depositing compound particles on the sidewalls; or by a plasma clean-up process, leaving a roughened surface on the aperture sidewalls; or by a chemical etch process, leaving a compound undercut next to the pad metal surface.
The mold apertures may be filled with solder material contacting the pad metal surface, or they may serve to attach another semiconductor device with solder bodies, creating a package-on-package semiconductor assembly.
Another embodiment of the invention is a mold with top and bottom portions forming a cavity for holding semiconductor devices, wherein the device includes a semiconductor chip assembled on a sheet-like insulating substrate having contact pads in pad locations and with a metal surface. The mold is operable to be closed by clamping the top portion onto the bottom portion. The top portion includes metal protrusions at locations matching the pad locations; the protrusions are shaped as truncated cones of a height suitable to approach the pad metal surface in the closed cavity. The cones are angled with a range of about 10 to 30 degrees from vertical. Furthermore, the protrusions may optionally include a ridge operable to create a gas release channel in the aperture of the contact pads.
Another embodiment of the invention is a semiconductor device including a sheet-like insulating substrate with a perimeter, a first (top) surface with a chip assembly site and contact pads in pad locations and with a metal surface, and a second (bottom) surface. A semiconductor chip is assembled (by wire bonding or by flip-chip) on the assembly site. An encapsulated region, located only on the top substrate and extending to the substrate perimeter, encloses the chip in compound and has contact apertures at the pad locations for permitting external communication with the metal surfaces; the apertures may include sidewall surfaces with compound structures modified from its smooth-molded character by a metal clean-up process.
The compound structures on the aperture sidewalls may include thermally modified compound particles indicative of a laser process used for exposing the pad metal. Alternatively, the aperture sidewalls may have a roughened surface indicative of a plasma clean-up process used for exposing the pad metal. Or alternatively, the aperture sidewalls have indications of a chemical etch process used for exposing the pad metal.
The device further may have elongated grooves in the contact apertures operable as gas release channels. Solder material may be in the apertures, contacting the pad metal surface. Alternatively, another semiconductor device with solder balls can be attached to the first substrate surface by contacting the pad surfaces with the solder balls and thus creating a package-on-package semiconductor assembly. In addition, solder bodies may be attached to the second substrate surface.
The technical advances represented by certain embodiments of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the novel features set forth in the appended claims.
A plurality of semiconductor chips 130 is provided. In order to attach and electrically connect the chips, they are assembled on each assembly site either by adhesive attachment and wire bonding, or by flip-chip connection. For flip-attachment, the connecting metal bumps 140 may be made of solder, gold, or copper.
As illustrated in
The top portion 201 includes protrusions 202 at locations matching the pad locations of the device shown in
The height 202b of the protrusion is selected to be suitable to approach the substrate pad metal (103 in
The bottom portion 301 in
In the next process step (see
In order to avoid any residual distance between protrusions and pads, causing a gap between protrusions and pads, and thus to avoid any bleeding of mold compound into the gap, an alternative method includes the step of placing a thin sheet 220 of compliant, inert polymer over the surface 201a of the complete top mold portion (see
Next, encapsulation material such as epoxy-based and filler-loaded molding compound is pressured into the cavity to fill the cavity; the runners for supplying the compound, and the gates needed for entering the cavity and controlling the compound flow, are not shown in
After partially polymerizing the compound 601, the mold is opened and the substrate together with the encapsulated array of chips is removed from the mold;
The first method employs drilling or vaporizing by laser light. A focused laser beam shines into the encapsulation aperture 603, removes the compound layer thereby forming particles 604 in a thermal process, and may deposit these particles on the otherwise smooth sidewalls 603a; particles 604 attest to the thermal process used to clean up the pads. The second method employs a plasma clean-up process; the plasma leaves a roughened surface 605 on the aperture sidewalls 603a. The third method employs a chemical etch process, which leaves a surface structure 606 recognizable by one skilled in the art. All three methods are material-sensitive and thus controllable to stop at the metal surface of the contact pads.
When the compliant inert film is employed, which can be peeled off after the molding process (see above), the pad metal surfaces remain clean throughout the molding process and consequently no clean-up step is necessary.
In an additional process step, reflow bodies such as solder balls 701 are attached to the attachment pads 112 (see
In an optional process step, the mold apertures 703 may be filled with solder paste 704, which contacts the surface of pad metal 103. During the reflow step of the paste, grooves 705 may help to separate the flux-rich part form the solder-rich part.
A discrete unit is illustrated in
The gas release channels help to prevent the trapping of air and gas, when another device 902 with solder bodies 910 is attached to the first device 901 and the apertures are filled with solder to contact the exposed surfaces of the contact pads 103.
Another embodiment of the invention is an apparatus for the fabrication of a semiconductor device; the apparatus is illustrated in
The top portion includes protrusions (202 in
The bottom portion of the mold is preferably featureless, in particular in molds for encapsulating whole arrays as shown in
Another embodiment of the invention is a semiconductor device, singulated by sawing from an array-molded substrate, and designed to become part of a semiconductor package-on-package device. An example of the embodiment is illustrated in
A semiconductor chip is attached to the assembly site (not shown in
The embodiment has an encapsulated region, only on the top of the substrate and defined by the substrate perimeter 820. Consequently, the encapsulation material covers the whole top substrate area of the device, including the chip. The encapsulation forms contact apertures 703 at the pad locations for permitting external communication with the pad metal surfaces 103; preferably, the apertures have the shape of cones. The surfaces of the aperture sidewalls include compound structures, which have been modified from the otherwise smooth surface by the process employed to clean up the pad metal surfaces and thus bear witness of the selected process.
As an example, when the compound structures on the sidewalls include thermally modified compound particles, such as rounded particles, they indicate that a laser technique has been used to remove an incidental compound layer from the pad surface and thus expose the pad metal.
Alternatively, when the aperture sidewalls have a roughened surface, they indicate that a plasma clean-up process has been used to expose the pad metal.
In another situation, the aperture sidewalls may have surface structures recognizable by one skilled in the art as residues of a chemical etch process used to expose the pad metal.
In one row of apertures,
While this invention has been described in reference to illustrative embodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description. As an example, the invention applies to products using any type of semiconductor chip, discrete or integrated circuit, and the material of the semiconductor chip may comprise silicon, silicon germanium, gallium arsenide, or any other semiconductor or compound material used in integrated circuit manufacturing.
As another example, the metal protrusions of the top mold portion may be shaped as cylinders, cubes, rhomboids, or any other 3-dimensional configuration. It is therefore intended that the appended claims encompass any such modifications or embodiment.
Claims
1. A method for fabricating a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:
- providing a sheet-like insulating substrate integral with two or more patterned layers of conductive lines and vias, the substrate having a first surface with chip assembly sites and contact pads in pad locations, and a second surface;
- providing semiconductor chips;
- attaching a chip to each assembly site;
- providing a mold having top and bottom portions, the top portion forming a cavity for holding semiconductor devices;
- the top portion including protrusions at locations matching the pad locations, the protrusions shaped as truncated cones of a height suitable to approach the pad metal surface when the mold is in a closed form;
- the bottom portion being without corresponding protrusions;
- loading the substrate with the chips onto the bottom mold portion, resting the second substrate surface on the mold and positioning the first surface with the contact pads away from the bottom mold portion;
- closing the mold by clamping the top portion onto the bottom portion so that the protrusions are aligned with the contact pads, approaching the pad surface;
- pressuring molding compound into the cavity to fill the cavity, thereby creating an encapsulation;
- opening the mold and removing the substrate together with the encapsulated chips from the mold, the encapsulation having apertures to the pad locations; and
- removing any residual compound on the pads to expose the metal surface.
2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the protrusions approach the pad metal surface in the closed cavity to a distance between 0 and 100 μm.
3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the protrusion touches the pad metal surface in the closed mold.
4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the metal protrusions further include a ridge operable to create an aperture having a gas release channel in the aperture.
5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of removing residual compound from the pad surface is performed by the process of shining laser light into the encapsulation apertures, thereby depositing compound particles on the otherwise smooth sidewalls.
6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of removing residual compound from the pad surface is performed by a plasma clean-up process, thereby creating a roughened surface on the aperture sidewalls.
7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of removing residual compound from the pad surface is performed by a chemical etch process, thereby leaving etch structures on the aperture sidewalls.
8. The method according to claim 1 further including, before the step of loading the substrate, the step of placing a compliant film over the top portion loaded with the inserts.
9. The method according to claim 8 further including, after the step of opening the mold, the step of peeling the compliant film off the top portion.
10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of attaching the chip includes wire bonding.
11. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of attaching the chip includes a flip-chip process.
12. The method according to claim 1 further including the step of attaching solder balls to the second substrate surface.
13. The method according to claim 1 further including the step of filling the encapsulation apertures to the pads with solder material.
14. The method according to claim 1 further including the step of singulating individual units from the sheet-like substrate.
15. The method according to claim 14 wherein the step of singulating is performed by a sawing process, thereby creating a surface with saw marks.
16. The method according to claim 15 further including the step of attaching another semiconductor device with solder balls to the first substrate surface of the singulated unit so that the exposed pad surfaces are contacted by the solder balls, thereby creating a package-on-package semiconductor assembly.
17. The method according to claim 1 wherein the pad metal surface has a layer including gold or palladium.
18. An apparatus for the fabrication of a semiconductor device comprising:
- a mold having top and bottom portions, the top portion having a cavity for holding semiconductor devices, the device includes a semiconductor chip attached to a sheet-like insulating substrate integral with two or more patterned layers of conductive lines and vias, the substrate having contact pads in pad locations;
- the mold operable to be closed by clamping the top portion onto the bottom portion;
- the top portion including protrusions at locations matching the pad locations, the protrusions shaped as truncated cones of a height suitable to approach the pad metal surface in the closed mold; and
- the bottom portion being without corresponding protrusions.
19. A device comprising:
- a sheet-like insulating substrate integral with two or more patterned layers of conductive lines and vias, the substrate having a first surface with a chip assembly site and contact pads in pad locations, and a second surface;
- a semiconductor chip attached to the assembly site; and
- an encapsulated region on the first surface, extending to the edge of the substrate, enclosing the chip and having contact apertures at the pad locations for external communication with the metal surfaces, the apertures having a not-smooth sidewall surfaces.
20. The device according to claim 19 wherein the not-smooth aperture sidewall surfaces include laser spalled compound particles.
21. The device according to claim 19 wherein the not-smooth aperture sidewalls include a plasma-roughened surface.
22. The device according to claim 19 wherein the not-smooth aperture sidewall surfaces have chemically etched structures.
23. The device according to claim 19 wherein the semiconductor chip is attached to the substrate by wire bonding.
24. The device according to claim 19 wherein the semiconductor chip is attached on the substrate by a flip-chip process.
Type: Application
Filed: May 18, 2007
Publication Date: Nov 20, 2008
Applicant: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED (Dallas, TX)
Inventors: Mark A. Gerber (Plano, TX), David N. Walter (Dallas, TX)
Application Number: 11/750,757
International Classification: H01L 23/48 (20060101); B05C 13/00 (20060101); H01L 21/58 (20060101);