Interconnects, integrated circuits

Reactor 8 [R 8] Electrical Integrated Circuit Interconnect (ASIC) - Chip-to-world... 

Prior to 1950, these industries were based on vacuum tube technology, and most electronic gear was assembled on metal chassis with mechanical attachment, soldering, and hand wiring. All the components of pretransistor electronic products—vacuum tubes, capacitors, inductors, and resistors— were manufactured by mechanical processes. A rapid evolution occurred after the invention of the transistor and the monolithic integrated circuit. Today s electronic equipment is filled with integrated circuits, interconnection boards, and other devices that are all manufactured by chemical processes. The medium used for the transmission of information and data over dis-... 

Integrated circuit interconnects are normally made of aluminum—instead of metals such as copper, silver, and gold that have higher electrical conductivities—on the basis of diffusion considerations. During high-temperature heat treatments, interconnect metal atoms diffuse into the silicon appreciable concentrations wiU compromise the chip s functionahty. 

Martin SJ, Godschalx JP, Mills ME, Shaffer EG II, Townsend PH (2000) Development of a low-dielectric-constant pol3oner for the fabrication of integrated circuit interconnect. Adv Mater 12 1769-1778... 

K.V. Gadepally, R.M. Hawk, Integrated circuits interconnect metallization for the submicron age, Proc. Arkansas Academy of Science, 43 (1989) 29. 

Metallization. Integrated circuits require conductive layers to form electrical connections between contacts on a device, between devices on a chip, between metal layers on a chip, and between chips and higher levels of interconnections needed for packaging the chips. It is critical to the success of IC fabrication that the metallization be stable throughout the process sequence in order to maintain the correct physical and electrical properties of the circuit. It must also be possible to pattern the blanket deposition. 

The production of integrated circuits has, in the 40 years since their invention, become the most complex and expensive manufacturing procedure ever it even leaves the production of airliners in the shade. One circuit requires a sequence of several dozen manufacturing steps, with positioning of successive optically defined layers accurate to a fraction of a micrometer, all interconnected electrically, and... 

The mechanical properties, especially the internal stresses set up by interaction of substrate and deposit, have a close bearing on the behavior of metallic interconnects (electrical conductors) in integrated circuits. Such interconnects suffer from more diseases than does a drink-sodden and tobacco-crazed invalid, and stress-states play roughly the role of nicotine poisoning. A very good review specifically of stresses in films is by Nix (1989). 

Such units are used in the watches with electronic drives instead of the traditional mechanical spring driven drives. Another area where the combination function is being used is in large-scale integrated circuit unit supports where the complex interconnection requirements make a combination circuit support and printed circuit unit an attractive way to achieve high packing efficiency such as computer hardware systems. 

Anaya, N., et al., Copper Interconnection Technology for Silicon Large Scale Integrated Circuits,""NTTR D, 45(4) 373-8 (1996)... 

Manufacture of Printed Wiring Boards. Printed wiring boards, or printed circuit boards, are usually thin flat panels than contain one or multiple layers of thin copper patterns that interconnect the various electronic components (e.g. integrated circuit chips, connectors, resistors) that are attached to the boards. These panels are present in almost every consumer electronic product and automobile sold today. The various photopolymer products used to manufacture the printed wiring boards include film resists, electroless plating resists (23), liquid resists, electrodeposited resists (24), solder masks (25), laser exposed photoresists (26), flexible photoimageable permanent coatings (27) and polyimide interlayer insulator films (28). Another new use of photopolymer chemistry is the selective formation of conductive patterns in polymers (29). 

Diffusion Barriers. Diffusion barriers are used in the production of various components in the electronic industry. For example, electrochemically deposited nickel is used as a barrier layer between gold and copper in electronic connectors and solder interconnections. In these applications the product is a trilayer of composition Cu/Ni/Au. In another example, Ni and Co are considered as diffusion barriers and cladding materials in the production of integrated circuits and multichip electronic packaging. In this case the barrier metal (BM), Co or Ni, is the diffusion barrier between conductor and insulator (i.e., Cu and insulator), and the product trilayer is of composition Cu/BM/insulator. The common couple in these applications is the Cu/BM bilayer (BM, the diffusion barrier metal Co, Ni, or Ni-Co alloy). 

One of the challenges in interconnection fabrication on a chip is the electrodeposition of Cu in vias of small diameter (<0.2/rm). Modeling of these processes shows that new Cu electrodeposition solutions and new deposition techniques are necessary to solve the problems introduced by the development of new integrated circuits (22). 

It may be considered a fortunate coincidence that this book is published at the time of the introduction of copper interconnection technology in the microelectronics industry. In 1998 the major electronic manufacturers of integrated circuits (ICs) are switching from aluminum conductors produced by physical methods (evaporation) to copper conductors manufactured by electrochemical methods (electrodeposition). This revolutionary change from physical to electrochemical techniques in the production of microconductors on silicon is bound to generate an increased interest and an urgent need for familiarity with the fundamentals of electrochemical deposition. This book should be of great help in this crucial time. 

The increasing importance of multilevel interconnection systems and surface passivation in integrated circuit fabrication has stimulated interest in polyimide films for application in silicon device processing both as multilevel insulators and overcoat layers. The ability of polyimide films to planarize stepped device geometries, as well as their thermal and chemical inertness have been previously reported, as have various physical and electrical parameters related to circuit stability and reliability in use (1, 3). This paper focuses on three aspects of the electrical conductivity of polyimide (PI) films prepared from Hitachi and DuPont resins, indicating implications of each conductivity component for device reliability. The three forms of polyimide conductivity considered here are bulk electronic ionic, associated with intentional sodium contamination and surface or interface conductance. 

Stability for use in optical interconnects. In the near future, optoelectronic integrated circuits and optoelectronic multichip modules will be produced. Materials with high thermal stability will thus become very important in providing compatibility with conventional 1C fabrication processes and in ensuring device reliability. Polyimides have excellent thermal stability so they are often used as electronic materials. Furuya et al. introduced polyimide as an optical interconnect material for the first time. Reuter et al. have applied polyimides to optical interconnects and have evaluated the fluorinated polyimides prepared from 6FDA and three diamines, ODA (3), 2,2-bis(3-aminophenyl) hexafluoropropane (3,3 -6F) (4), and 4,4 -6F (2), as optical waveguide materials. 

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