Copper wire receiving pad

One embodiment is directed to a welding pad capable of receiving a ball-shaped copper wire at its end, including a first copper pad coated with a protection layer and topped with a second pad containing aluminum having dimensions smaller than those of the first pad and smaller than the ball diameter once said ball has been welded to the welding pad.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the electric connection between an integrated circuit pad and a copper wire.

2. Description of the Related Art

A connection mode between an integrated circuit pad and a connection wire is shown inFIGS. 1A and 1B.

FIG. 1Ashows a portion of an integrated circuit1comprising a connection pad2to which a copper wire3, comprising, at its end intended to be attached to the pad, a ball4, is desired to be welded or bonded. Pad2is formed of a stack of three layers, that is, a copper layer5, a titanium nitride barrier layer6, and an aluminum layer7. A passivation dielectric layer8covers the periphery of the welding pad and defines a window9which delimits surface10of the welding pad.

The welding is performed between the end of the wire comprising the copper ball and aluminum layer7heated between 150° and 180° C. The copper ball is pressed against the pad and ultrasounds are applied thereto.

FIG. 1Bshows the structure after welding. Ball4is crushed against surface10of pad2. Ball4penetrates into the aluminum layer. The aluminum pushed back by the ball forms extrusions21and a space20forms between the copper ball periphery and surface10. Contact areas22between the copper ball periphery and surface10are exposed to the ambient air which flows in space20.

FIG. 2Aillustrates the copper aluminum compounds present between layer7and ball4. From aluminum layer7, aluminum-rich compounds23such as CuAl2, followed by components comprising less aluminum24, such as CuAl, and finally, at the interface with copper ball4, copper-rich compounds25such as Cu9Al4or Cu3Al2, can be found.

By reaching areas22, the humidity of the ambient air and of the chlorine present in the materials or brought from the outside may modify the chemical composition of copper aluminum compounds.

FIG. 2Billustrates the aluminum-oxygen compounds resulting from this transformation, such as Al2O3or aluminum-chlorine, such as AlCl2, forming layer26located between layer23and layer4. The copper aggregates in islands in layer26.

Stress resulting from the integrated circuit operation, like vibrations or temperature variations, weakens the interface layers located in area22, and a separation between the pad and the copper wire can sometimes be observed during the circuit lifetime, despite the optimizations of welding techniques.

A reliability issue linked to the welding of the copper wire on aluminum is thus raised, this issue becoming more critical during the use of the product.

BRIEF SUMMARY

One or more embodiments of the present disclosure is directed to performing a robust, time-reliable welding while keeping known methods of copper wire welding on aluminum.

Thus, an embodiment provides a specific pad structure having a shape enabling to prevent the penetration of ambient air into an area comprising copper aluminum compounds.

More specifically, an embodiment provides a welding pad capable of receiving a ball-shaped copper wire at its end, comprising a first copper pad coated with a protection layer and topped with a second pad containing aluminum, having dimensions smaller than those of the first pad and smaller than the ball diameter once said ball has been welded to the welding pad.

According to an embodiment, the second pad is made of pure aluminum.

According to an embodiment, the second pad is an alloy containing copper, preferably 0.8% of copper.

An embodiment provides a pad further comprising a dielectric covering the periphery of the first pad.

According to an embodiment, the protection structure is made of titanium nitride.

According to an embodiment, the second pad is divided into a plurality of protrusions.

An embodiment provides a method for manufacturing a welding pad comprising the manufacturing steps of:

forming a first copper pad coated with a protection layer;

forming at least one second aluminum pad partially covering the first copper pad and having a size smaller than the diameter of the copper ball that it is intended to receive; and

forming a window above the welding pad in a passivation layer exposing the second pad and covering the periphery of the first pad.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method further comprising the steps of:taking the surface of the pad to a temperature ranging between 50° and 100° C.;bringing the copper ball closer to said pad; andpressing the copper ball and having it vibrate on the welding pad to entirely cover the second pad and a ring of the first pad adjacent to the second pad.

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages will be discussed in detail in the following non-limiting description of specific embodiments in connection with the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For clarity, the same elements have been designated with the same reference numerals in the different drawings and, further, as usual in the representation of integrated circuits, the various drawings are not to scale.

FIG. 3shows a connection wire connected to a welding pad. The welding pad comprises on a copper pad30a barrier layer31, for example, made of TiN, and an aluminum pad32. The aluminum pad has a smaller surface area than the copper pad and the barrier layer topping this pad, whereby aluminum pad32is fully contained within the surface corresponding to the surface area of the copper pad. Once a copper wire35having a ball36formed at its end has been welded by ultrasounds on the pad surface, ball36is crushed. The dimension of the aluminum pad is such that after crushing, ball36comprises, on the one hand, a portion38in contact with the upper surface of aluminum pad32, and on the other hand, a peripheral pad39which contacts barrier layer31. In practice, after the crushing and friction operation, the barrier layer may have disappeared so that the portion of ball36at the periphery of aluminum pad32comes in direct contact with copper pad30.

Thus, the peripheral ring of ball36which, after welding, comes into contact with barrier layer31and/or copper layer30, forms a protective ring which, in some embodiments, avoids or at least limits the progress of humidity infiltrations towards the periphery of region38of contact between the copper ball and the aluminum pad. Contact region38is thus protected from any contamination. Tests carried out by the present inventors have shown that due to this arrangement, the reliability of a connection between a copper wire and a pad is considerably increased. In particular, lifetime tests have shown a reduction or elimination of the separation phenomena over time.

Further, conventionally,FIG. 3shows a protection layer40which defines a window delimiting the useful portion of the welding pad.

As an example of dimensions, the lateral dimensions of copper pad30may be on the order of 100×100 μm2, the window defined in layer40substantially having the same dimensions. Aluminum pad32may have dimensions on the order of 50×50 μm2. Ball36initially formed at the end of copper wire35may have a diameter on the order of 50 μm, to have a lateral extension on the order of 75×75 μm2after crushing. Further, copper pad30may have a thickness approximately ranging from 2 to 3 μm, barrier layer31may have a thickness approximately ranging from 20 to 30 nm, and aluminum pad32may have a thickness approximately ranging from 1 to 2.5 μm. Of course, these values are provided as an example only and the dimensions of the pad, and more specifically of aluminum pad32, will be adapted to the dimensions of wire35and of ball36formed at the end of this wire, and to the dimensions taken by this ball after crushing and vibrating to weld the wire to the pad.

FIGS. 4A and 4Bare a cross-section view and a top view of an alternative embodiment in which aluminum pad32, instead of being continuous, is divided into protrusion or spaced apart pads42. Four spaced apart pads42have been shown herein. In practice, according to the pad dimensions and to the technologies used, any number of protrusions or pads may be used.

It is considered that this variation may be useful in certain cases to further improve the bonding between the copper wire and the pad.

FIGS. 5A to 5Dshows an example method of forming a pad of the type illustrated inFIG. 3.

As illustrated inFIG. 5A, on the upper portion of a substrate1, currently on the last metal layer formed from among the metallization levels covering an integrated circuit, a copper pad30surrounded with an insulating layer50has been formed. In practice, insulating layer50may first have been formed, after which a copper layer, previously planarized by chemical-mechanical polishing, may have been deposited, to obtain, as shown, the copper pad fully surrounded with insulating layer50. A barrier layer48, such as TiN, is formed on the upper surface of the copper pad. Other types of barrier layers may be used, for example, Ti, Ta, TaN.

As illustrated inFIG. 5B, an aluminum layer51is then deposited on the structure.

As illustrated inFIG. 5C, this aluminum layer is then etched to define an aluminum pad32having dimensions selected as indicated previously.

At the step illustrated inFIG. 5D, a passivation layer52, which is opened to have a slightly smaller opening than the surface of copper pad30, so that there exists a free area at the periphery of aluminum pad32, is redeposited.

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described. The specific embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments. Additionally, various alterations, modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. In particular, the dimensions of the various elements and the thicknesses of the various layers will be selected according to the technologies used. Further, although an aluminum pad has been previously mentioned, this pad, instead of being a pure aluminum pad, may be an alloy of aluminum and copper or of any other selected material. In particular, technologies in which the various depositions may be performed at temperatures lower than 300° C., and even at 150° C., will preferably be selected. It is to be appreciated that the steps of the method described above may be performed sequentially, in parallel, omitted, or in a different order than is described.

Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part of this disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit and the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the foregoing description is by way of example only and is not intended to be limiting. In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.