Abstract:
A trench MOSFET with trench source contact structure having copper wire bonding is disclosed. By employing the proposed structure, die size can be shrunk into 30%˜70% with high cell density, and the spreading resistance is significantly reduce without adding expensive thick metal layer as prior art. To further reduce fabricating cost, copper wire bonding is used with requirement of thick Al alloys.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    This invention relates generally to the cell structure and fabrication process of power semiconductor devices. More particularly, this invention relates to a novel and improved cell structure and improved process for fabricating a trench MOSFET with trench source contact having copper wire bonding. 
         [0003]    2. The Prior Arts 
         [0004]    With the increasing demands of better performance, the trench MOSFET has been required to have a lower spreading resistance, smaller size and reducing fabricating cost. As shown in  FIG. 1 , a cell MOSFET structure of prior art (U.S. Pat. No. 6,066,877) with relatively thick metal layer is disclosed to reduce the distributed resistance of the source metal layer. Trench MOSFET  101 , as illustrated, is formed on an N+ substrate  100  on which an N-doped epitaxial layer  102  is grown. Inside said epitaxial layer  102 , individual transistor cells  101 A- 101 D are formed between trench gates  102 A- 102 E, respectively. In order to connect N+ source regions, which are formed adjacent to trench gates  102 A- 102 E, a thin metal layer  103 , typically Al, is deposited at the top surface of epitaxial layer  102 . P-body regions within each cell  101 A- 101 D, is shorted to N+ source regions also by means of said thin metal layer  103 . In passivation layer  104  over thin metal layer  103 , an opening  105  is formed for the deposition of thick metal layer  110 . In this structure, said thick metal layer  110  consists of a Zn adhesion sublayer  110 A, a thick Ni sublayer  110 B, and a gold surface sublayer  110 C. Au wire  107  is bonded to the top surface of metal layer  110 . According to the prior art, the thick metal layer provides essentially no resistance between the transistor cells, and therefore the overall spreading resistance is dramatically reduced. 
         [0005]    However, this “low resistance” performance is based on the sacrificial of other important characteristics. First of all, the additional Ni and Au deposition is quite expensive for the aspect of fabricating cost, and second, it is not really necessary because the additional Ni and Au deposition has a low cell density (&lt;100 M/in 2 ) with planar source contact, resulting in a huge waste of area and the corresponding increasing of spreading resistance, which counteracts the advantages by depositing the thick metal layer. 
         [0006]    Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a new trench MOSFET cell structure with low spreading resistance, and at the same time, with small size and low fabricating cost. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide new and improved trench MOSFET cell and manufacture process to reduce the spreading resistance and device area, while remaining a lower fabricating cost. 
         [0008]    One aspect of the present invention is that, trench source contact structure is used to reduce the die size. When fabricating the trench source contact, N+ source region is formed onto P-body region, and then a trench contact is formed penetrating N+ source region to connect the source metal, N+ source region and P-body region vertically. Around the bottom of source contact trench, a P+ area is implanted to further reduce the resistance between source and body region. That is to say, comparing to the planar source contact, the trench source contact structure can save die area with a high cell density while applying a lower resistance between source and body. 
         [0009]    Another aspect of the present invention is that, resistance between source metal and trench source contact can be further reduced by applying a larger source contact width within contact insulating layer underneath source metal. Therefore, another insulating layer is required above gate oxide layer to protect lower device from damage during etching process. 
         [0010]    Another aspect of the present invention is that, the proposed trench source contact has vertical contact trench sidewalls within contact insulating layer (include two insulating sublayers discussed above) and N+ source regions, and has slope contact trench sidewalls within P-body region. To be detailed, the contact trench sidewalls are substantially vertical (90±5 degree) within contact insulating layer and N+ source regions, and the taper angle is less than 85 degree respect to top surface of epitaxial layer within P-body region to enlarge P+ area to wrap the bottom and the slope sidewalls of trench source contact to further enhance avalanche capability. 
         [0011]    Another aspect of the present invention is that, with a high cell density (&gt;200 M/in 2 ), which achieved by using trench source contact, the die size can be shrunk into 30%˜70%, causing spreading resistance significant reduced without adding the thick Ni/Au metal layer since spreading resistance is closely related to the area of fabricated device. 
         [0012]    Another aspect of the present invention is that, to further reduce the fabricating cost, copper wire bonding will be used to replace Au wire with requirement of thick Al alloys such as AlCu or AlSiCu (larger than 3.0 μm) due to copper wire bonding will easily cause damage to device underneath the Al alloys if Al alloys is not thick enough. But copper wire bonding process requires much higher bonding force than Au wire bonding to bond the Al alloys without peeling issue. 
         [0013]    Briefly, in a preferred embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the present invention disclosed a trench MOSFET cell comprising: an N+ doped substrate with a layer of Ti/Ni/Ag on the rear side serving as drain metal; a lighter N doped epitaxial layer grown on said substrate; a plurality of trenches etched into said epitaxial layer as gate trenches; a gate oxide layer, also the first insulating layer, on the front surface of epitaxial layer and along the inner surface of said gate trenches; doped poly filled within said gate trenches to form trench gates; P-body regions extending between every two trench gates; N+ source regions near the top surface of P-body regions; thick contact insulating layer, also the second insulating layer, onto front surface of epitaxial layer, which subsequently includes a sublayer of SRO (Silicon Rich Oxide) and a sublayer of BPSG or PSG; source contact trench penetrating through said contact insulating layer, said gate oxide layer and said N+ source region with vertical sidewalls while into P-body region with slope sidewalls; P+ area wrapping the slope sidewalls and bottoms of source contact trench to enhance avalanche capability; metal Ti/TiN/W or Co/TiN/W refilled into source contact trench acting as source contact metal; metal Al alloys deposited onto interconnection metal Ti or Ti/TiN to serve as source metal with a thickness equal or larger than 4 μm; at least one copper wire electrically bonded to metal Al alloys. 
         [0014]    This invention further discloses a method for manufacturing a trench MOSFET cell comprising a step of forming said MOSFET cell with trench gates surrounded by a source region encompassed in a body region above a drain region disposed on a bottom surface of an N+ substrate. In the preferred embodiment, the method further comprises methods of forming a trench source contact and copper wire bonded to thick source metal layer. 
         [0015]    These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, which is illustrated in the various drawing figures. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]    The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, with reference made to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
           [0017]      FIG. 1  is a side cross-sectional view of a trench MOSFET cell of prior art. 
           [0018]      FIG. 2  is a side cross-sectional view of an embodiment for the present invention. 
           [0019]      FIG. 3A to 3F  are a serial of side cross sectional views for showing the processing steps for fabricating trench MOSFET cell in  FIG. 2 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
       [0020]    Please refer to  FIG. 2  for a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The shown trench MOSFET cell is formed on an N+ substrate  200  coated with back metal Ti/Ni/Ag  228  on rear side as drain. Onto said substrate  200 , grown an N epitaxial layer  202 , and a plurality of trenches  210   a  (not shown) were etched wherein. To fill these trenches, doped poly was deposited into trenches  210   a  (not shown) above gate oxide layer  208  to form trench gates  210 . P-body regions  212  are extending between trenches gates  210  with a layer of source regions  214  near the top surface of P-body regions  212 . Source contact trench  216   a  (not shown) is etched through BPSG or PSG layer  220 , SRO layer  218 , N+ source region  214 , and into P-body region  212 . Especially, the sidewalls of source-body contact trench are perpendicular to the front surface of epitaxial layer within insulating layer and N+ source region  114  while is oblique within P-body region  212  with a taper angle less than 85 degree. Underneath trench source contact  216  filled with Ti/TiN/W or Co/TiN/W, a heavily P+ doped area  206  is formed wrapping the slope trench and bottom in P-body region  212  to reduce the resistance between source and body and thus enhance the avalanche capability. Above an interconnection layer  222 , which is Ti or Ti/TiN, source metal  224  is deposited to be electrically connected to source region  214  and body region  212  via trench source contact  216 . And to bond said source metal  224 , at least one copper wire  226  is formed with much higher bonding force than Au wire to prevent peeling issue from happening. 
         [0021]      FIGS. 3A to 3F  shows a series of exemplary steps that are performed to form the inventive trench MOSFET of the present invention shown in  FIG. 2 . In  FIG. 3A , an N-doped epitaxial layer  202  is grown on an N+ substrate  200 , then, a trench mask (not shown) is applied, which is then conventionally exposed and patterned to leave mask portions. The patterned mask portions define the gate trenches  210   a,  which are dry silicon etched through mask opening to a certain depth. A sacrificial oxide is grown and then removed to eliminate the plasma damage may introduced during trenches etching process. After the trench mask removal, a gate oxide  208 , also the first insulating layer is deposited on the front surface of epitaxial layer and the inner surface of gate trenches  210   a.  In  FIG. 3B , all gate trenches  210   a  are filled with doped poly to form trench gates  210 . Then, the filling-in material is etched back or CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) to expose the portion of gate oxide layer that extends over the surface of epitaxial layer. Next, an Ion Implantation is applied to form P-body regions  212 , followed by a P-body diffusion step for P-body region drive in. After that, another Ion Implantation is applied to form N+ source regions  214 , followed by an N+ diffusion step for source regions drive in. Then, the process continues with the consequent deposition of the second insulating layer, which includes SRO layer  218  and BPSG or PSG layer  220  over entire structure. 
         [0022]    In  FIG. 3C , a source-body contact mask (not shown) is applied to carry out the source contact hole in PSG or BPSG layer  220 , SRO  218  and epitaxial layer by successive dry oxide etching and dry silicon etching. When etching through the second insulating layer and N+ source region, sidewalls of source-body contact trench  216   a  are substantially vertical (90±5 degree) along the N+ source region while etching into P-body regions, sidewalls of source contact trench  216   a  has taper angle (less than 85 degree) respect to top surface of epitaxial layer, as shown in  FIG. 3C . In  FIG. 3D , down stream silicon etch is employed to remove the sidewalls&#39; damage introduced during dry silicon etch, which also creates undercut of silicon to prevent the N+ sidewalls from followed BF2 Ion Implantation for reducing source contact resistance. Then, the BF2 Ion Implantation is carried out over entire surface and into source contact trench to form the P+ area  206  wrapping the sidewalls and bottom of source contact trench within P-body region to further enhance avalanche capability. In  FIG. 3E , a pre-Ti/TiN cleaning step is first performed with dilute HF to enlarge the top contact area of the source contact hole by differentially etching PSG or BPSG  220  over SRO  218  (Etch rate ratio of PSG or BPSG vs. SRO is about 10:1 in dilute HF). And then source contact trench  216   a  is filled with Ti/TiN/W or Co/TiN/W by a Ti/TiN/W or Co/TiN/W deposition. After that, W and Ti/TiN or Co/TiN etching back is performed to form source contact  216 . Next, interconnection layer  222 , typically Ti or Ti/N, is deposited onto whole device. In  FIG. 3F , metal layer Al alloys are deposited on the front and rear surface of device to serve as source metal  224  and drain metal  228 , respectively. Especially, the thickness of front source metal is required to be larger than 3 μm because that the followed copper wire bonding easily cause damage to device underneath Al alloys if the Al alloys is not thick enough. Last, at least one copper wire  226  is formed with high bonding force to bond source metal layer  224  without peeling issue. 
         [0023]    Although the present invention has been described in terms of the presently preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that such disclosure is not to be interpreted as limiting. Various alternations and modifications will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art after reading the above disclosure. Accordingly, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as covering all alternations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.