Abstract:
In the stacked semiconductor package, on a first semiconductor chip, a second semiconductor chip is stacked offset such that a portion of the first semiconductor chip is exposed. At least one first conductor electrically connects the exposed portion of the first semiconductor chip to the second semiconductor chip. The first conductor may be formed such that the first conductor does not extend beyond a periphery of the first semiconductor chip. The first conductor electrically connects at least one bond pad on the first semiconductor chip with at least one bond pad on the second semiconductor chip, and a redistribution pattern electrically connects the bond pad on the second semiconductor chip to a differently positioned bond pad on the second semiconductor chip.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 of Korean Patent Application No. 2003-10761, which was filed on Feb. 20, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    The present invention relates to a semiconductor package and method for fabricating. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for stacking semiconductor chips and forming a stacked semiconductor package including a plurality of semiconductor chips in one semiconductor package.  
           [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0005]    While semiconductor manufacturing technologies have improved the integrity and decreased the size of semiconductor devices, fabricating a semiconductor package can still be expensive and burdensome. In particular, in a wafer fabricating process, a large financial investment must be made for upgraded facilities and new equipment in addition to research costs. In the case of semiconductor memory devices, the process of upgrading from 64-megabit Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) to 256-megabit DRAM can be costly when requiring a new wafer fabricating process.  
           [0006]    Semiconductor manufacturers have introduced a method for fabricating a semiconductor package by placing a plurality of semiconductor chips into one semiconductor package. The process of a stacked semiconductor package includes stacking at least two semiconductor chips. The stacking of the semiconductor chips provides a solution to improving the integrity and performance of the semiconductor package without the need for fabricating an entirely new wafer. For example, the 256-megabit DRAM can be fabricated by assembling the semiconductor package with four 64-megabit DRAM semiconductor chips.  
           [0007]    In previous methods for fabricating a multi-chip semiconductor package, the semiconductor package is made by stacking multiple unit semiconductor chips on top of one another. One such method for fabricating a stacked semiconductor package is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,496 entitled “Package Having Very Thin Semiconductor Chip, Multichip Module Assembled By The Package And Method For Manufacturing The Same.” 
           [0008]    However, this type of multi-chip semiconductor package requires a new assembly method, new materials, and complex fabrication processes.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    The present invention provides a stacked semiconductor package and method of fabricating the same using conventional equipment and processes that allow for fabrication with reduced cost.  
           [0010]    In one exemplary embodiment of the stacked semiconductor package, on a first semiconductor chip, a second semiconductor chip is stacked offset such that a portion of the first semiconductor chip is exposed. At least one first conductor electrically connects the exposed portion of the first semiconductor chip to the second semiconductor chip.  
           [0011]    In one exemplary embodiment, the first conductor does not extend beyond a periphery of the first semiconductor chip.  
           [0012]    In another exemplary embodiment, the first conductor electrically connects at least one bond pad on the first semiconductor chip with at least one bond pad on the second semiconductor chip, and a redistribution pattern electrically connects the bond pad on the second semiconductor chip to a differently positioned bond pad on the second semiconductor chip. This embodiment may further include a frame supporting a chip package structure formed of at least the first and second semiconductor chips. And at least one second conductor may electrically connect the differently positioned bond pad to the frame. In other embodiments, a plurality of first conductors and/or a plurality of second conductors exist.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]    The above features and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing exemplary embodiments in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 is a top view of a redistribution pattern on a semiconductor chip in a semiconductor chip package according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 is a side view of a stacked semiconductor package according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3 is another side view of stacked semiconductor package according to an embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 4 is a top view of stacked semiconductor package according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0018]    Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following drawings, like reference numerals identify similar or identical elements.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 1 is a top view of a redistribution pattern  206  on an upper surface of a semiconductor chip according to an embodiment of the present invention. The redistribution pattern  206  may be formed on any of the semiconductor chips within a stacked semiconductor package of an exemplary embodiment of the invention. As shown, a plurality of first bond pads  202  are formed along an edge of the semiconductor chip  200 ,  300 ,  400 . A plurality of second bond pads  204  are formed along opposite edges of the semiconductor chip  200 ,  300 ,  400 . The redistribution pattern  206  is a pattern of wires that electrically connects respective first bond pads  202  to respective second bond pads  204 . In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1, a one-to-one correspondence exists between the first and second bond pads  202  and  204 , but the present invention is not limited to this arrangement. Also, the redistribution pattern  206  may be changed to accommodate any location of the first or second bond pad  202  and  204 . Namely, the present invention is not limited to the positions of the first and second bond pads  202  and  204  shown in FIG. 1. In one exemplary embodiment, the first bond pad  202  is formed by a flexible wire bonding process that is based on the location of the second bond pad  204 . In creating the first bond pads  202 , the redistribution pattern  206  and the second bond pads  204  are formed on a film located at the uppermost part of a semiconductor chip. Next, an insulating film, for example a polyimide film, is coated on the semiconductor chip on which the redistribution pattern  206  and the second bond pad  204  are formed. After that, the portion of the semiconductor chip where the bond pads are to be etched  208  is etched to expose the first  202  and second  204  sets of bond pads.  
         [0020]    Referring to FIG. 2, the stacked semiconductor package  100  according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a frame  110 , which may be a printed circuit board used for a Ball Grid Array (BGA) package or a flexible substrate (the flexible substrate is also referred to as an insulated wiring board). In an example of the present invention the stacked semiconductor package is a Chip Scale Package (CSP) or a Quad-Flat No-lead (QFN) semiconductor package. As shown, in an exemplary embodiment, the stacked semiconductor package  100  is mounted to the die pad  112  using an insulating adhesive tape  120 . Here, the insulating adhesive tape  120  is attached to a rear surface of a wafer from which the first semiconductor chip  200  is formed before a sawing process of the stacked semiconductor package  100  fabrication process.  
         [0021]    The frame  110  used in the QFN semiconductor package includes a die pad  112  and an inner lead  114 . The die pad  112  represents a portion where a first semiconductor chip  200 , middle semiconductor chips  300 A,  300 B and a fourth semiconductor chip  400  of the QFN semiconductor package are mounted within the package  100  fabrication process. The inner lead  114  represents a portion where the stacked semiconductor chip package  100  is electrically connected to the frame  110 .  
         [0022]    The stacked semiconductor package  100  according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention comprises first wires  130 , for example, bonding wires, for electrically connecting respective first bond pads of the lower semiconductor chip  200 , the middle semiconductor chips  300 A and  300 B, and the upper semiconductor chip  400  to each other. A ball bonding process is used to bond the first wires  130  to the first bond pads  202  on the exposed portion of the lower semiconductor chip  200 , and a stitch bonding process is used to bond the first wires  130  to the first bond pads  202  of the middle and upper semiconductor chips  300 A,  300 B and  400 .  
         [0023]    The stacked semiconductor package  100  according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes second wires  140 , for example, bonding wires for electrically connecting the inner lead  114  of the frame  110  with respective second bond pads of the upper semiconductor chip  400 .  
         [0024]    Also the stacked semiconductor package  100  includes a sealing resin  150  for sealing the semiconductor chips  200 ,  300 A,  300 B, and  400 , the wires  130  and  140 , and a part of the frame  110 . The sealing resin  150  may be an Epoxy Mold Compound (EMC).  
         [0025]    As described in detail below with respect to FIGS. 3 and 4, the semiconductor chips of FIG. 2 are stacked in an offset fashion in order to expose the first bond pads  202  on one edge of the first and middle semiconductor chips  200 ,  300 A and  300 B. The offset stacking of the semiconductor chips in the QFN configuration exposes the first bond pads  202 , the semiconductor chips  200 ,  300 A and  300 B such that the conductors  130  may electrically connect the respective first bond pads  202  of the chips.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 3 is a side view of the stacked semiconductor package illustrated in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a top view of the stacked semiconductor chip package in FIG. 2.  
         [0027]    Referring to FIG. 3, in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention the lower, middle, and upper semiconductor chips  200 ,  300 A,  300 B, and  400  are mounted on the die pad  112  of the frame in a offset or stepped shape. This exposes an edge portion of the first and middle semiconductor chips  200 ,  300 A and  300 B such that the first bond pads  202  on one edge of each chip are exposed. As such, the first conductors  130  may electrically connect, for example by wirebonding, respective first bond pads  202  of the first, middle and upper semiconductor chips  200 ,  300 A,  300 B and  400  together. When, in an exemplary embodiment the first conductors  130  are wires, the connecting portion  132  of the first wires  130  on the middle and upper semiconductor chips  300 A,  300 B, and  400  are formed by performing a ball-bonding process or a stitch-bonding process.  
         [0028]    As further shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the second conductors  140  electrically connect respective second bond pads  204  of the upper semiconductor chip  400  to the connection unit of the frame  110 , for example, the inner lead  114 . Thus, the first wires  130  and the second wires  140  may be wire-bonded in different directions and location to use space efficiently. Also, the second bond pads  204  of upper semiconductor chip  400  and the first bond pads  202  of the lower, middle, and upper semiconductor chips  200 ,  300 A,  300 B, and  400  respectively, are exposed for the connection of the first and second wires  130  and  140 .  
         [0029]    To fabricate the stacked semiconductor package according to the present invention, the frame  110  is prepared along with the lower, middle, and upper semiconductor chips  200 ,  300 A,  300 B, and  400  by assuring the proper bond pad distribution prior to the process of stacking the semiconductor chips. Following these preparations, the lower, middle, and upper semiconductor chips  200 ,  300 A,  300 B, and  400  are mounted on the die pad  112  of the frame  110  in a stepped shape so that the first bond pads  202  are exposed as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The semiconductor chips are attached by insulating adhesive tape  120  attached on the bottom surfaces of the semiconductor chips  200 ,  300 A,  300 B, and  400 .  
         [0030]    Then, the second bond pads of the lower, middle, and upper semiconductor chips  200 ,  300 A,  300 B, and  400  are wire-bonded with each other by the first wires  130 . The wire bonding process includes the ball-bonding process, which is generally performed on the first bond pads on an exposed portion of a lower semiconductor chip  200  and a stitch-bonding process, which is usually performed on the first bond pads  202  on the middle and upper semiconductor chips  300 A,  300 B and  400 . In addition, the second bond pad&#39;s  204  of the upper semiconductor chip  400  and the connection unit such as the inner lead  114  of the frame  110  are wired-bonded by the second wires  140 . The resultant bonded wires are sealed with a sealing resin  150 , for example, an EMC as shown in FIG. 2. In the case where the frame  110  is a printed circuit board or an insulating wiring board, solder balls may be selectively attached thereto.  
         [0031]    In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention the lower, middle and upper semiconductor chips  200 ,  300 A,  300 B, and  400  are semiconductor devices of the same kind, for example, dynamic random access memories (DRAMs). However, different types of semiconductor devices can be used if necessary as well as a variable number of semiconductor chips within the package.  
         [0032]    According to the present invention, the stacked semiconductor package is capable of performing with improved functionality within a minimal area. This can be realized by improving the stacking method of semiconductor chips and the wire-bonding method. Further, the stacked semiconductor package can be made with relative ease and the cost of equipment investment can be reduced since conventional equipment and processes are used.  
         [0033]    While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.