Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7851909?dq=6,406,777
Timestamp: 2013-12-11 12:02:09
Document Index: 309660594

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 200380110037', 'Application No. 10', 'Application No. 092137492', 'Application No. 2004', 'Application No. 200380110037', 'Application No. 200380110037']

Patent US7851909 - Group III nitride based flip-chip integrated circuit and method for fabricating - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Advanced Patent Search | Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsA circuit substrate has one or more active components and a plurality of passive circuit elements on a first surface. An active semiconductor device has a substrate with layers of material and a plurality of terminals. The active semiconductor device is flip-chip mounted on the circuit substrate and...http://www.google.com/patents/US7851909?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7851909 - Group III nitride based flip-chip integrated circuit and method for fabricatingPublication numberUS7851909 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 10/977,165Publication dateDec 14, 2010Filing dateOct 29, 2004Priority dateJan 2, 2003Also published asCA2511005A1, CN1757119A, CN1757119B, EP1579509A1, EP2518764A2, US6825559, US7354782, US8274159, US20040130037, US20050006669, US20050067716, US20110062579, US20120314371, WO2004061973A1Publication number10977165, 977165, US 7851909 B2, US 7851909B2, US-B2-7851909, US7851909 B2, US7851909B2InventorsUmesh Mishra, Primit Parikh, Yifeng WuOriginal AssigneeCree, Inc.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (30), Non-Patent Citations (38), Classifications (47), Legal Events (1) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetGroup III nitride based flip-chip integrated circuit and method for fabricatingUS 7851909 B2Abstract A circuit substrate has one or more active components and a plurality of passive circuit elements on a first surface. An active semiconductor device has a substrate with layers of material and a plurality of terminals. The active semiconductor device is flip-chip mounted on the circuit substrate and at least one of the terminals of the device is electrically connected to an active component on the circuit substrate. The active components on the substrate and the flip-chip mounted active semiconductor device, in combination with passive circuit elements, form preamplifiers and an output amplifier respectively. In a power switching configuration, the circuit substrate has logic control circuits on a first surface. A semiconductor transistor flip-chip mounted on the circuit substrate is electrically connected to the control circuits on the first surface to thereby control the on and off switching of the flip-chip mounted device.
RELATED APPLICATIONS This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/335,915, filed Jan. 2, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,825,559.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A flip-chip integrated circuit according to the invention includes a circuit substrate having one or more active components and a plurality of passive circuit elements on a first surface. The circuit also includes an active semiconductor device comprising a substrate with layers of material and a plurality of terminals. Each of the terminals is in electrical contact with one of the layers of material. The active semiconductor device is flip-chip mounted on the circuit substrate and at least one of the terminals of the device is electrically connected to an active component on the circuit substrate.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a flow diagram for a method of fabricating an integrated circuit according to the present invention;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of a method 10 according to the present invention. In the first step 12, semiconductor layers of a semiconductor device and device terminals are formed on a wafer. A preferred semiconductor device is a Group III nitride based device such as an AlGaN HEMT or FET grown on a sapphire, SiC, GaN, AlN or Si wafer, with the preferred wafer being a 4H polytype of SiC. Other SiC polytypes can also be used including 3C, 6H and 15R polytypes. An AlxGa1-xN buffer layer (where x in between 0 and 1) can be included between the wafer and device active layers to provide an appropriate crystal structure transition between the SiC wafer (substrate) and the active layers.
In step 22, the active semiconductor device is flip-chip mounted on the circuit substrate having the Au bond pad in electrical contact with the Au in the vias, in an Au�Au flip-chip bond. Alternatively, conventional bump bonding based on Au or solder can be used. For an AlGaN HEMT, the Au bond on the source contact is in electrical contact with the vias. The gate and drain contacts can then be electrically bonded to the drive electronics on the circuit substrate, with the gate typically connected to the input side and the drain connected to the output side of the drive electronics.
The heat sinks used in any of the assemblies described in FIGS. 10-12 a, may be made from any high thermal conductivity material. Examples of such materials include metals, such as aluminum and copper; inorganic materials, such as carbon and ceramics; and composite materials. The heat sinks may also be formed using porous configurations of any of these materials. One such material is Durocel� porous aluminum foam which is available from ERG Material and Aerospace Corporation.
With continued reference to FIG. 14, the substrate 150 includes conductive vias 155 that connect a first surface 156 of the circuit substrate with a second surface 157 of the substrate. A conductive structure 158, such as a ground plane, is adjacent the second surface 157 and in electrical connection with the vias 155. The ground plane 158 provides the ground connections required by the passive circuit elements 151, 152 and the transistors 154 forming the multistage preamplifier section. In an alternate configuration, the ground connection may be provided by an interconnection, or trace, on the first surface 156 of the circuit substrate. Such a configuration, sometimes referred to as a �coplanar waveguide� configuration, essentially eliminates the need for conductive vias 155.
With continued reference to FIG. 14, the assembly also includes a flip-chip mounted transistor 159 (FIG. 13, 146) that is fabricated separately on a suitable substrate 160 such as SiC. In a preferred embodiment, the transistor 159 is Group III nitride transistor such as a GaN HEMT configured as shown and described previously with reference to FIG. 4. The transistor 159 is mounted at the outputs stage of the circuit fabricated on the circuit substrate. In particular, the transistor 159 is mounted such that the source contact 161 is electrically connected to the ground plane 158 through a conductive via 155, the gate contact 162 is connected to the output of the prestage amplifier section (not shown) (FIG. 13, 142) and the drain contact 163 is connected to passive circuit elements (not shown) (FIG. 13, 147) on the circuit substrate. The transistor 159, in combination with the passive circuit elements, forms a �flip-chip� amplifier.
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Section II "Device Technology", p. 586, Section III "Device Performance", p. 588, right column.36Wu Y-F et al., "GAN-Based FETS for Microwave Power Amplification" IEICE Transactions on Electronics, Institute of Electronics Information and Comm. Eng. Tokyo, JP, vol. E82-C, No. 11, Nov. 1999, p. 1895-1905, XP000931553.37Wu, Yifeng, et al. IEEE Transaction on Electronic Devices, vol. 48, No. 3, Mar. 2001. "Very-High Power Density AlGaN/GaN HEMTs", pp. 586-590.38Xu J J et al, "A 3-10 GHx LCR-Matched Power Amplifier Using Flip-Chip Mounted AlGaN/GaN HEMTs", Microwave Symposium Digest, 2000 IEEE, , MTT-S International Boston, MA, USA Jun. 11-16, 2000, Piscataway, NJ, USA, IEEE, US Jun. 11, 2000, p. 959-962, XP010507495.Classifications U.S. Classification257/728, 257/724, 257/778, 257/E23.169International ClassificationH01L21/8252, H01L29/778, H01L27/06, H01L23/48, H01L23/14, H01L23/66, H01L23/34, H01L23/367, H01L29/20Cooperative ClassificationH01L2924/19041, H01L2924/01075, H01L2224/1703, H01L23/3677, H01L23/66, H01L2924/19105, H01L2924/10329, H01L2924/01015, H01L2924/19042, H01L2924/19043, H01L2924/01078, H01L2924/01087, H01L2924/01013, H01L2224/16238, H01L23/147, H01L2924/01074, H01L2924/30105, H01L2924/01002, H01L2224/16235, H01L2924/14, H01L21/8252, H01L2924/01079, H01L2924/01004, H01L29/7787, H01L2924/01042, H01L2924/01029, H01L2924/19011, H01L2924/1423, H01L2224/73253, H01L27/0605, H01L29/2003European ClassificationH01L21/8252, H01L23/66, H01L27/06CLegal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionOct 29, 2004ASAssignmentOwner name: CREE, INC., CALIFORNIAFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:MISHRA, UMESH;PARIKH, PRIMIT;WU, YIFENG;REEL/FRAME:015940/0560Effective date: 20041027RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services©2012 Google