Patent ID: 6911386

Claim:
A method of creating a fuse and contact pad opening, comprising the steps of: providing a substrate, said substrate having been provided with a pattern of top level metal and fuse metal; creating a contact pad over said pattern of top level metal by applying a first and second etch resist mask, said contact pad being surrounded by a first layer of etch stop material over said substrate over which a first layer of passivation has been deposited, a layer of hardmask material remaining in place over said contact pad, said layer of hardmask material comprising a stack of hardmask layers, thereby providing improved protection to said contact pad during formation thereof; creating a first opening overlying said pattern of top level metal and a second opening overlying said fuse metal through a second layer of passivation material overlying said first layer passivation material by applying a third etch resist mask, said creating a first and a second opening comprising depositing and patterning one layer of passivation to which one etch recipe is applied for the creation of said first and second opening there-through; and removing said layer of hardmask material from said contact pad, thereby furthermore reducing a thickness of said first layer of passivation material where said first layer of passivation material overlies said fuse metal.