International Business Machines Corporation

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Andreas Kluwe

Lars W Liebmann

Frank Prein

William H Guthrie

Michael Ruprecht

Thomas Zell

A method for manufacturing integrated circuits (&ldquo;IC&rdquo;) on wafers to manage crack damage in the ICs such that crack propagation into the IC active array is reduced or eliminated. The method provides for a defined separation or divide of the IC gate conductor from the IC crack stop or IC edge. The method is especially useful in managing crack damage induced through the delamination of one or more of the gate conductor surface interfaces as a result of the IC wafer dicing process. Circuits or chips manufactured according to the methods disclosed are also taught.

Method for eliminating crack damage induced by delaminating gate conductor interfaces in integrated circuits

In preparation for etch processing a semiconductor chip having areas of little or no pattern and areas that are heavily patterned, adding non-operative patterns to the areas having little or no pattern so that the overall pattern density is about the same across the chip.

Method of reducing loading variation during etch processing

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Essex Junction, VT, United States of America

Andreas Kluwe