Nxp B.v.

Ams International Ag

Casper Juffermans

Gerben Doornbos

Mark Van Dal

Peter Dirksen

Roel Daamen

Matthias Merz

Axel Nackaerts

David Van Steenwinckel

Anja Vanleenhove

Josephus Franciscus Antonius Maria Guelen

Robertus Antonius Maria Wolters

Disclosed is an integrated circuit (IC) comprising a substrate () carrying a plurality of circuit elements; a metallization stack () interconnecting said circuit elements, said metallization stack comprising a patterned upper metallization layer comprising at least one sensor electrode portion () and a bond pad portion (), at least the at least one sensor electrode portion of said patterned upper metallization layer being covered by a moisture barrier film (); a passivation stack () covering the metallization stack, said passivation stack comprising a first trench () exposing the at least one sensor electrode portion and a second trench () exposing the bond pad portion; said first trench being filled with a sensor active material (). A method of manufacturing such an IC is also disclosed.

Integrated circuit with sensor and method of manufacturing such an integrated circuit

Disclosed is an integrated circuit comprising a substrate () carrying plurality of circuit elements (); a metallization stack () over said substrate for providing interconnections to at least some of said circuit elements, the metallization stack comprising a plurality of patterned metal layers () spatially separated from each other by respective electrically insulating layers (), at least some of said electrically insulating layers comprising conductive portions () that electrically interconnect portions of adjacent metal layers, wherein at least one of the patterned metallization layers comprises a plurality of ion-sensitive electrodes (), each ion-sensitive electrode being electrically connected to at least one of said circuit elements, a plurality of sample volumes () extending into said metallization stack, each sample volume terminating at one of said ion-sensitive electrodes; and an ion-sensitive layer lining at least the ion-sensitive electrodes in said sample volumes. A method of manufacturing such an IC is also disclosed.

Integrated circuit with ion sensitive sensor and manufacturing method

A method of forming a pattern in at least one device layer in or on a substrate comprises: coating the device layer with a first photoresist layer; exposing the first photoresist using a first mask; developing the first photoresist layer to form a first pattern on the substrate; coating the substrate with a protection layer; treating the protection layer to cause a change therein where it is in contact with the first photoresist, to render the changed protection layer substantially immune to a subsequent exposure and/or developing step; coating the substrate with a second photoresist layer; exposing the second photoresist layer using a second mask; and developing the second photoresist layer to form a second pattern on the substrate without significantly affecting the first pattern in the first photoresist layer, wherein the first and second patterns together define interspersed features having a spatial frequency greater than that of the features defined in each of the first and second patterns separately. The process has particular utility in defining source, drain and fin features of finFET devices with a smaller feature size than otherwise achievable with the prevailing lithography tools.

Double patterning for lithography to increase feature spatial density

Growing community of inventors

Valkenswaard, Netherlands

Casper Juffermans