Electro Scientific Industries, Inc.

Other

Edward J Swenson

Yunlong Sun

Richard S Harris

Manoj Kumar Sammi

Taiji Ema

Douglas John Garcia

Thomas Willoughby Richardson

Jay Johnson

Bruce Stuart Goldwater

Jeffery A Strole

Doug J Garcia

Phillip L Jordan

Benjamin B Ross

John D Stackpole

Rupendra M Anklekar

A set () of laser pulses () is employed to sever a conductive link () in a memory or other IC chip. The duration of the set () is preferably shorter than 1,000 ns; and the pulse width of each laser pulse () within the set () is preferably within a range of about 0.1 ps to 30 ns. The set () can be treated as a single 'pulse' by conventional laser positioning systems () to perform on-the-fly link removal without stopping whenever the laser system () fires a set () of laser pulses () at each link (). Conventional IR wavelengths or their harmonics can be employed.

Method for processing a memory link with a set of at least two laser pulses

Processing a memory link with a set of at least two laser pulses

Terminating the ends of passive electronic components entails applying a laser-removable coating to one or both of the opposed major surfaces of a substrate. A UV laser beam having a spot size and an energy distribution sufficient to remove the laser-removable coating from multiple selected regions of at least one of the major surfaces to which the laser-removable coating was applied is directed for incidence on the substrate. Relative motion between the UV laser beam and substrate effects removal of sufficient amounts of laser-removable coating to expose the multiple selected regions. The substrate is then broken into multiple rowbars or individual components, each of which includes side margins. An electrically conductive material is applied to the side margins to form electrically conductive interconnects between portions of the side margins spatially aligned with the multiple selected regions.

Laser-based termination of miniature passive electronic components

A method of forming a scribe line having a sharp snap line entails directing a UV laser beam along a ceramic or ceramic-like substrate such that a portion of the thickness of the substrate is removed. The UV laser beam forms a scribe line in the substrate without appreciable substrate melting so that a clearly defined snap line forms a region of high stress concentration extending into the thickness of the substrate. Consequently, multiple depthwise cracks propagate into the thickness of the substrate in the region of high stress concentration in response to a breakage force applied to either side of the scribe line to effect clean fracture of the substrate into separate circuit components. The formation of this region facilitates higher precision fracture of the substrate while maintaining the integrity of the interior structure of each component during and after application of the breakage force.

Method of forming a scribe line on a passive electronic component substrate

Terminating the ends of passive electronic components entails applying a laser-ablative coating to each of the opposed major surfaces of a substrate. A UV laser beam having a spot size and an energy distribution sufficient to remove the laser-ablative coating from multiple selected regions of the major surfaces is directed for incidence on the substrate. Relative motion between the UV laser beam and substrate effects removal of sufficient amounts of laser-ablative coating to expose the multiple selected regions of the opposed major surfaces. The substrate is then broken into multiple rowbars, each of which includes side margins along which are positioned different spatially aligned pairs of the selected regions of the opposed major surfaces. An electrically conductive material is applied to the side margins to form electrically conductive interconnects between each spatially aligned pair of the selected regions.

Laser-based termination of passive electronic components

A method of forming a scribe line having a sharp snap line entails directing a UV laser beam along a ceramic substrate such that a portion of the thickness of the ceramic substrate is removed. The UV laser beam forms a scribe line in the ceramic substrate in the absence of appreciable ceramic substrate melting so that a clearly defined snap line forms a region of high stress concentration extending into the thickness of the ceramic substrate. Consequently, multiple depthwise fractures propagate into the thickness of the ceramic substrate in the region of high stress concentration in response to a breakage force applied to either side of the scribe line to effect clean breakage of the ceramic substrate into separate circuit components. The formation of this region facilitates higher precision breakage of the ceramic substrate while maintaining the integrity of the interior structure of each component during and after application of the breakage force.

Method of forming a scribe line on a ceramic substrate

A laser beam () cuts through a component carrier mask () made of thin elastomeric material such as silicone rubber to form slots () having slot openings of a desired shape. In a preferred embodiment, a light absorptivity enhancement material such as iron oxide introduced into the silicone rubber causes formation of a flexible support blank that operationally adequately absorbs light within a light absorption wavelength range. A beam positioner () receiving commands from a programmed controller causes a UV laser beam of a wavelength that is within the light absorption wavelength range to cut into the mask multiple slots with repeatable, precise dimensions. Each of the slots cut has opposed side margins that define between them a slot opening of suitable shape to receive a miniature component () and to exert on it optimal holding and release forces.

Method of forming dimensionally precise slots in resilient mask of miniature component carrier

The semiconductor device includes a blocking layer formed on a substrate , an insulation film formed on the blocking layer , and a fuse formed on the insulation film . The blocking layer is formed below the fuse , whereby the fuse is disconnected by laser ablation, and the laser ablation can be stopped by the blocking layer with good controllability without damaging the substrate. The fuses to be disconnected can be arranged at a very small pitch, which can improve integration of the fuse circuit.

Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same

A method of constructing a multilayer electric apparatus. The method includes forming a set of conductive features and a plurality of fiducial markings on a first dielectric layer in mutual reference to each other so that their relative positions are known to a first tolerance. Also, a pattern of information corresponding to a desired photoresist exposure pattern for a second layer of the multilayer electric apparatus is stored in a computer readable format. The locations of the fiducial markings on the first layer are measured and the pattern of information for the second layer is altered in correspondence to the measured locations of the fiducial markings. The updated pattern of information is used to control a laser to selectively expose the photoresist on the second layer. Finally, the first and second layers are joined to each other.

Method of constructing a multilayer electric apparatus

A burst ( ) of ultrashort laser pulses ( ) is employed to sever a conductive link ( ) in a nonthermal manner and offers a wider processing window, eliminates undesirable HAZ effects, and achieves superior severed link quality. The duration of the burst ( ) is preferably in the range of 10 ns to 500 ns; and the pulse width of each laser pulse ( ) within the burst ( ) is generally shorter than 25 ps, preferably shorter than or equal to 10 ps, and most preferably about 10 ps to 100 fs or shorter. The burst ( ) can be treated as a single &ldquo;pulse&rdquo; by conventional laser positioning systems ( ) to perform on-the-fly link removal without stopping whenever the laser system ( ) fires a burst ( ) of laser pulses ( ) at each link ( ). Conventional wavelengths or their harmonics can be employed.

Laser system and method for processing a memory link with a burst of laser pulses having ultrashort pulse widths

A uniform laser spot, such as from an imaged shaped Gaussian output ( ) or a clipped Gaussian spot, that is less than 20 &mgr;m in diameter can be employed for both thin and thick film resistor trimming to substantially reduce microcracking. These spots can be generated in an ablative, nonthermal, UV laser wavelength to reduce the HAZ and/or shift in TCR.

Resistor trimming with small uniform spot from solid-state UV laser

The semiconductor device comprises a blocking layer,formed on a substrate,, an insulation film,formed on the blocking layer,, and a fuse,formed on the insulation film,. The blocking layer,is formed below the fuse,, whereby the fuse is disconnected by laser ablation, and the laser ablation can be stopped by the blocking layer,with good controllability without damaging the substrate. The fuses to be disconnected can be arranged at a very small pitch, which can improve integration of the fuse circuit.

Ultraviolet (UV) laser output (88) exploits the absorption characteristics of the materials from which an electrically conductive link (42), an underlying semiconductor substrate (50), and passivation layers (48 and 54) are made to effectively remove the link (42) without damaging the substrate (50). The UV laser output (88) forms smaller than conventional IR laser link-blowing spot diameters (58) because of its shorter wavelength, thus permitting the implementation of greater circuit density. A passivation layer positioned between the link and the substrate can be formulated to be sufficiently absorptive to UV laser energy and sufficiently thick to attenuate the laser energy to prevent it from damaging the substrate (50) in the laser beam spot area (43) in both the off-link and link-overlapped portions. The UV laser output (88) can be employed to controllably ablate a depthwise portion of the passivation layer (54) underlying the link (42) to facilitate complete removal of the link (42). In addition, direct ablation of the passivation layer (48) with the UV laser output (88) facilitates predictable and consistent link severing profiles. The absorption characteristics of the passivation material also reduces the risk of damage to neighboring links or other active structures.

Method of severing electrically conductive links with ultraviolet laser

The present invention provides a method and system for irradiating resist material from multiple target positions (150) on one or more IC chips (12) with individually directed laser output pulses (74, 94). In one embodiment, an IC (12), including one or more etch targets (104, 106) such as conductive links (72, 92), is coated with an etch protection layer (90) of photoresist material. Then, position data direct, toward multiple positions (150) on the photoresist material, individual laser output pulses (94) of predetermined parameters selected to expose the photoresist material. Because photoresist exposure requires less energy than link blowing, low-power UV lasers (120) can be employed, and their shorter wavelengths permit a smaller practical laser output spot size (98). Because the nonablative process does not generate debris, an optical component (148) can be brought within 10 mm of etch protection layer (90) to focus the laser output pulses (94) to a spot size of less than two times the wavelength of laser output (140). Thus, an advantage of this embodiment permits microcircuit manufacturers to decrease the pitch distance (28) between circuit elements (14). After the photoresist layer (90) is developed, the accessible etch target (92) can be etched to repair or reconfigure the IC device. In another embodiment, slightly higher UV power laser output pulses (74) can be employed to ablate an etch protection resist layer (70) so any type of etch protection coating such as nonphotosensitive resist materials can be utilized with substantial manufacturing and cost benefits. Etching of the accessible etch targets (60, 62) follows this process.

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Portland, OR, United States of America

Edward J Swenson