Philips Electronics North America Corporation

Sanmina Corporation

Jay Patel

Subhas Bothra

Paul Sweere

Irfan Syed

A peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) solid state drive (SSD) accelerator, having a PCIe card and separate a flash daughter-card, is provided. By including flash memory devices on a separate daughter-card, the flash memory devices are thermally decoupled from the hotter devices on the main PCIe providing additional thermal operating margins for the entire design. Furthermore, as flash memory devices are the most likely part of the subsystem to wear out over time due, including flash memory devices on a separate daughter-card allows the flash memory devices to become a field replaceable unit that can be easily replaced. EEPROMs may be included on the flash daughter-card to record the current wear state of the NAND flash devices. Knowing the wear history of the flash memory device allows the seller to replace the flash daughter-card of a customer with a daughter-card having a similar wear state.

Peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) solid state drive (SSD) accelerator

Disclosed is a method for fabricating reliable interconnect structures on a semiconductor substrate that has at least a first dielectric layer, a first patterned metallization layer, a second dielectric layer over the first patterned metallization layer, and a plurality of tungsten plugs formed in the second dielectric layer. The method includes patterning a second metallization layer that overlies the second dielectric layer and the plurality of tungsten plugs, such that the patterning leaves at least one of the plurality of tungsten plugs not completely covered by the second metallization layer. Submersing the semiconductor substrate into a dilute nitric acid solution until a passivating tungsten oxide is formed over a portion of the at least one of the plurality of tungsten plugs that is not completely covered by the second metallization layer. The method further includes submersing the semiconductor substrate into a basic cleaning solution, and the passivating tungsten oxide is configured to prevent the at least one of the plurality of tungsten plugs from eroding in the basic cleaning solution. Preferably, the dilute nitric acid solution is adjusted to have a pH level of between about 1.5 and about 3 so that the passivating tungsten oxide becomes insoluble.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Jay Patel