International Business Machines Corporation

Joachim Norbert Burghartz

Cyprian Emeka Uzoh

Daniel C Edelstein

Christopher Vincent Jahnes

Keith Aelwyn Jenkins

Mehmet Soyuer

Charles Thomas Black

Bernard S Meyerson

Sandip Tiwari

Mark B Ritter

Jeffrey John Welser

Saila Ponnapalli

Yuan-Chen Sun

Siegfried R Mader

Barry Jack Ginsberg

Uli Klepser

A signal sensor is provided that includes a substrate, an input port formed on the substrate as a substantially linear conductive element, and a sensing port formed on the substrate adjacent to the input port. The sensing port is influenced by magnetic flux emanating from the input port such that a sense signal is generated in the sensing port. The sensing port can have as little as one sensing loop disposed on one side of the input port, but preferably includes at least one sensing loop on each side of the input port. The sensing loops on each side of the input port have an opposite sense of turn so that the sense signals in each loop are additive. A cross-over connector provides an electrical connection between the loops of the sensing port on opposite sides of the input port. The cross-over connector can be an underpass crossing below the input port or an overpass crossing above the input port. If desired, multiple sensing loops can be formed on each side of the input port. These sensing loops may be formed at the same fabrication level or may be formed on multiple fabrication levels. In the latter case, multi-level interconnects provide electrical connections between the sensing loops on each level.

Signal sensor for rf integrated systems

High quality factor (Q) spiral and toroidal inductor and transformer are disclosed that are compatible with silicon very large scale integration (VLSI) processing, consume a small IC area, and operate at high frequencies. The spiral inductor has a spiral metal coil deposited in a trench formed in a dielectric layer over a substrate. The metal coil is enclosed in ferromagnetic liner and cap layers, and is connected to an underpass contact through a metal filled via in the dielectric layer. The spiral inductor also includes ferromagnetic cores lines surrounded by the metal spiral coil. A spiral transformer is formed by vertically stacking two spiral inductors, or placing them side-by-side over a ferromagnetic bridge formed below the metal coils and cores lines. The toroidal inductor includes a toroidal metal coil with a core having ferromagnetic strips. The toroidal metal coil is segmented into two coils each having a pair of ports to form a toroidal transformer.

Integrated circuit spiral inductor

Method of forming an integrated circuit spiral inductor with

The present invention relates to a method for interconnecting, through high-density micro-post wiring, multiple semiconductor wafers with lengths of about a millimeter or below. Specifically, the method of the present invention comprises etching at least one hole, defined by walls, at least partly through a semiconducting material; forming a layer of electrically insulating material to cover said walls; and forming an electrically conductive material on said walls within the channel of the hole. Microelectronic devices containing the micro-post wiring of the present invention are also disclosed herein.

Method for making three dimensional circuit integration

An integrated circuit-compatible photo detector is disclosed which is particularly compatible with BiCMOS fabrication processes. In a first aspect, the photo detector is formed as a lateral phototransistor having a semiconductor substrate, a base structure formed as a first impurity region in the substrate, an emitter structure formed as a second impurity region in the first impurity region, and a collector structure formed by the substrate and by a pair of third and fourth impurity regions in the substrate on opposite sides of the first and second impurity regions. An emitter contact is electrically connected to the second impurity region, while a pair of collector contacts are electrically connected to the third and fourth impurity regions and to each other. An anti-reflective coating is applied to at least the base structure. Advantageously, if a photodiode is required instead of a phototransistor, the second impurity region can be formed with the same polarity as the first impurity region, in which case the first and second impurity regions form a cathode (or anode) and the third and fourth impurity regions form an anode (or cathode). In a second aspect, the photo detector is formed as a lateral phototransistor having a semiconductor substrate, a base structure formed by the substrate, an emitter structure formed as a first impurity region in the substrate, and a collector structure formed as a pair of second and third impurity regions in the substrate on opposite sides of the first impurity region. An emitter contact is electrically connected to the first impurity region, while a pair of collector contacts are electrically connected to the second and third impurity regions and to each other. An anti-reflective coating is applied to at least the base structure. Advantageously, if a photodiode is required instead of a phototransistor, the first impurity region can be formed with the same polarity as the substrate, in which case the substrate and the first impurity region form an anode (or cathode) and the second and third impurity regions form a cathode (or anode).

Integrated circuit-compatible photo detector device and fabrication

An inductor structure includes an inductor spiral coil formed on a substrate; and a substrate contact connected to the substrate and disposed within a predetermined distance to the inductor spiral coil to increase the quality-factor (Q) characteristics associated with the inductor structure, and also does not increase eddy currents in the substrate. The substrate contact provides for implementation of the inductor structure as a spiral inductor which is integrated on a silicon substrate. The substrate contact determines the energy potential substantially adjacent to the inductor for reducing the noise level. In an implementation of an inductor in an RF circuit, the substrate contact contributes to providing an increased Q.

Substrate contact for integrated spiral inductors

Integrated circuit inductor

An RF switch comprises a switching FET having gate and back gate terminals, an input port for receiving an RF signal, and an output port for providing substantially the RF signal during an ON state of the FET. Switching circuitry connects the back gate terminal of the FET to the input port during the ON state to reduce insertion loss during the ON state, and connects the back gate terminal to a point of reference potential during an OFF state of the FET to increase isolation during the OFF state. Preferably, the switching FET is a depletion mode silicon MOSFET capable of operating with low supply voltages. The switching circuitry preferably comprises a second FET for electrically connecting the back gate terminal and the input terminal (e.g., source) of the switching FET during the ON state, and a third FET for electrically connecting the back gate terminal of the switching FET to the point of reference potential during the OFF state.

MOS high frequency switch circuit using a variable well bias

High quality factor (Q) spiral and toroidal inductor and transformer are disclosed that are compatible with silicon very large scale integration (VLSI) processing, consume a small IC area, and operate at high frequencies. The spiral inductor has a spiral metal coil deposited in a trench formed in at dielectric layer over a substrate. The metal coil is enclosed in ferromagnetic liner and cap layers, and is connected to an underpass contact through a metal filled via in the dielectric layer. The spiral inductor also includes ferromagnetic cores lines surrounded by the metal spiral coil. A spiral transformer is formed by vertically stacking two spiral inductors, or placing them side-by-side over a ferromagnetic bridge formed below the metal coils and cores lines. The toroidal inductor includes a toroidal metal coil with a core having ferromagnetic strips. The toroidal metal coil is segmented into two coils each having a pair of ports to form a toroidal transformer.

Integrated circuit toroidal inductor

A high-Q monolithic inductor structure formed using conventional silicon technology and having a first complete lower inductor spiral formed on a substrate and a second complete upper formed on a insulating layer over the first inductor spiral. Central portions of the inductor spirals are connected through a via hole in the insulating layer. The inductor spirals are oriented such that the current flows in the first and second spirals are in the same direction.

Two-level spiral inductor structure having a high inductance to area

A SiGe-HBT structure for device integration on thin-SOI substrates is disclosed. The emitter and base regions are vertical while the collector contact is lateral in the otherwise MOS-like device structure. This allows one to integrate a SiGe base, the device capacitances are reduced, and the transistor can be combined with fully-depleted CMOS in a SOI-BiCMOS technology.

Fabrication of vertical SiGe base HBT with lateral collector contact on

A dual gate thin film or SOI MOSFET device having a sufficiently thin body thickness with one or more semiconductor channel layer(s) sandwiched by semiconductor layers having a different energy band structure to automatically confine carriers to the channel layer(s) without the need for channel grading or modulation doping. Preferred embodiments employ strained layer epitaxy having Si/SiGe/Si or SiGe/Si/SiGe semiconductor layers.

SiGe thin film or SOI MOSFET and method for making the same

Selective and non-selective epitaxial growth is utilized to form a bipolar transistor having self-aligned emitter and base regions. A substrate of semiconductor material of a first conductivity type is provided and a first layer of semiconductor material of a second conductivity type is non-selectively epitaxially grown on the substrate. An insulating element is formed on a portion of the first layer of semiconductor material and a second layer of semiconductor material of the second conductivity type is selectively epitaxially grown on the first layer such that a portion of the second layer laterally overgrows onto an upper surface of the insulating element. The lateral overgrowth forms an aperture in the second layer to expose a region of the upper surface of insulating element. A layer of insulating material is formed on the second layer to isolate the second layer of semiconductor material from a subsequent deposition of conductive material. The portion of the insulating layer formed within the aperture narrows the aperture and the exposed region of the element. The exposed region of the element is removed to expose a portion of the first layer and an emitter region of the first conductivity type is formed in the first layer through the aperture.

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Shrub Oak, NY, United States of America

Joachim Norbert Burghartz