Emcore Corporation

Michael G Brown

Ivan Eliashevich

Mark Gottfried

Robert Frank Karlicek, Jr

James E Nering

Louis A Koszi

Hari S Venugopalan

Stephen Schwed

Edward W Douglas

Keng Ouyang

A method for separating a semiconductor wafer into several thousand devices or dies by laser ablation. Semiconductor wafers are initially pre-processed to create multiple devices, such as blue LEDs, on the wafers. The wafers are then mounted with tape coated with a generally high level adhesive. The mounted wafer is then placed on a vacuum chuck (which is itself positioned on a computer controlled positioning table) to hold it in place during the cutting process. The cutting surface is then covered with a protective layer to prevent contamination from the effluent resulting from the actual cutting process. A laser beam is generated and passed through optical elements and masks to create a pattern, such as a line or multiple lines. The patterned laser projection is directed at the wafer at a substantially normal angle and applied to the wafer until at least a partial cut is achieved through it. A mechanical separation process completes the separation when only a partial cut is achieved by the patterned laser projection. The dies are then transferred to a grip ring for further processing.

Semiconductor device separation using a patterned laser projection

A contact for n-type III-V semiconductor such as GaN and related nitride-based semiconductors is formed by depositing Al,Ti,Pt and Au in that order on the n-type semiconductor and annealing the resulting stack, desirably at about 400-600&deg; C. for about 1-10 minutes. The resulting contact provides a low-resistance, ohmic contact to the semiconductor and excellent bonding to gold leads.

Contact to n-GaN with Au termination

Light emitting diodes such as those formed from gallium nitride based semiconductors are provided with electrode and pad structures which facilitate current spreading. The LED may be formed as a die with a lower contact surface and a mesa projecting upwardly from the lower contact surface. An electrode on the lower contact surface may be in the form of a ring substantially encircling the mesa. In other arrangements, the pad and/or electrode on the lower contact surface is disposed in an indentation on one edge of the mesa whereas the pad on the top of the mesa is disposed adjacent the opposite edge of the mesa.

Light-emitting diodes with loop and strip electrodes and with wide medial sections

A method of forming a self-aligned contact on a semiconductor includes forming a layer of a dielectric material over a semiconductor, providing a photoresist layer over the dielectric layer and then exposing the photoresist layer with a desired pattern and developing an opening in the photoresist layer. The dielectric material exposed through the photoresist layer opening is then removed to form a contact opening extending through the dielectric material to the semiconductor. The photoresist layer is then eroded so as to enlarge the size of the opening in the photoresist layer, whereby the dielectric material adjacent the contact opening is exposed through the enlarged opening of the photoresist layer. A barrier metal is then deposited in the enlarged opening of the photoresist layer and in the contact opening of the dielectric material, whereby the barrier metal overlies the exposed portion of the dielectric material. A conductive metal is then deposited atop the barrier metal. The barrier metal isolates the contact metal from the semiconductor, thereby preventing interaction or intermixing of the contact metal and the semiconductor.

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Clinton, NJ, United States of America

Michael G Brown