The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 03, 2018
Filed:
Mar. 05, 2016
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Hsinchu, TW;
Chen-Chung Lai, Hsinchu County, TW;
Kang-Min Kuo, Hsinchu County, TW;
Yen-Ming Peng, Taoyuan, TW;
Gwo-Chyuan Kuoh, Hsinchu, TW;
Han-Wei Yang, Hsinchu, TW;
Yi-Ruei Lin, Taipei, TW;
Chin-Chia Chang, Taoyuan, TW;
Ying-Chieh Liao, Taipei, TW;
Che-Chia Hsu, Taoyuan, TW;
Bor-Zen Tien, Hsinchu, TW;
TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD., Hsinchu, TW;
Abstract
A semiconductor device with the metal fuse is provided. The metal fuse connects an electronic component (e.g., a transistor) and a existing dummy feature which is grounded. The protection of the metal fuse can be designed to start at the beginning of the metallization formation processes. The grounded dummy feature provides a path for the plasma charging to the ground during the entire back end of the line process. The metal fuse is a process level protection as opposed to the diode, which is a circuit level protection. As a process level protection, the metal fuse protects subsequently-formed circuitry. In addition, no additional active area is required for the metal fuse in the chip other than internal dummy patterns that are already implemented.