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:
Sep. 25, 2001
Filed:
Aug. 26, 1999
Jeffrey D. Birdsley, Austin, TX (US);
Matthew Thayer, Austin, TX (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
Current reactive ion etching (RIE) techniques are not applicable to back side etching of semiconductor devices. According to an example embodiment, the present invention is directed to a method for analyzing a semiconductor device having a back side and a circuit side opposite the back side. An ion gas including SF,and N,is directed at a target region in the back side. Using the ion gas, the target region is etched using reactive ion etching (RIE). An exposed region is formed, and circuitry in the device is accessed via the exposed region. The use of the ion gas enables back side RIE that is capable of producing an etched surface that is usable for back side access.