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:
Dec. 04, 2001
Filed:
Jan. 15, 1999
Nikhil Vishwanath Kelkar, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Pai-Hsiang Kao, Saratoga, CA (US);
National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
An improved integrated circuit device that includes both bond pads and trim pads is disclosed. Electrically conductive, non-wettable and non-corrosive protective caps are formed over each of the trim pads. With this arrangement, the protective caps act as barriers between the trim pads and solder used to form solder bumps when the IC package is mounted onto a substrate. In one embodiment, the protective caps are formed from a material that is easily sputtered, such as titanium. In a method aspect of the invention, the protective caps are applied during wafer level processing before either the solder bumping or trimming operations.