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:
May. 07, 2002
Filed:
Oct. 29, 1999
Jiahua Huang, San Jose, CA (US);
Jeffrey A. Shields, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Allison Holbrook, San Jose, CA (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
An improved etch of thick protective topside stack films, which cover metal pads of a semiconductor device. The invention uses a downstream plasma isotropic etch to etch the topside stack film. In one embodiment, the downstream plasma isotropic etch is used to etch only part of the topside stack films. A subsequent anisotropic oxide plasma etch is used to etch the remaining topside stack film to the metal pads. In another embodiment, the downstream plasma isotropic etch is used to etch completely through the topside stack films to the metal pad. The invention allows the etching through topside stack films greater than 5 microns.