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. 05, 2016
Filed:
Mar. 11, 2016
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Lawrence A. Clevenger, Rhinebeck, NY (US);
Vincent J. McGahay, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
Joyeeta Nag, Wappingers Falls, NY (US);
Yiheng Xu, Hopewell Junction, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A structure and method for fabricating a continuous cooling channel in the back end of line wiring levels of an integrated circuit (IC) chip is provided. This continuous cooling channel may provide a path for a cooling source such as a fluid pumped from an external fluidic-cooling circulation driver to make physical contact locally with and cool the back end levels within the IC chip that may generate heat as a byproduct of the IC device's routine operations. Such a cooling structure is achieved by removing a horizontal portion of a barrier layer from an intermediate region of an interlevel interconnect structure, selective to a vertical portion of the barrier layer located on a sidewall of the interlevel interconnect structure, using gas cluster ion beam etching as well as removing the bulk conductor by additional means.