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. 24, 2012
Filed:
Feb. 24, 2010
David Ludwig, Irvine, CA (US);
James Yamaguchi, Laguna Niguel, CA (US);
Stewart Clark, Newport Beach, CA (US);
W. Eric Boyd, Irvine, CA (US);
David Ludwig, Irvine, CA (US);
James Yamaguchi, Laguna Niguel, CA (US);
Stewart Clark, Newport Beach, CA (US);
W. Eric Boyd, Irvine, CA (US);
Aprolase Development Co., LLC, Wilmington, DE (US);
Abstract
A preprocessed semiconductor substrate such as a wafer is provided with a metal etch mask which defines singulation channels on the substrate surface. An isotropic etch process is used to define a singulation channel with a first depth extending into the semiconductor substrate material. A second anisotropic etch process is used to increase the depth of the singulation channel while providing substantially vertical singulation channel sidewalls. The singulation channel can be extended through the depth of the substrate or, in an alternative embodiment, a predetermined portion of the inactive surface of the substrate removed to expose the singulation channels. In this manner, semiconductor die can be precisely singulated from a wafer while maintaining vertical die sidewalls.