Solderable Contact and Passivation for Semiconductor Dies

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/552,139, filed Mar. 11, 2004.

This invention relates to semiconductor devices and processes for their manufacture and more specifically relates to a novel solderable contact structure for semiconductor die.

Solderable contacts for semiconductor devices are well known. Such contact structures are commonly silver-containing alloys deposited on aluminum die electrodes, which are insulated from other surfaces by an insulation passivation coating which overlaps the edges of the contact area.

It has been found that the silver ions from the top metal layer will migrate under the passivation layer and form dendrites under prolonged exposure to electric fields and moisture. Thus, over time, the dendrites will form conductive bridges between device electrodes and device terminations, thus reducing device reliability.

It would be desireable to provide a passivated top silver-containing solderable contact in which the migration of silver from device electrodes and under the passivation is prevented.

In accordance with the invention the silver-containing solderable metal layer is terminated around its periphery and is spaced from the edge an epoxy passivation layer, forming a gap between the edge of the epoxy passivation and the confronting edge of the solderable metal layer. During solder attach of the device to a circuit board or the like, the attach-solder will dissolve the exposed silver, forming a solder alloy. This prevents the migration of silver ions from the solderable electrodes to the termination during applied electric fields to the device during its operation. Thus, dendrite formation is reduced and device reliability is improved.

The novel invention has application to any semiconductor device in which a solderable contact is desired, such as the Direct FET® device of International Rectifier as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,624,522, issued Sep. 23, 2003, entitled CHIP SCALE SURFACE MOUNTED DEVICE AND PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE (IR-1830), as well as to flip chips; bumped/wafer level packages and the like.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2 there is shown a bottom view of a Direct FET® type package 10 in which a MOSFET semiconductor die 11 is contained within a metal can 12 which has an open bottom, shown in Figure, and a top web 13, shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The web 13 is connected to flanges 14 and 15 which form a contact for drain electrode 16 on the bottom surface of die 11.

The top surface of die 11 is exposed by the open bottom of conductive can 12 and contains a source electrode having solderable contacts 20 and 21 and a solderable gate contact 22. The top surfaces of contacts 20, 21 and 22 are generally coplanar with drain contacts 14, 15 although there could be an upset of up to about 50 μm due to tolerance variations. Thus, the device is solderable at its contacts 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22 to respective corresponding contact areas on a flat circuit board (not shown). The contacts 20, 21 and 22 are insulated from one another and from the conventional termination enclosing the upper surface of die 11 by an insulation passivation layer 30.

It is to be noted that the invention is illustrated as applied to a Direct FET® type device. However, the die 11 may be any semiconductor die which has a solderable contact which is insulated by a surrounding passivation coating.

In the device illustrated, the die 10 (shown as silicon, but which may be of other materials, for example, SiC, GaN, and the like) has the contact structure shown in cross-section in FIG. 2, which is a section through the surface area shown in the circle 35 in FIG. 1. Thus solderable contact 21 is the exposed area of a silver-containing solderable metal such as a conventional titanium/nickel/silver stack having thicknesses of 1,000 Å, 2000 Å and 6000 Å respectively, which is deposited atop the aluminum source contact 40 of MOSFET die 11. The solderable contact 21 is surrounded by insulation passivation layer 30 which consists of a nitride layer 42 and an epoxy layer 41. Note that the edge of contact 21 overlaps nitride layer 42 and is encapsulated under the epoxy layer 41. Thus, the outer rim area 43 of contact 21, is captured under epoxy 41 and is not exposed to solder during a soldering operation. The epoxy layer 41 may also be formed of BCB, polyamide or polysiloxane passivation materials.

In the structure of FIG. 2, and after soldering to the exposed area of contact 21, free silver ions can migrate from top metal 21, under the insulation epoxy layer and form dendrites under prolonged exposure to electric fields and moisture during operation. These dendrites can form conductive bridges to and toward the die terminations, thus impacting device reliability.

In accordance with the invention, and as shown in FIG. 3, the edge of metallizing 21 is foreshortened to overlie nitride layer 42, but spaced from the confronting edge of epoxy layer 41, creating the gap 50 there between. The gap 50 will preferably surround the periphery of contact 21 in FIG. 1. Significantly, the outer rim of contact 21 is fully exposed for solder connection.

When the device of FIG. 3 is to be attached by soldering to a circuit board, the attach solder dissolves the exposed silver containing contact 21, forming a solder alloy in the conventional manner. This takes place when using any conventional solder. The silver is now fully captured within the alloy and cannot migrate from the device electrodes to create dendrites and reduce device reliability. Note that in the prior art device that the silver-containing solderable contact 21 captured under the epoxy layer 42 is not reached during soldering and the remaining silver is a source of the migrating ions which will form the disadvantageous dendrites.

To form gap 50, the nitride layer 42 was extended by about 35 microns, as compared to FIG. 2; and the gap 50 is about 10 microns and can be from about 5 microns to about 20 microns wide. More generally, the gap should be at least as wide as needed to insure that no silver is encapsulated under epoxy 41, and all of the silver contact 21 is exposed to alloying during soldering.

Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein.