Method of fabrication of through-substrate vias

1. A method of manufacturing a through-substrate-via structure, comprising:

providing a substrate having a front-side and an opposite back-side;

forming a through-substrate via opening in the front-side of the substrate, wherein the through-substrate-via opening does not penetrate an outer surface of the back-side of the substrate;

filling the through-substrate-via opening with a solid fill material;

removing portions of the substrate from the outer surface of the back-side of the substrate to thereby expose the fill material;

removing at least portions of the exposed fill material to form a back-side through-substrate via opening that traverses an entire thickness of the substrate; and

filling the back-side through-substrate via opening with an electrically conductive material.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fill material has a coefficient of thermal expansion that is within about 10 percent of a coefficient of thermal expansion of the substrate.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fill material has a coefficient of thermal expansion that is within about 1 percent of a coefficient of thermal expansion of the substrate.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fill material includes one or more insulating material.

5. The method of claim 4 , insulating material includes a passivation layer that coats the interior walls of the back-side through-substrate via opening.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the insulating material includes a diffusion barrier layer that coats the interior walls of the through-substrate via opening.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the insulating material includes an dielectric material plug.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the insulating material includes passivation layer of silicon oxide that coats the interior walls of the back-side through-substrate via opening, a diffusion barrier layer of silicon nitride that coats the passivation layer, and an insulating plug of borophosphosilicate glass contacting the diffusion barrier layer and substantially traversing an entire remaining depth of the front-side through-substrate via opening.

9. The method of claim 1 , further including covering the front-side through-substrate via opening with an electrically conductive layer, wherein the back-side through-substrate via opening is formed after covering the front-side through-substrate via opening with the electrically conductive layer.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein removing portions of the substrate from the outer surface of the back-side includes chemical-mechanical polishing the back-side.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein removing at least portions of the exposed fill material to form the back-side through-substrate via opening includes a wet etch process.

12. The method of claim 1 , further including removing an insulating material on an electrically conductive layer covering the front-side of the through-substrate via opening by a plasma etch process directed through the back-side through-substrate via opening.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein filling the back-side through-substrate via opening include forming a seed metal layer on the interior walls of the back-side through-substrate via opening, and electrochemically forming a bulk metal to fill the back-side through-substrate via opening.

14. A method of manufacturing an integrated circuit, comprising:

providing a substrate having a front-side and an opposite back-side; and

forming a through-substrate-via structure, including:

forming a through-substrate via opening in the front-side of the substrate, wherein the through-substrate-via opening does not penetrate an outer surface of the back-side of the substrate;

filling the through-substrate-via opening with a fill material;

removing portions of the substrate from the outer surface of the back-side of the substrate to expose the fill material;

removing at least portions of the exposed fill material to form a back-side through-substrate via opening that traverses an entire thickness of the substrate; and

filling the back-side through-substrate via opening with an electrically conductive material.

15. The method of claim 14 , further including covering the front-side through-substrate via opening with an electrically conductive layer, wherein the back-side through-substrate via opening is formed after covering the front-side through-substrate via opening with the electrically conductive layer.

16. The method of claim 14 , further including forming active or passive electrical components on the front-side of the substrate, wherein the back-side through-substrate via opening is filled with the electrically conductive material after forming the active or passive electrical components.

17. The method of claim 14 , further including forming an interconnect structure on the front-side of the substrate, wherein the back-side through-substrate via opening is formed after forming the interconnect structures.

18. The method of claim 14 , further including interconnecting the through-substrate via structures to another through-substrate via structure of another substrate that is vertically stacked with the substrate.