Microelectronic assembly and method for forming the same
View Patent ↗According to one aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for forming a microelectronic assembly. The method comprises forming first and second trenches on a semiconductor substrate, filling the first and second trenches with an etch stop material, forming an inductor on the semiconductor substrate, forming an etch hole in at least one of the etch stop layer and the semiconductor substrate to expose the substrate between the first and second trenches, isotropically etching the substrate between the first and second trenches through the etch hole to create a cavity within the substrate, and forming a sealing layer over the etch hole to seal the cavity.
1. A method for forming a microelectronic assembly, comprising:
forming first and second trenches on a semiconductor substrate;
filling the first and second trenches with an etch stop material;
forming an inductor having a coil wrapped around an inductor center point over the semiconductor substrate, wherein the first trench is positioned between the inductor center point and the second trench;
forming an etch hole in at least one of the etch stop layer and the semiconductor substrate to expose the substrate between the first and second trenches;
isotropically etching the substrate between the first and second trenches through the etch hole to create a cavity within the substrate; and
forming a sealing layer over the etch hole to seal the cavity.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising positioning at least a portion of the inductor over the cavity.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first and second trenches are formed around the inductor center point.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein both the first trench and the second trench are centered on the inductor center point.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising forming at least one support trench interconnecting the first and second trenches, said formation of the etch stop layer filling the at least one support trench.
6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising: forming a plurality of support structure formation trenches between the first and second trenches, the support structure formation trenches having a depth that is less than the depth of the first and second trenches and width that is less than the width of the first and second trenches; and filling the plurality of support structure formation trenches with the etch stop material to form an annular support structure between the first and second trenches.
7. A method for forming a microelectronic assembly, comprising:
forming first and second trenches around a trench center point on a first surface of a semiconductor substrate having the first surface and a second surface opposing the first surface and comprising a semiconductor material, the first trench being positioned between the trench center point and the second trench;
forming an etch stop layer over the surface of the semiconductor substrate, the etch stop layer filling the first and second trenches;
forming an inductor over the surface of the semiconductor substrate;
forming an etch hole through the etch stop layer to expose the semiconductor material between the first and second trenches;
isotropically etching the semiconductor material between the first and second trenches through the etch hole to create a cavity within the semiconductor substrate; and
forming a sealing layer over the etch stop layer to seal the cavity.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the inductor comprises a coil wrapped around the trench center point and at least a portion of the coil is positioned over the cavity.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first and second trenches have a substantially circular shape and the cavity has an annular ring shape.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising forming a plurality of support trenches interconnecting the first and second trenches, said formation of the etch stop layer filling the support trenches with the etch stop material.
11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising forming a plurality of support structure formation trenches between the first and second trenches, the support structure formation trenches having a depth that is less than the depth of the first and second trenches and width that is less than the width of the first and second trenches, said formation of the etch stop layer filling the plurality of support structure formation trenches and causing an annular support structure, comprising the etch stop material, to be formed between the first and second trenches.