Seal ring corner design
View Patent ↗Techniques for an integrated circuit device are provided. The integrated circuit device includes a substrate, an active circuit area, and a dielectric layer. A seal ring surrounds the active circuit area. At least one corner area of the integrated circuit includes a plurality of corner band stacks. Each of the plurality of corner band stacks is oriented at about a predetermined angle and extends from a first sawing trace to a second sawing trace. In a specific embodiment, if a structural fault in the at least one corner area occurs, the structural fault is predisposed to extend at about the predetermined angle.
1. An integrated circuit device, the device comprising:
a substrate, the substrate having a first edge and a second edge, the first edge and the second edge being intersecting edges of the substrate;
an active circuit area;
a single low-k dielectric layer overlying the substrate;
a seal ring disposed entirely in the single low-k dielectric layer, the seal ring being a hexagon shape surrounding the active circuit area as a protective boundary, the hexagon shape having a straight side extending entirely from a portion of the first edge to a portion of the second edge; and
at least one corner area deposited in the single low-k dielectric layer and outside the seal ring, the at least one corner area comprising a plurality of corner band stacks, the plurality of corner band stacks separated from each other by one or more low-k dielectric bands that are formed from the single low-k dielectric layer,
wherein each of the plurality of corner band stacks is oriented at about a predetermined angle and extends from the first edge to the second edge, the first edge including a first sawing trace and the second edge including a second sawing trace,
wherein if a structural fault in the at least one corner area occurs, the structural fault is predisposed to extend at about the predetermined angle.
2. The device of claim 1 wherein the structural fault includes at least one of a crack, break, and chip.
3. The device of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of corner band stacks comprise a plurality of metal traces coupled by at least one via between each of the plurality of metal traces, the plurality of metal traces are provided in the single low-k dielectric layer.
4. The device of claim 3 wherein the plurality of metal traces ranges from about 2 to about 14 layers.
5. The device of claim 3 wherein the plurality of metal traces each comprises a metal band having a width ranging from about 0.1 micron to about 3 microns of at least one of copper, aluminum, tungsten, and polysilicon.
6. The device of claim 3 wherein the at least one via comprises at least one of copper, aluminum, tungsten, and polysilicon having a width of ranging from about 0.1 micron to about 0.5 microns.
7. The device of claim 3 wherein each of the plurality of corner band stacks further comprise a contact having a width of about 0.1 micron to about 0.5 microns.
8. The device of claim 1 wherein the dielectric layer comprises at least one of PECYD silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, silicon carbide, flowable oxide (FOX), BPSG, BSG, PSG, and carbon doped silicon oxide.
9. The device of claim 1 wherein the seal ring forms at least one of a square, rectangle, rounded corner rectangle, oval, circle, and polygon around the active circuit area.
10. The device of claim 1 further comprising a buffer region in the dielectric layer between the active circuit area and the seal ring.
11. The device of claim 10 wherein the buffer region extends at least about 1 micron.
12. The device of claim 1 further comprising a baffler layer between the dielectric layer and each of the corner band stacks.
13. The device of claim 12 wherein the barrier layer comprises at least one of tantalum and tantalum nitride.
14. The device of claim 1 wherein the at least one corner region is four corner regions.
15. The device of claim 1 wherein the predetermined angle is about 45 degrees with respect to a sawing trace.
16. The device of claim 1 wherein the predetermined angle ranges from about 15 degrees to about 75 degrees with respect to a sawing trace.
17. An integrated circuit device, the device comprising:
a substrate, the substrate having a first edge and a second edge, the first edge and the second edge being intersecting edges of the substrate;
an active circuit area;
a single low-k dielectric layer overlying the substrate;
a seal ring disposed entirely in the single low-k dielectric layer, the seal ring being a hexagonal shape surrounding the active circuit area as a protective boundary, the hexagonal shape having a straight side extending entirely from the first edge to the second edge; and
at least one corner area deposited in the single low-k dielectric layer and outside the seal ring, the at least one corner area comprising a plurality of corner band stacks, the plurality of corner band stacks separated from each other by one or more low-k dielectric bands that are formed from the single low-k dielectric layer,
wherein each of the plurality of corner band stacks is oriented at about a predetermined angle and extends from the first edge to the second edge, the first edge including a first sawing trace and the second edge including a second sawing trace.
18. The device of claim 17 wherein the seal ring forms at least a shape of a square, a rectangle, a rounded corner rectangle, an oval, a circle, or a polygon around the active circuit area.