JP3354949B2 - Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device having a semiconductor chip divided from a semiconductor wafer and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A semiconductor chip on which a semiconductor integrated circuit is formed is obtained by dividing a semiconductor wafer 1 as shown in FIG. 3 (a). In order to investigate the variation in circuit characteristics for each device, the monitoring element 3 is formed at a position as shown in FIGS. 3 (b) and 3 (c).

That is, FIG. 3B shows a structure in which monitor elements 3 are formed at four corners of a plurality of rectangular semiconductor integrated circuit regions 2 formed on a semiconductor wafer 1. Is used to investigate the variation in

On the other hand, the one shown in FIG. 3 (c) is one in which a monitoring element 5 is formed on a scribe line 4 that partitions a plurality of semiconductor integrated circuit regions 2 on a semiconductor wafer 1, and a manufacturing line It is provided to investigate the variation of Since the monitoring element 5 is provided outside the semiconductor integrated circuit region 2 and has no relation to the circuit configuration, it is also destroyed at the same time when the semiconductor wafer 1 is divided as shown in FIG. Is different from

[0005] The monitor element 5 is connected to a monitor pad 6 formed on the scribe line 4, and a probe needle for wafer inspection is applied to the monitor pad 6.

[0006]

However, the size of the plane of the monitor pad 6 must be 80 μm × 80 μm or more due to the contact of the probe with the probe.
When the semiconductor wafer 1 is divided along the scribe line 4 shown in FIG. 3 (c), a metal piece constituting the monitor pad 6 together with the monitor element 5 is scattered to divide the semiconductor integrated circuit region 2 (semiconductor chip). ), Short-circuiting the pads 7 thereover, causing a malfunction of the semiconductor integrated circuit 2 and lowering the product yield.

In this case, it is conceivable to remove the metal pieces on the semiconductor chip by air blow or the like, but it is troublesome to perform the process on a large number of chips. In addition, the metal piece remains in a protruding state at the side of the divided semiconductor chip without being completely cut, and this may be separated later and placed on the semiconductor chip, so that the effect of air blowing cannot be expected much.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device capable of preventing short-circuiting between pads on divided semiconductor chips and a method for manufacturing the same. .

[0009]

Means for Solving the Problems The above-mentioned problem is solved in FIG.
As shown in (b), the monitor transistor element 14 formed on the scribe line 12 and, among the plurality of pads formed in the semiconductor circuit regions 13a and 13b surrounded by the scribe line 12, the monitor A plurality of monitor pads 20, 24, 25 connected to the transistor element 14 for
The gate, source, and drain of the monitoring transistor element 14 and the monitoring pads 20, 24, 25 are formed to have a width smaller than the distance between the plurality of pads provided in the semiconductor circuit regions 13a, 13b. Wiring electrodes 21, 22a, 23 connected to each other, and the wiring electrodes 21, 22a, 23
Is composed of only the wiring electrodes 21, 22a, and 23 arranged in the scribe line 12 in a direction perpendicular to the scribe direction, and one of the two adjacent semiconductor circuit regions 13a and 13b has one region 13a (13b). Extending only to the one area 13
The wiring electrode 21 (22a, 23) connected to only the monitoring pad 20 (24, 25) in a (13b) and the other region 13b (13a) extending only to the other region 13b (13a). A semiconductor device comprising a semiconductor chip divided from a semiconductor wafer consisting of wiring electrodes 22a and 23 (21) connected only to the monitoring pads 24 and 25 (20) in You.

Alternatively, the monitor pads 20, 24, 25
Is achieved by the semiconductor device, wherein the semiconductor device is connected to a semiconductor circuit formed in the semiconductor circuit region.

[0011] The above object is achieved by providing a monitor transistor element arranged on a scribe line, a plurality of monitor pads arranged in a semiconductor circuit region surrounded by the scribe line and connected to the monitor transistor element, A wiring electrode having a width smaller than a distance between a plurality of pads arranged in the semiconductor circuit region and connecting a gate, a source and a drain of the monitoring transistor element to the monitoring pad, and Consisting of only wiring electrodes arranged in a direction perpendicular to the scribe direction, extending only in one of the two adjacent semiconductor circuit regions, and connecting to only the monitor pad in the one region. Extending only in the other area and the monitor electrode in the other area. Forming a semiconductor wafer including a wiring electrode connected only to the semiconductor wafer, and scribe the semiconductor wafer along the scribe line to divide the semiconductor wafer into a plurality of semiconductor chips. The problem is solved by a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device.

[0012]

According to the present invention, monitor pads 20, 2 are provided in a semiconductor integrated circuit region surrounded by scribe lines 12.
Are provided on the scribe line 12 to form the monitoring element 14 and the thin metal wiring electrodes 21 and 22 are provided.
Are connected to the monitor pads 20, 24, and the monitor element 14.

Therefore, when cutting the semiconductor wafer 11 along the scribe lines 12, the pads 20, 24.
The metal pieces having a size of about several tens of μm do not scatter, and the pads on the semiconductor chip are not short-circuited by the metal pieces.

Moreover, since the metal wiring electrodes are wired in a direction orthogonal to the scribe lines, the area of the metal formed on the scribe lines is further reduced, and the metal pieces scattered at the time of wafer division are reduced. Therefore, the occurrence of an accident such as a short circuit is reliably avoided.

Further, when the monitor pad is connected to an internal circuit and used as a bonding pad after division,
It is possible to achieve high integration of a semiconductor device in which there is no room for providing a pad dedicated to a monitor, and further, when a semiconductor wafer is cut and divided, large metal pieces do not scatter.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (A) Description of Reference Example FIG. 1 is a plan view and a partially enlarged plan view of an apparatus showing a reference example.

In FIG. 1A, reference numeral 11 denotes silicon,
A scribe line 1 with a depression is provided on the upper surface side of the semiconductor wafer 11 made of germanium or the like.
2 is a semiconductor integrated circuit device 1 partitioned into a planar rectangular shape
The semiconductor wafer 11 is cut along the scribe line 12 after the wafer test.

In the vicinity of the corner of the semiconductor integrated circuit 13 on the surface of the scribe line 12, as shown in FIG.
The monitoring MOS transistor 14 and the resistance element 26 are formed. The monitoring elements 14 and 26 are provided, for example, for investigating variations in elements and circuit characteristics of each semiconductor wafer 11 in a manufacturing line.

The MOS transistor 14 has a periphery of Si
The gate electrode 17 is formed in a semiconductor region surrounded by an insulating film 15 of O ₂ or the like. The gate electrode 17 is formed on the semiconductor via a gate insulating film 16, and the two sources formed on both sides thereof by introducing impurities are formed. / Drain (S / D) layers 18,1
9. The gate electrode 17 is connected to monitor pads 20 provided at the four corners of the first semiconductor integrated circuit device 13a via an aluminum wiring electrode 21 having a width of about 1 μm. The connected aluminum wiring electrodes 22 and 23 are individually connected to two monitor pads 24 and 25 provided at the corners of the adjacent semiconductor integrated circuit device 13b.

The resistive element 26 is formed on the insulating film 15 in another region of the scribe line 12, and is made of, for example, polycrystalline silicon containing impurities, and is connected to both ends of an aluminum wiring electrode. 27 and 28 are connected to monitor pads 29 and 30 at the corners of the third semiconductor integrated circuit device 13c.

The monitor pads 20, 24, 25,
The size of the plane of 29 and 30 is 80 μm × 80 μm or more, and the interval is 40 μm or more.

The semiconductor wafer 11 is entirely covered with a passivation film (not shown), and the monitor pads 20 and 2 are provided through a plurality of windows provided in the passivation film.
4 and the other pads 31 are exposed to the outside.

Next, the operation of the above-described reference example will be described. In the above-described reference example, before dividing the semiconductor wafer 11 along the scribe line 12, a probe (not shown) of the wafer test apparatus is applied to the pads 20, 24 ... connected to the monitoring elements 14, 26. The characteristic of the element is detected, and the characteristic variation of each semiconductor wafer 11 is inspected.

If the variation among the semiconductor wafers 11 is within an allowable range, the device characteristics of each semiconductor integrated circuit 13 are examined to check for a defective circuit, and then the semiconductor wafer 11 is moved along the scribe line 12. Dicing into a plurality of chips.

In this case, the monitoring MOS transistor 14 and the resistance element 26 formed on the scribe line 12 are destroyed, but the metal on the scribe line 12 is a thin aluminum wiring electrode 2 having a width of about 1 μm.
1 to 23, 27, and 28.
Even if the chips 23, 27, and 28 are scattered as metal pieces during chip division, the pads 31 on the semiconductor integrated circuit 13 that are separated by about 40 μm are not short-circuited, and the semiconductor device does not malfunction.

Although the monitoring elements 14 and 26 are connected to the dedicated monitoring pads 20, 24... In the above-described reference example, the pads 20 may be the pads 31 connected to the semiconductor integrated circuit 13. According to this, even when the pad space dedicated to the monitor cannot be provided, the short circuit between the pads can be prevented. However, in this case, it is necessary to select a pad 31 of a circuit that is not affected by the monitor voltage.

(B) Description of the embodiment of the present invention In the above-described reference example, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), the electrode wiring 22, which connects the monitoring elements 14, 16 and the pads 24, 30 far from them, Scribe line 1 for part of 28
2 Arranged through the central cutter passage area S. For this reason, the electrode wirings 24 and 30 are broken into small pieces by the cutter passing through the region S, and do not exist at the edge of the semiconductor chip.

However, as shown in another reference example of FIG. 2A, when the electrode wiring 22 is displaced from the cutter passing area S of the scribe line 12, the edge of the divided semiconductor integrated circuit device 13b In some cases, the wiring electrode 22 as long as the pad interval remains.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), when the monitoring elements 14, 26 and the pad 24 remote therefrom are connected by the wiring electrodes 22a, 28a, the portion in the scribe direction is connected to the semiconductor integrated circuit device. The portion formed in the scribe line 12 is formed in the direction perpendicular to the scribe line.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, a monitor pad is provided in a semiconductor integrated circuit region surrounded by a scribe line, and the monitor pad is connected to a monitor element on the scribe line. Therefore, when the semiconductor wafer is cut along the scribe line, the metal pieces having the size of a pad are not scattered, thereby making it possible to prevent a short circuit of the pad on the semiconductor chip.

Since the metal wiring electrodes are formed only of wirings oriented in a direction perpendicular to the scribe lines, the area of the metal formed on the scribe lines can be further reduced.
The occurrence of accidents such as short circuits can be reliably prevented by making the metal pieces scattered during wafer division smaller.

Further, according to the present invention, since the monitor pads are connected to the internal circuit and are used as bonding pads after division, the present invention can be applied to a semiconductor wafer where there is no room for providing pads dedicated to the monitor. The device can be highly integrated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view and a partially enlarged plan view of an apparatus showing a reference example.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged plan view of an apparatus showing another reference example and an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view and a partially enlarged plan view showing an example of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Semiconductor wafer 12 Scribe line 13 Semiconductor integrated circuit device 14 MOS transistor 15 Insulating film 16 Gate insulating film 17 Gate electrode 18, 19 S / D layer 20, 24, 25, 29, 30 Monitor pad 26 Resistive element 21, 22, 23, 27, 28 Wiring electrode 22a, 28a Wiring electrode

Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/66 H01L 21/301 H01L 21/822 H01L 27/04

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A monitor transistor element formed on a scribe line and a plurality of monitors connected to the monitor transistor element among a plurality of pads formed in a semiconductor circuit region surrounded by the scribe line. And a wiring electrode formed to have a width smaller than the distance between the plurality of pads provided in the semiconductor circuit region and connecting the gate, source and drain of the monitoring transistor element to the monitoring pad, respectively. And the wiring electrode includes only wiring electrodes arranged in a direction orthogonal to a scribe direction in the scribe line, and extends to only one of two adjacent semiconductor circuit regions. A wiring electrode connected to only the monitor pad in the one area and extending only to the other area Be provided with a semiconductor chip which is divided from a semiconductor wafer comprising a wiring electrode which is connected only to the monitor pad in the other area Te wherein a. 2. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein said monitor pad is connected to a semiconductor circuit formed in said semiconductor circuit region. 3. A monitor transistor element arranged on a scribe line, a plurality of monitor pads arranged in a semiconductor circuit region surrounded by the scribe line and connected to the monitor transistor element, and the semiconductor circuit The width is smaller than the distance between the plurality of pads arranged in the region, the gate of the monitoring transistor element,
A wiring electrode for connecting a source and a drain to the monitoring pad, each of the wiring electrodes being arranged only in a direction orthogonal to a scribe direction in the scribe line, and of two adjacent semiconductor circuit regions; A wiring electrode extending only in one region and connected to only the monitoring pad in the one region and extending only in the other region and connected to only the monitoring pad in the other region Forming a semiconductor wafer including a plurality of wiring electrodes, and a step of scribing the semiconductor wafer along the scribe line to divide the semiconductor wafer into a plurality of semiconductor chips. .