JPH088288B2 - Integrated circuit and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to integrated circuits and methods of making the same, and more particularly to monolithic microwave integrated circuits.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a grounding method for a monolithic microwave integrated circuit has mainly been a method using a bonding wire or a method using a via hole (through hole). A grounding method using a bonding wire is adopted in a region of 10 [GHZ] or less, which has a relatively low frequency.
However, in a high frequency region such as a millimeter wave, the grounding method using a bonding wire is often used because the grounding method using a bonding wire has a high inductance and deteriorates the characteristics of the monolithic microwave integrated circuit.

In the process of forming the via hole, a method is generally used in which the back surface of the monolithic microwave integrated circuit is attached to a supporting plate such as a transparent glass plate so that the back surface is the front surface, and the via hole is processed from the back surface.

[0004]

Recently, on-wafer measurement technology has been developed, and it has become possible to accurately measure high-frequency characteristics such as S-parameters even with millimeter waves by using an on-wafer measurement probe.

However, in the above-described monolithic microwave integrated circuit using via holes, since it is stuck to a glass plate or the like in a wafer state, on-wafer measurement cannot be performed. Therefore, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-27746, it is measured in a state of being made into a chip from a wafer, or before the coplanar circuit or the single FET is subjected to the via hole process on the back surface.

FIG. 2 shows an example of on-wafer measurement after being made into chips. This electrically contacts the ground electrode 107 of the high frequency probe 101 and the electrode 104 of the via hole 100 of the integrated circuit 102, and electrically connects the signal line 106 of the high frequency probe and the input / output terminal 103 of the monolithic microwave integrated circuit. The measurement is carried out by contacting with. In addition, 105 is a power supply terminal and 108 is a power supply probe.

[0007] In this method of making a chip for measurement, it is necessary to align the high frequency probe 101 and the power supply probe 108 for each chip, and it takes time, so that it is not suitable for selection and the like. In the method of measuring before forming via holes in a coplanar circuit, the characteristics change because the configuration of the transmission line changes before and after the via holes are formed, which is also not suitable for high-frequency sorting work. There is.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to provide an integrated circuit capable of easily measuring high-frequency characteristics on-wafer and a manufacturing method thereof. .

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, an integrated circuit according to the present invention has an electrode provided on a scribe region of a semiconductor wafer substrate and electrically connected to an electrode on one main surface of the substrate and an electrode on the other main surface thereof. It is characterized in that it has a through hole that is electrically connected thereto, and that the high frequency characteristic of the own circuit is measured by using the electrode on the other main surface.

Further, in the method of manufacturing an integrated circuit according to the present invention, a through hole for electrically connecting an electrode on one main surface of a circuit on a semiconductor wafer substrate and an electrode on the other main surface is formed with a scribe of the substrate. A first step of providing the region, and a second step of measuring the high-frequency characteristic of the circuit using the electrode on the other main surface, and cutting the substrate by the scribe region to form a chip after the measurement. It is characterized by including.

[0011]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of an integrated circuit according to the present invention, showing a front surface (a) and a back surface (b) of a wafer. In the figure, the FET 8 on the surface (a)
Are connected to the high frequency input / output terminal 1 and the power supply terminal 4. Then, the high frequency input / output terminal 1 on the front surface (a) is connected to the rear surface through the via hole 3 formed in the scribe region 2. Similarly, the power supply terminal 4 is also connected to the back surface by the via hole 5. On the back surface (b), a grounding conductor of a microstrip line and a high-frequency input / output terminal 6 for measurement, which is a coplanar line, are formed as electrodes, and a power supply terminal 4 is also provided.
The terminal 7 connected to the via hole 5 is formed as an electrode. Note that terminals are similarly formed for all circuits on the wafer.

According to this configuration, after the completion of the via hole forming process on the back surface, the high frequency input / output terminal 6 is brought into contact with the high frequency probe, and the power source terminal 7 is brought into contact with the power source probe. Become.

Here, the influence of the via hole on the measurement can be considered as the inductance of the via hole portion, but when forming the via hole, the semiconductor substrate thickness of the monolithic microwave integrated circuit is 100 [μm].
It is negligible, and the inductance of the via hole is small, so it can be almost ignored.

That is, the integrated circuit according to this embodiment is manufactured as follows. That is, a through hole (via hole) for electrically connecting the front surface electrode and the back surface electrode of the circuit on the semiconductor wafer substrate is provided in the scribe region on the substrate. After that, the high frequency characteristics of the circuit are measured using the back surface electrode, and after this measurement, the substrate is cut into chips by the scribe region. Then, after the high frequency measurement, the scribe area 2 is removed to form a chip,
The via holes 3 and 5 are also removed. Therefore, the terminals on the back surface and the terminals on the front surface are separated from each other, and there is no influence on the characteristics after chip formation.

When the chip is measured as in the conventional case, it is necessary to align the high frequency probe because the direction is not fixed for each chip. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, since the wafer is in a wafer state, it is possible to perform the alignment measurement as a wafer by the same method as the conventional tester. Since it can be measured as a state of the transmission line which is almost the same as the state of the final chip, it is effective as a method of high frequency selection.

Not only the high frequency characteristics but also various electric characteristics can be measured.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In a monolithic microwave integrated circuit that has a process of forming a via hole from the back surface, by providing a through hole that electrically connects the front surface electrode and the back surface electrode in the scribe area, selection by high frequency measurement can be performed efficiently, and the defect mixing rate There is an effect that can be lowered.

[Brief description of drawings]

[1] Ri <br/> Oh a schematic diagram of an integrated circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention, (a) shows the surface of the wafer, (b) is a rear surface of the wafer
Oh Ru.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional integrated circuit high frequency measurement method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,6 High frequency input / output terminal 2 Scribing area 3,5 Via hole 4,7 Power supply terminal 8 FET

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electrode on the other main surface having a through hole provided in a scribe region of a semiconductor wafer substrate for electrically connecting an electrode on the one main surface of the substrate and an electrode on the other main surface. An integrated circuit characterized in that a high frequency characteristic of its own circuit is measured by using. 2. A first step of providing a through hole for electrically connecting an electrode on one main surface of a circuit on a semiconductor wafer substrate and an electrode on another main surface in a scribe region of the substrate, A second step of measuring a high frequency characteristic of the circuit by using an electrode on the other main surface, and cutting the substrate by the scribe region into chips after the measurement. Manufacturing method of integrated circuit.