Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/70—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in or on a common substrate or of parts thereof; Manufacture of integrated circuit devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/71—Manufacture of specific parts of devices defined in group H01L21/70
  • H01L21/768—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics
  • H01L21/76801—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the dielectrics, e.g. smoothing
  • H01L21/76802—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the dielectrics, e.g. smoothing by forming openings in dielectrics
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/70—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in or on a common substrate or of parts thereof; Manufacture of integrated circuit devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/71—Manufacture of specific parts of devices defined in group H01L21/70
  • H01L21/768—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics
  • H01L21/76838—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the conductors
  • H01L21/76895—Local interconnects; Local pads, as exemplified by patent document EP0896365
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/70—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in or on a common substrate or of parts thereof; Manufacture of integrated circuit devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/71—Manufacture of specific parts of devices defined in group H01L21/70
  • H01L21/768—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics
  • H01L21/76801—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the dielectrics, e.g. smoothing
  • H01L21/76802—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the dielectrics, e.g. smoothing by forming openings in dielectrics
  • H01L21/76814—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the dielectrics, e.g. smoothing by forming openings in dielectrics post-treatment or after-treatment, e.g. cleaning or removal of oxides on underlying conductors
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/70—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in or on a common substrate or of parts thereof; Manufacture of integrated circuit devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/71—Manufacture of specific parts of devices defined in group H01L21/70
  • H01L21/768—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics
  • H01L21/76838—Applying interconnections to be used for carrying current between separate components within a device comprising conductors and dielectrics characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the conductors
  • H01L21/76877—Filling of holes, grooves or trenches, e.g. vias, with conductive material
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L23/00—Details of semiconductor or other solid state devices
  • H01L23/48—Arrangements for conducting electric current to or from the solid state body in operation, e.g. leads, terminal arrangements ; Selection of materials therefor
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L2924/00—Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
  • H01L2924/0001—Technical content checked by a classifier
  • H01L2924/0002—Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00

Definitions

• aspects of the present disclosure relate to semiconductor devices, and more particularly to routing conductive layers, such as the middle of line layers, within an integrated circuit.
• Interconnect layers are often used to connect different devices together on an integrated circuit device. Because of the increased density of circuits, the number of conductive layers has increased, and the routing of such conductive layers has become more complex. Further, coupling particular contacts on a circuit without electrically connecting other contacts in between the specified connections may involve large areas and make power access to certain parts of the circuit difficult. Routing interconnect layers around such structures may involve additional area to prevent the interconnect layers from electrically connecting undesired contacts. Routing interconnect layers around undesired contacts may involve additional vias between the interconnect layers. The additional vias between the interconnect layers may increases the complexity and cost of fabrication. Moreover, additional vias between the interconnect layers may increase the failure modes of the circuit.
• a method of fabricating middle of line (MOL) layers may include depositing a hard mask across active contacts to terminals of semiconductor devices of a semiconductor substrate. Such a method also includes patterning the hard mask to selectively expose some of the active contacts and selectively insulate some of the active contacts. The method also includes depositing a conductive material on the patterned hard mask and the exposed active contacts to couple the exposed active contacts to each other over an active area of the semiconductor devices.
• a device including middle-of-line (MOL) layers may include a mask layer that selectively exposes some active contacts to terminals of semiconductor devices of a semiconductor substrate and selectively insulates some of the active contacts.
• the device also includes a conductive material coupled to a patterned hard mask and the exposed active contacts to couple the exposed active contacts to each other over an active area of the semiconductor devices.
• a device including middle-of-line (MOL) layers may include means for selectively exposing some active contacts to terminals of semiconductor devices of a semiconductor substrate and for selectively insulating some of the active contacts.
• the device also includes means for coupling the exposed active contacts to each other.
• FIGURE 1 illustrates a side view of a semiconductor circuit.
• FIGURE 2 illustrates a top view of the semiconductor circuit of FIGURE 1.
• FIGURES 3 and 4 illustrate possible approaches for connection of contacts on a semiconductor circuit.
• FIGURES 5A and 5B illustrate side and top views, respectively, of an integrated circuit including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• FIGURES 6A and 6B illustrate side and top views, respectively, of the integrated circuit of FIGURES 5 A and 5B, including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• FIGURES 7A and 7B illustrate side and top views, respectively, of the integrated circuit of FIGURES 6A and 6B, including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• FIGURES 8A and 8B illustrate side and top views, respectively, of the integrated circuit of FIGURES 7A and 7B, including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• FIGURES 9A and 9B illustrate side and top views, respectively, of the integrated circuit of FIGURES 8 A and 8B, including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• FIGURES 10A and 10B illustrate side and top views, respectively, of the integrated circuit of FIGURES 9A and 9B, including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• FIGURES 11 A and 1 IB illustrate side and top views, respectively, of the integrated circuit of FIGURES 10A and 10B, including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• FIGURES 12A and 12B side and top views, respectively, of an integrated including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• FIGURE 13 is a process flow diagram illustrating a process of routing conductive layers within middle of line layers of an integrated circuit according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• FIGURE 14 is a block diagram showing an exemplary wireless
• FIGURE 15 is a block diagram illustrating a design workstation used for circuit, layout, and logic design of a semiconductor component according to one configuration.
• Front end of line processes include wafer preparation, isolation, well formation, gate patterning, spacers, and dopant implantation.
• a middle of line process includes gate and terminal contact formation. The gate and terminal contact formation of the middle of line process, however, is an increasingly challenging part of the fabrication flow, particularly for lithography patterning.
• Back end of line processes include forming interconnects and dielectric layers for coupling to the FEOL devices.
• interconnects may be fabricated with a dual damascene process using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) deposited interlayer dielectric (ILD) materials.
• PECVD plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition
• ILD interlayer dielectric
• the middle of line interconnect layers may refer to the conductive interconnects for connecting a first conductive layer (e.g., metal 1 (Ml)) to the oxide diffusion (OD) layer of an integrated circuit as well for connecting Ml to the active devices of the integrated circuit.
• Ml metal 1
• OD oxide diffusion
• the middle of line interconnect layers for connecting Ml to the OD layer of an integrated circuit may be referred to as "MDl” and "MD2.”
• the middle of line interconnect layer for connecting Ml to the poly gates of an integrated circuit may be referred to as "MP.”
• a second MOL conductive layer provides a second set of local interconnects (stacked contacts (MD2)) using existing process technology.
• the second MOL conductive layer interconnects the specified active contacts MDl using the stacked contacts MD2, without connecting undesired contacts between the specified active contacts MDl .
• FIGURE 1 shows a cross-sectional view illustrating an integrated circuit (IC) device 100 in which routing of conductive layers is performed within a middle of line (MOL) interconnect layer 110 according to one aspect of the disclosure.
• the IC device 100 includes a semiconductor substrate (e.g., a silicon wafer) 102 having shallow trench isolation (STI) regions (e.g., isolation material 104). Within the STI region and the substrate 102 is an active region in which active devices having a source region, a drain region, and a gate region (e.g., poly gate 106) are formed.
• STI shallow trench isolation
• the first MOL interconnect layer 110 includes a set of active (oxide diffusion (OD)) contacts (MDl) 112 (MDl 112-1, MDl 112-2, MDl 112- 3, MDl 112-4, and MDl 112-5) that are fabricated on the substrate 102 using existing process technology.
• the active contacts 112 may be coupled to the active devices (e.g., the source and drain regions). In this configuration, a routing of the conductive layers may be performed to couple the active contact MDl 112-1 and the active contact MDl 112-5.
• the first MOL conductive layer may be composed of tungsten or other like conductive material.
• FIGURE 3 illustrates a top view of a first approach for coupling contacts on the substrate 102.
• An interconnect 300 is shown as coupling the active contact MDl 112-1 and the MDl active contact 112-5, without electrically coupling to the active contacts MDl 112-2, MDl 112-3 and MDl 112-4, or the poly gates 106.
• This approach uses a large open area over the isolation material 104 that makes power access to the active contacts 112 (e.g., MDl 112-2 to MDl 112-4) and/or the poly gates 106 difficult.
• FIGURE 4 illustrates a top view of a second approach in coupling contacts on the substrate 102.
• An interconnect 302 is shown as coupling the active contact MDl 112-1 and the active contact MDl 112-5, across the active contacts MDl 112-2 to MDl 112-4, without electrically coupling to the active contacts MDl 112-2 to MDl 112-4 or the poly gates 106.
• this approach saves cell area, this approach may electrically couple the active contacts MDl 112-1 and MDl 112-5 to the active contacts MDl 112-2, MDl 112-3 and MDl 112-4, and possibly the poly gates 106, which is often undesirable.
• FIGURES 5 A through 13 illustrate middle of line interconnects in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
• a second MOL conductive layer provides a second set of local interconnects (stacked contacts (MD2)) 120 using existing process technology.
• the second MOL conductive layer forming the stacked contacts MD2 enables connection of the active contacts MDl 112-1 and MDl 112-5 without connecting undesired contacts (e.g., MDl 112-2 to MDl 112-4) between the specified active contacts MDl 112-1 and MDl 112- 5.
• connection of the active contacts MDl 112-1 and MDl 112-5 using the second MOL conductive layer MD2 is over an active area of the semiconductor devices of the integrated circuit.
• FIGURES 5A and 5B illustrate side and top views, respectively, of an integrated circuit including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• a hard mask 500 is coupled to a surface of the integrated circuit opposite to the substrate 102.
• the hard mask 500 may be a photoresist, an oxide layer, a nitride layer, a thin film, or other like materials or layer of material.
• FIGURE 5B illustrates the top view of the integrated circuit in which the hard mask 500 covers the active contacts 112 and portions of the poly gates 106.
• the active contacts 112 and covered portions of the poly gates 106 are shown in dashed lines to indicate that the hard mask 500 covers the active contacts 112 and portions of the poly gates 106.
• the uncovered portions of the poly gates 106 are shown in solid lines.
• FIGURES 6A and 6B illustrate side and top views, respectively, of the integrated circuit of FIGURES 5 A and 5B, including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• the side view shows a pre-metal dielectric layer 600 (PMD) coupled to the hard mask 500 within the second MOL interconnect layer 120.
• the top view shows that the pre-metal dielectric layer 600 (PMD) covers a portion of the hard mask 500, such that a portion of the poly gates 106 are not covered by pre-metal dielectric layer 600 to enable subsequent exposure of the poly gates 106.
• FIGURES 7A and 7B illustrate side and top views, respectively, of the integrated circuit of FIGURES 6A and 6B, including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• the top view shows patterning of the pre-metal dielectric layer 600.
• the hard mask 500 is selectively exposed through etching of the pre-metal dielectric layer 600.
• FIGURES 8A and 8B illustrate side and top views, respectively, of the integrated circuit of FIGURES 7A and 7B, including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• the side view shows patterning of a layer 800 that is coupled to the hard mask 500.
• the layer 800 may be an insulator or other layer that blocks access to some of the active contacts 112 (e.g., MDl 112-2, MDl 112-3 and MDl 112-4) and/or the poly gates 106 according to the patterning of the layer 800.
• the non-etched portion of the pre-metal dielectric layer 600 is shown adjacent to the layer 800 in dashed lines, as further illustrated in FIGURE 8B.
• a pattern of the layer 800 may be an MD2 pattern that is rectangular, and the openings of the layer 800 may be square or rectangular in shape. In other configurations, the openings may be other shapes.
• FIGURES 9A and 9B illustrate side and top views, respectively, of the integrated circuit of FIGURES 8 A and 8B, including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• the side view shows etching of the hard mask 500 using the pattern of the layer 800 to expose the active contacts MDl 112-1 and MDl 112-5.
• the non-etched pre-metal dielectric layer 600 is shown adjacent to the layer 800 in dashed lines.
• the top view further illustrates that the active contacts MDl 112-1 and MDl 112-5 are exposed by the etching of the hard mask 500, as shown by the solid lines.
• FIGURES 10A and 10B illustrate side and top views, respectively, of the integrated circuit of FIGURES 9A and 9B, including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• the side view illustrates removal of the layer 800, with the non-etched portion of the pre-metal dielectric layer 600 shown in dashed lines adjacent to the exposed MDl 112-1 and MDl 112-5.
• the top view illustrates that the layer 800 is removed from the hard mask 500 over the active contacts MDl 112-2, MDl 112-3 and MDl 112-4 as well as the poly gates 106.
• the active contacts MDl 112-1 and MDl 112-5 are exposed through openings in the hard mask 500.
• FIGURES 11 A and 1 IB illustrate side and top views, respectively, of the integrated circuit of FIGURES 10A and 10B, including middle of line interconnects according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• the side view illustrate deposition of a layer 1100 that couples only the active contacts MDl 112-1 and MDl 112-5.
• the layer 1100 may be a middle of line layer, such as the M0 layer (e.g., MD2).
• the layer 1100 does not contact, at least in an electrical sense, the active contacts MDl 112-2, MDl 112-3 and MDl 112-4 and the poly gates 106.
• the layer 1100 may be over or under, or alongside the active area of the IC device 100 depending on the orientation of the devices on the substrate 102, an active region or area of the IC device 100. [0041] In this configuration, the layer 1100 does not contact the active contacts MD1 112-2, MD1 112-3 and MD1 112-4 that are proximate the active area of the IC device 100 because the hard mask 500 insulates the layer 1100 from the active contacts MD1 112-2, MD1 112-3 and MD1 112-4 and the poly gates 106 that are proximate (over, under, or alongside) the active area or region of the active devices of the IC device 100 on the substrate 102.
• the thickness of the hard mask 500 is selected to allow conformal deposition of the layer 1100 onto the exposed ones of the active contacts 112.
• the thickness of the hard mask 500 may be, for example, in the range of fifty (50) to two-hundred (200) angstroms (A).
• the layer 1100 may be polished or further patterned, through wet etching, mechanical etching, or chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), or other processes.
• non-adjacent poly gates can be coupled together in a manner similar to that described above with respect to non- adjacent active contacts. That is, some of the poly gates are isolated from the coupling.
• FIGURES 12A and 12B show side and top views, respectively, of an integrated circuit including middle of line interconnects according to this aspect of the present disclosure.
• FIGURE 12A illustrates deposition of a layer 1200 that couples only the poly gate 106- 1 and the poly gate 106-4 of the active devices of the IC device 100.
• the layer 1200 may be a middle of line layer, such as the M0 layer (e.g., MP).
• the layer 1200 does not contact, at least in an electrical sense, the poly gates 106-2 and 106-3.
• the process shown in FIGURES 5A to 1 IB is adjusted to isolate the poly gates 106-2 and 106-3 using the hard mask 500.
• the layer 1200 couples the poly gate 106-1 and the poly gate 106-4, but does not contact the poly gates 106-2 and 106-3 because the hard mask 500 insulates the poly gates 106-2 and 106-3 from the layer 1200.
• FIGURE 13 is a process flow diagram illustrating a method 1300 for fabricating middle of line (MOL) layers according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
• a hard mask is deposited across contacts to terminals of semiconductor devices of a semiconductor substrate.
• a hard mask 500 is deposited on a surface of the integrated circuit opposite to the substrate 102
• the hard mask is patterned to selectively expose some of the contacts and selectively insulate some of the contacts.
• FIGURE 9B illustrates exposure of the active contacts MD1 112-1 and MD1 112-5 by the etching of the hard mask 500, as shown by the solid lines.
• FIGURE 11A illustrate deposition of a layer 1100 that couples only the active contacts MD1 112-1 and MD1 112-5.
• the layer 1100 may be a middle of line layer, such as the M0 layer (e.g., MD2).
• FIGURE 12A illustrates deposition of a layer 1200 that couples only the poly gate 106- 1 and the poly gate 106-4 of the active devices of the IC device 100.
• the layer 1200 may be a middle of line layer, such as the middle of line interconnect layer for connecting Ml to the poly gates of an integrated circuit (MP).
• MP integrated circuit
• the device includes means for selectively exposing some active contacts to terminals of semiconductor devices of a semiconductor substrate and for selectively insulating some of the active contacts.
• the exposing means may be the hard mask 500 that covers the active contacts MD1 112-2, MD1 112-3 and MD1 112-4 as well as the poly gates 106.
• the active contacts MD1 112-1 and MD1 112-5 are exposed through openings in the hard mask 500, as shown in FIGURES 10A and 10B.
• the device also includes means for coupling the exposed active contacts to couple the exposed active contacts to each other.
• the coupling means may be layer 1100 that couples only the active contacts MD1 112-1 and MD1 112-5.
• the layer 1100 may be a middle of line layer, such as the M0 layer (e.g., MD2), as shown in FIGURES 11 A and 1 IB.
• the aforementioned means may be any layer, any interface or structure configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.
• FIGURE 14 is a block diagram showing an exemplary wireless
• FIGURE 14 shows three remote units 1420, 1430, and 1450 and two base stations 1440. It will be recognized that wireless communication systems may have many more remote units and base stations. Remote units 1420, 1430, and 1450 include IC devices 1425A, 1425C, and 1425B that include the disclosed devices. It will be recognized that other devices may also include the disclosed devices, such as the base stations, switching devices, and network equipment. FIGURE 14 shows forward link signals 1480 from the base station 1440 to the remote units 1420, 1430, and 1450 and reverse link signals 1490 from the remote units 1420, 1430, and 1450 to base stations 1440.
• remote unit 1420 is shown as a mobile telephone
• remote unit 1430 is shown as a portable computer
• remote unit 1450 is shown as a fixed location remote unit in a wireless local loop system.
• the remote units may be mobile phones, hand-held personal communication systems (PCS) units, portable data units such as personal data assistants, GPS enabled devices, navigation devices, set top boxes, music players, video players, entertainment units, fixed location data units such as meter reading equipment, or other devices that store or retrieve data or computer instructions, or combinations thereof.
• PCS personal communication systems
• FIGURE 14 illustrates remote units according to the aspects of the disclosure, the disclosure is not limited to these exemplary illustrated units. Aspects of the disclosure may be suitably employed in many devices, which include the disclosed devices.
• FIGURE 15 is a block diagram illustrating a design workstation used for circuit, layout, and logic design of a semiconductor component, such as the devices disclosed above.
• a design workstation 1500 includes a hard disk 1501 containing operating system software, support files, and design software such as Cadence or OrCAD.
• the design workstation 1500 also includes a display 1502 to facilitate design of a circuit 1510 or a semiconductor component 1512 such as a device in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure.
• a storage medium 1504 is provided for tangibly storing the design of the circuit 1510 or the semiconductor component 1512.
• the design of the circuit 1510 or the semiconductor component 1512 may be stored on the storage medium 1504 in a file format such as GDSII or GERBER.
• the storage medium 1504 may be a CD-ROM, DVD, hard disk, flash memory, or other appropriate device.
• the design workstation 1500 includes a drive apparatus 1503 for accepting input from or writing output to the storage medium 1504.
• Data recorded on the storage medium 1504 may specify logic circuit configurations, pattern data for photolithography masks, or mask pattern data for serial write tools such as electron beam lithography.
• the data may further include logic verification data such as timing diagrams or net circuits associated with logic
• Providing data on the storage medium 1504 facilitates the design of the circuit 1510 or the semiconductor component 1512 by decreasing the number of processes for designing semiconductor wafers.
• the methodologies may be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein.
• a machine-readable medium tangibly embodying instructions may be used in implementing the methodologies described herein.
• software codes may be stored in a memory and executed by a processor unit.
• Memory may be implemented within the processor unit or external to the processor unit.
• the term "memory" refers to types of long term, short term, volatile, nonvolatile, or other memory and is not to be limited to a particular type of memory or number of memories, or type of media upon which memory is stored.
• the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Examples include computer-readable media encoded with a data structure and computer-readable media encoded with a computer program.
• Computer-readable media includes physical computer storage media. A storage medium may be an available medium that can be accessed by a computer.
• such computer- readable media can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or other medium that can be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer; disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
• instructions and/or data may be provided as signals on transmission media included in a communication apparatus.
• a communication apparatus may include a transceiver having signals indicative of instructions and data.
• the instructions and data are configured to cause one or more processors to implement the functions outlined in the claims.
• relational terms, such as “above” and “below” are used with respect to a substrate or electronic device. Of course, if the substrate or electronic device is inverted, above becomes below, and vice versa. Additionally, if oriented sideways, above and below may refer to sides of a substrate or electronic device.
• DSP digital signal processor
• ASIC application specific integrated circuit
• FPGA field programmable gate array
• a general- purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine.
• a processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
• a software module may reside in RAM, flash memory, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD- ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art.
• An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium.
• the storage medium may be integral to the processor.
• the processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC.
• the ASIC may reside in a user terminal.
• the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.
• the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium.
• Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another.
• a storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.
• such computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store specified program code means in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium.
• Disk and disc includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

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• 2014
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