Applications of buried power rails

A standard-cell semiconductor device, comprising:

• a substrate having a top surface;
• one or more transistors disposed above the top surface of the substrate;
• a metal layer disposed above the top surface of the substrate;
• and
• one or more buried power rails disposed in one or more corresponding first trenches in the substrate below the top surface of the substrate, a first buried power rail being at a first predetermined electrical potential and a second buried power rail being at a ground potential, the first predetermined electrical potential comprising an output voltage of an on-die generated local power supply, a power-switched, or power-gated power supply.

A semiconductor device, comprising:

• a substrate having a top surface;
• one or more transistors disposed above the top surface of the substrate;
• one or more buried signal lines disposed in one or more corresponding first trenches in the substrate below the top surface of the substrate, at least one of the one or more buried signal lines being electrically coupled to the semiconductor device;
• a metal layer disposed above the top surface of the substrate;
• and
• one or more buried power rails in one or more corresponding second trenches in the substrate below the top surface of the substrate, a top surface of at least one buried power rail being coplanar with the top surface of the substrate, and a first buried power rail being coupled to a first predetermined electrical potential.