# US 2009/0260669 A1 · Metal-gate thermocouple

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- Number: US 2009/0260669 A1
- Document ID: US20090260669A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 12/106,557
- Filed: 2008-04-21
- Published: 2009-10-22
- Earliest claimed: 2008-04-21
- Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation
- Inventors: Brent A. Anderson; Andres Bryant; Edward J. Nowak
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20090260669A1

## CPC

- H10N 10/17: characterised by the structure or configuration of the cell or thermocouple forming the device
- H10P 74/277: {Circuits for electrically characterising or monitoring manufacturing processes, e.g. circuits in tested chips or circuits in testing wafers}
- H10N: ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10

## Abstract

A metal gate thermocouple is provided. The thermocouple is configured to measure local temperatures of a device. The thermocouple is a passive device which senses temperature using the thermoelectric principle that when two dissimilar electrically conductive materials are joined, an electrical potential (voltage) is developed between the two materials. The voltage between the materials varies with the temperature of the junction (joint) between the materials. The thermocouple device includes a first conductor comprising a first material formed over a thin oxide layer or a shallow trench isolation (STI) structure and a second conductor comprising a second material formed over the thin oxide layer or the STI structure. The second conductor overlaps with the first conductor to form a thermocouple junction or dimension at least more than an alignment tolerance. The first and second materials are chosen such that the thermocouple junction formed between them exhibits a non-zero Seebeck coefficient. A conductive film formed over the first conductor and the second conductor and a non-conductive void or film is formed over the thermocouple junction.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An integrated circuit comprising:
at least one thermocouple, comprising:
a first conductor comprising a first material formed over a thin oxide layer or a shallow trench isolation (STI) structure;
a second conductor comprising a second material formed over the thin oxide layer or the STI structure, the second conductor overlapping with the first conductor to form a thermocouple junction which is of a dimension at least more than an alignment tolerance; and
a conductive film formed over the first conductor and the second conductor and a non-conductive void or film formed over the thermocouple junction and extending beyond the thermocouple junction to edges of the first conductor and the second conductor by at least the alignment tolerance.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the first and second conductors are dissimilar metals.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The integrated circuit of claim 2, wherein the film comprises polysilicon and the conductive film is doped polysilicon.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The integrated circuit of claim 3, wherein the polysilicon covers the thermocouple junction and is nearly intrinsic above the junction.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

The integrated circuit of claim 2, wherein the film comprises aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and does not cover the thermocouple junction.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The integrated circuit of claim 1, further comprising a semiconductor disposed above at least a portion of the first and second conductors, the thermocouple junction has an overlying substantially non-conduction region and the integrated circuit includes NFETS and PFETS comprising first type metal gates and second type metal gates, respectively.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the at least one thermocouple, is two thermocouples connected in a series circuit to a measuring device.