Microstructure device comprising a face to face electromagnetic near field coupling between stacked device portions and method of forming the device
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics S.r.l.
InventorsCrocifisso Marco Antonio Renna, Antonino Scuderi, Carlo Magro, Nunzio Spina, Egidio Ragonese, Barbaro Marano, Giuseppe Palmisano
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Abstract
A galvanic-isolated coupling of circuit portions is accomplished on the basis of a stacked chip configuration. The semiconductor chips thus can be fabricated on the basis of any appropriate process technology, thereby incorporating one or more coupling elements, such as primary or secondary coils of a micro transformer, wherein the final characteristics of the micro transformer are adjusted during the wafer bond process.
Claims24
A semiconductor device comprising:
- a first chip including:
- a first substrate;
- a first semiconductor layer on the first substrate;
- a first circuit portion formed in and above said first semiconductor layer;
- and
- at least one first through hole via extending through said first substrate and connecting a rear side of said first substrate with said first circuit portion;
- a second chip attached to said first chip to form a stacked configuration, the second chip including:
- a second substrate;
- a second semiconductor layer on the second substrate;
- a second circuit portion formed in and above said second semiconductor layer;
- and
- at least one second though hole via extending through said second substrate and connecting a rear side of said second substrate with said second circuit portion, said first and second circuit portions being positioned to implement an electromagnetic near field coupling mechanism to each other.
A method of forming a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
- forming a first coupling element in each of a plurality of first chips provided as a first wafer;
- forming a second coupling element in each of a plurality of second chips provided as a second wafer, said first and second coupling elements representing complementary coupling elements;
- and
- bonding said first and second wafers so as to position said complementary first and second coupling elements to form an electromagnetically coupled near field structure.
A device comprising:
- a first integrated circuit chip including:
- a first semiconductor substrate;
- a first active circuit formed in the first semiconductor substrate;
- a first metallization layer on the first semiconductor substrate;
- and
- a first electromagnetic coupling element formed in the first metallization layer and coupled to the first active circuit;
- a second integrated circuit chip stacked on the first integrated circuit chip, the second integrated circuit chip including:
- a second semiconductor substrate;
- a second active circuit formed in the second semiconductor substrate;
- a second metallization layer on the second semiconductor substrate;
- and
- a second electromagnetic coupling element formed in the second metallization layer and electrically connected to the second active circuit, the first electromagnetic coupling device being configured to transmit a wireless signal to the second electromagnetic coupling device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.