# US 2014/0151846 A1 · Shielding silicon from external rf interference

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- Number: US 2014/0151846 A1
- Document ID: US20140151846A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/693,857
- Filed: 2012-12-04
- Published: 2014-06-05
- Earliest claimed: 2012-12-04
- Assignees: NXP B. V.
- Applicants: NXP B. V.
- Inventors: Chee Keong Phua
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140151846A1

## CPC

- H10W 42/60: protecting against electrostatic charges or discharges, e.g. Faraday shields (integrated devices comprising arrangements for electrical protection H10D89/60)
- H10P 54/00: Cutting or separating of wafers, substrates or parts of devices
- H10W 20/023: {the interconnections being through-semiconductor vias}
- H10W 20/20: Interconnections within wafers or substrates, e.g. through-silicon vias [TSV]
- H10W 20/212: {Top-view shapes or dispositions, e.g. top-view layouts of the vias}
- H10W 20/423: {Shielding layers}
- H10W 20/496: {Capacitor integral with wiring layers}
- H10W 20/497: {Inductive arrangements or effects of, or between, wiring layers}
- H10W 42/20: protecting against electromagnetic or particle radiation, e.g. light, X-rays, gamma-rays or electrons
- H10W 44/20: at high-frequency [HF] or radio frequency [RF]
- H10W: GENERIC PACKAGES, INTERCONNECTIONS, CONNECTORS OR OTHER CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10

## Abstract

Consistent with an example embodiment, there is an integrated circuit device (IC) built on a substrate of a thickness. The IC comprises an active device region of a shape, the active device region having a topside and an underside. Through silicon vias (TSVs) surround the active device region, the TSVs having a depth defined by the substrate thickness. On the underside of and having the shape of the active device region, is an insulating layer. A thin-film conductive shield is on the insulating layer, the conductive shield is in electrical contact with the TSVs.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An integrated circuit device (IC) built on a substrate of a thickness, the IC comprising:
an active device region of a shape, the active device region having a topside and an underside;
through silicon vias (TSVs) surrounding the active device region, the TSVs having a depth defined by the substrate thickness;
an insulating layer on the underside of and having the shape of the active device region;
a thin-film conductive shield on the insulating layer, the conductive shield in electrical contact with the TSVs; and
wherein the TSVs are apportioned into a first group of TSVs and an additional group of TSVs.

### Claim 2

(canceled)

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The IC device as recited in claim 2, further comprising,
an additional insulating later on the thin-film conductive shield; and
an additional thin-film conductive layer on the additional insulating layer, the additional thin-film conductive shield in contact with the additional group of TSVs.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The IC device as recited in claim 3,
wherein the first group of TSVs are in contact with the thin-film conductive shield; and
wherein the additional group of TSVs are in contact with the additional thin-film conductive shield.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The IC device as recited in claim 4,
wherein the first group of TSVs are arranged in an area adjacent to a first side of the active device region and in a corresponding area opposite the first side of the active device region; and
wherein the additional group of TSVs are arranged in an area adjacent to a second side of the active device region, the second side perpendicular to the first side of the active device region and in a corresponding area opposite the second side of the active device region;

### Claim 6 (depends on 3)

The IC device as recited claim 3,
wherein the first group of TSVs are arranged in an area adjacent to a first side of the active device region and in an area adjacent to a second side of the active device region, the first side of the active device region perpendicular to the second side of the active device region; and
wherein the second group of TSVs are arranged in a corresponding area opposite the first side and second side of the active device region.

### Claim 7 (depends on 3)

The IC device as recited in claim 3,
wherein the first group of TSVs surrounds the active device region; and
wherein the second group of TSVs surrounds the first group of TSVs.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The IC device as recited in claim 1, wherein the thin-film conductive shield has been defined by at least one of the following:
Vacuum Deposition
Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD)
Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD);
Plasma-Enhanced CVD; and
Sputtering.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The IC device as recited in claim 8, wherein the thin-film conductive shield comprises, copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), gold (Au), silver (Ag), poly-crystalline silicon (Poly-Si), and alloys thereof.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The IC device as recited in claim 8, wherein the thin-film conductive shield comprises conductive polymers and intrinsically conductive polymers.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The IC device as recited in claim 1, wherein the thin-film conductive shield is coupled to the active device.

### Claim 12 (depends on 4)

The IC device as recited in claim 4, wherein the thin-film conductive shield is coupled to power or ground of the active device.

### Claim 13

An integrated circuit device (IC) built on a substrate of a thickness, the IC comprising:
an active device region of a shape, the active device region having a topside and an underside;
through silicon vias (TSVs) surrounding the active device region, the TSVs having a depth defined by the substrate thickness;
an insulating layer on the underside of and having the shape of the active device region; and
a thin-film conductive shield on the insulating layer, the conductive shield in contact with the TSVs;
an additional thin-film conductive shield defined on the topside of the active device region, the additional thin-film conductive shield in contact with the TSVs,
wherein the thin-film conductive shield and the additional thin-film conductive shield are electrically connected to one another.

### Claim 14

An integrated circuit device (IC) built on a substrate of a thickness, the IC comprising:
an active device region of a shape, the active device region having a topside and an underside and contact pads on the topside;
a first group of through silicon vias (TSVs) surrounding the active device region, the TSVs having a depth defined by the substrate thickness;
an insulating layer on the underside of and having the shape of the active device region; and
a thin-film conductive layer on the insulating layer, the conductive layer in electrical contact with the TSVs,
an additional insulating later on the thin-film conductive shield; and
an additional thin-film conductive layer on the additional insulating layer, the additional thin-film conductive shield in contact with an additional group of TSVs;
wherein the thin-film conductive layer and the additional thin-film conductive layer are configured to, at least one of the following,
RF shields,
ground planes,
power planes,
one or more inductors,
one or more capacitors,
one or more inductor/capacitor (LC) networks,
resistor structures, and
wherein the thin-film conductive layer and the additional thin-film conductive layer are coupled to one another and to selected contact pads of the active device.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The integrated circuit as recited in claim 14, wherein the one or more capacitors are configured to at least one of the following: a plate capacitor, a Hilbert capacitor, or combination thereof.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The integrated circuit as recited in claim 14, wherein one or more inductors are configured to at least one of the following: an “8-shaped inductor,” a planar inductor, or combination thereof.

### Claim 17

A method for adding a shield to an underside of an integrated circuit, the method comprising:
defining the integrated circuit as candidate for an underside shield;
defining a first group and an additional group of TSVs surrounding integrated circuit die, the integrated circuit die on a wafer substrate;
applying a thin-film conductive layer and an insulating layer, the thin film conductive layer making contact to the TSVs; and
wherein the thin-film conductive layer is configured as the shield, the shield electrically coupled with selected contacts on the integrated circuit die.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising,
sawing the wafer substrate into individual device die, the individual device die now having the underside shield.

### Claim 19 (depends on 17)

The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising adding at least one of the following to the integrated circuit: ground planes, power planes, one or more inductors, one or more capacitors, one or more inductor/capacitor (LC) networks, resistor structures.