Method and Apparatus for Supplying Power to VLSI Silicon Chips
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsHassan Naser, Daniel Stasiak
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An integrated circuit module, system and method of providing power and signals is disclosed that includes a silicon chip and a package substrate having voltage connections and signal connections. The silicon chip includes a silicon substrate having a top surface, a bottom surface and circuitry formed therein, one or more front-side metal layers formed on the top surface of the silicon substrate, one or more back-side metal layers formed on the bottom surface of the silicon substrate, and one or more through silicon vias (TSVs) formed through the silicon substrate for creating a conductive pathway from the back-side of the silicon substrate to the front-side of the silicon substrate, preferably closest to the silicon substrate.
Claims20
An integrated circuit module comprising:
- a silicon chip comprising.
- a silicon substrate having circuitry formed therein, the silicon substrate having a top surface and a bottom surface;
- one or more front-side metal layers formed on the top surface of the silicon substrate;
- one or more back-side metal layers formed on the bottom surface;
- one or more through silicon vias (TSVs) formed through the silicon substrate for creating a conductive pathway from the back-side of the silicon substrate to the front-side of the silicon substrate;
- and
- a package substrate having voltage connections and signal connections,
- wherein, the module is configured so that:
- a plurality of signal routing pathways are formed from the signal connections on the package substrate through a plurality of C4 connections to one or more of the front-side metal layers to the circuitry in the silicon substrate, and
- a plurality of voltage routing pathways are formed from the voltage connections on the package substrate to the one or more back-side metal layers to the one or more TSVs to one or more of the front-side metal layers to the circuitry in the silicon substrate.
A method of providing power and signals to an integrated circuit, the method comprising:
- providing one or more signals to one or more front-side metal layers formed on a top surface of a silicon substrate;
- providing one or more voltages to one or more back-side metal layers formed on a bottom surface of a silicon substrate;
- and
- providing one or more voltages to the one or more front-side metal layers from the one or more backside metal layers through the silicon substrate.
A method of forming an integrated circuit module comprising:
- forming circuitry in a silicon substrate;
- forming one or more front-side metal layers on a top surface of the silicon substrate including forming one or more front-side conductive signal pathways to route signals to the circuitry;
- forming one or more back-side metal layers on a bottom surface of the silicon substrate including forming one or more back-side conductive power pathways to route voltages to the back-side of the silicon substrate;
- forming one or more front-side conductive power pathways in the one or more front-side metal layers to route power to the circuitry;
- and
- providing one or more through silicon vias (TSVs) to route the one or more backside conductive power pathways through the silicon substrate to the one or more front-side conductive power pathways.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.