Waveguides in integrated circuits
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsShine Chung, Fu-Lung Hsueh
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Abstract
A waveguide in semiconductor integrated circuit is disclosed, the waveguide comprises a horizontal first metal plate, a horizontal second metal plate above the first metal plate, separated by an insulation material, and a plurality of metal vias positioned in two parallel lines, running vertically through the insulation material in contacts with both the first and second metal plates, wherein the first and second metal plates and the plurality of metal vias form a metal enclosure in a cross-sectional view that can serve as a waveguide.
Claims19
A waveguide in semiconductor integrated circuits, the waveguide comprising:
- a horizontal first metal plate;
- a horizontal second metal plate above the first metal plate, separated by a first insulation material;
- and
- a first plurality of separate metal vias aligned to form two parallel planes, running vertically through the insulation material in contact with both the first and second metal plates, wherein the first and second metal plates and the two parallel planes formed by the vias further form a first metal enclosure in a cross-sectional view,
- wherein a minimum via spacing between two adjacent metal vias in the same plane is less than about one tenth of a wavelength of an electromagnetic radiation transmitting through the first metal enclosure, and
- wherein the horizontal first metal plate or the horizontal second metal plate has one or more openings with a diameter less than the minimum via spacing between two adjacent metal vias in the same plane.
A waveguide in semiconductor integrated circuits, the waveguide comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate for forming a plurality of semiconductor devices;
- a horizontal first metal plate above the semiconductor substrate, separated from the plurality of semiconductor devices by a first insulation material;
- a horizontal second metal plate above the first metal plate, separated by a second insulation material;
- and
- a first plurality of separate metal vias aligned to form two parallel planes, running vertically through the second insulation material in contact with both the first and second metal plates, wherein the first and second metal plates and the two parallel planes formed by the vias further form a first metal enclosure in a cross-sectional view,
- wherein a minimum via spacing between two adjacent metal vias in the same plane is less than about one tenth of a wavelength of an electromagnetic radiation transmitting through the first metal enclosure, and
- wherein the first metal plate or the second metal plate has one or more openings with a diameter less than the minimum via spacing between two adjacent metal vias in the same plane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.