After finishing of the front side CMOS manufacturing process, the silicon wafer is permanently bonded with its front side onto a carrier wafer. The carrier wafer is a high resistivity silicon wafer or a wafer of a dielectric or of a ceramic material. The silicon substrate of the device wafer is thinned from the back side such that the remaining silicon thickness is only a few micrometers. In the area dedicated to a spiral inductor, the substrate material is entirely removed by a masked etching process and the resulting gap is filled with a dielectric material. A spiral inductor coil is formed on the backside of the wafer on top of the dielectric material. The inductor coil is connected to the CMOS circuits on the front side by through-silicon vias.

After finishing of the front side CMOS manufacturing process, the silicon wafer is permanently bonded with its front side onto a carrier wafer. The carrier wafer is a high resistivity silicon wafer or a wafer of a dielectric or of a ceramic material. The silicon substrate of the device wafer is thinned from the back side such that the remaining silicon thickness is only a few micrometers. In the area dedicated to a spiral inductor, the substrate material is entirely removed by a masked etching process and the resulting gap is filled with a dielectric material. A spiral inductor coil is formed on the backside of the wafer on top of the dielectric material. The inductor coil is connected to the CMOS circuits on the front side by through-silicon vias.

A method for manufacturing electronic chips includes forming, on the side of a first face of a semiconductor substrate, in and on which a plurality of integrated circuits has been formed beforehand, metallizations coupling contacts of adjacent integrated circuits to one another. The method further includes forming, on the side of the first face of the substrate, first trenches extending through the first face of the substrate and laterally separating the adjacent integrated circuits. The first trenches extend through the metallizations to form at least a portion of metallizations at each of the adjacent circuits.

A method of manufacturing a bonded substrate stack includes: providing a first substrate having a first hybrid interface layer, the first hybrid interface layer including a first insulator and a first metal; and providing a second substrate having a second hybrid interface layer, the second hybrid interface layer including a second insulator and a second metal. The hybrid interface layers are surface-activated by particle bombardment which is configured to remove atoms of the first hybrid interface layer and atoms of the second hybrid interface layer to generate dangling bonds on the hybrid interface layers. The surface-activated hybrid interface layers are brought into contact, such that the dangling bonds of the first hybrid interface layer and the dangling bonds of the second hybrid interface layer bond together to form first insulator to second insulator bonds and first metal to second metal bonds.

A method includes forming a first substrate including a first dielectric layer and a first metal pad, forming a second substrate including a second dielectric layer and a second metal pad, and bonding the first dielectric layer to the second dielectric layer, and the first metal pad to the second metal pad. One or both of the first and second substrates is formed by forming a first insulating layer, forming an opening in the layer, forming a barrier on an inner surface of the opening, forming a metal pad material on the barrier, polishing the metal pad material to expose a portion of the barrier and to form a gap, expanding the gap, forming a second insulating layer to fill the opening and the gap, and polishing the insulating layers such that a top surface of the metal pad is substantially planar with an upper surface of the polished layer.

A method of treatment of an electronic circuit including at a location at least one electrically-conductive test pad having a first exposed surface. The method includes the at least partial etching of the test pad from the first surface, and the forming on the electronic circuit of an interconnection level covering said location and including, on the side opposite to said location, a second planar surface adapted for the performing of a hybrid molecular bonding.

A method of fabricating an IC device is disclosed, in which a dielectric layer is first etched to form a contact opening and a dummy opening. Both do not extend through the dielectric layer, the contact opening has a width greater than that of the dummy opening. A sacrificial layer, which covers inner surface of the dummy opening and the dielectric layer at side surface of the contact opening, and from which the dielectric layer at bottom surface of the contact opening is exposed, is then formed, and under protection of this sacrificial layer, the dielectric layer exposed in the contact opening is etched in a self-aligned manner, a self-aligned contact hole is formed, in which a surface of the conductive structure is exposed. In this way, reliability of a contact that extends in both contact opening and self-aligned contact hole is ensured, avoiding the problem of possible contact failure.

A semiconductor device includes a first semiconductor component including a first semiconductor substrate and a first wiring structure, and a second semiconductor component including a second semiconductor substrate and a second wiring structure. A first surface of the first semiconductor component and a second surface of the second semiconductor component are bonded together. Assuming that regions having circumferences respectively corresponding to shapes obtained by vertically projecting the first surface, the second surface, the first wiring structure, and the second wiring structure on a virtual plane are first to fourth regions, respectively, an area of the first region is smaller than an area of the second region, the entire circumference of the first region is included in the second region, an area of the fourth region is smaller than an area of the third region, and the entire circumference of the fourth region is included in the third region.

In one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a first insulator, a first pad provided in the first insulator, a second insulator provided on the first insulator, and a second pad provided on the first pad in the second insulator. Furthermore, the first insulator includes a first film that is in contact with the first pad and the second insulator, and a second film provided at an interval from the first pad and the second insulator, and including a portion provided at a same height as at least a portion of the first pad.

A method of preparing a substrate for substrate bonding is provided. The method comprises: forming a recess in a substrate surface of the substrate, and forming a bondable dielectric layer on the substrate surface of the substrate. The bondable dielectric layer has a bonding surface on an opposite side of the bondable dielectric layer to the substrate surface, wherein the recess and the bondable dielectric layer define a dielectric cavity having a dielectric cavity volume. A plug is formed configured to make electrical contact to the substrate in the dielectric cavity volume. The plug has a plug volume which is less than the dielectric cavity volume, wherein the plug extends from the dielectric cavity beyond the bonding surface in a direction generally normal to the bonding surface. The plug is coined by compressing the substrate between opposing planar surfaces such that a contact surface of the plug is made co-planar with the bonding surface.