Method of manufacturing semiconductor device

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more specifically to a method of trimming wafer.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In some integrated circuit fabrications, a wafer is trimmed on the edge to reduce damage to the wafer during processing. During the edge trimming, particle debris generates and is left on a surface of the wafer. However, the particle debris cannot be removed easily, and results in wafer bonding bubble or wafer scrap.

The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, which forms an oxide layer before performing a trimming process. Hence, defects such as particles left after the trimming process can be removed completely.

The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including the following steps. A device wafer having a product-obtaining part and an edge part surrounding the product-obtaining part is provided. A passivation layer is formed to cover the device wafer. A first oxide cap layer is formed to cover the passivation layer. An edge trimming process is performed to polish an edge part of the first oxide cap layer, an edge part of the passivation layer and the edge part of the device wafer. A removing process is performed to remove the first oxide cap layer after the edge trimming process is performed. A second oxide cap layer is formed to cover the first oxide cap layer and the edge part of the device wafer.

According to the above, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, which forms a passivation layer covering a device wafer, forms a first oxide cap layer covering the passivation layer, and then performs an edge trimming process to polish an edge part of the first oxide cap layer, an edge part of the passivation layer and an edge part of the device wafer. Thereafter, a removing process is performed to remove the first oxide cap layer. Since the first oxide cap layer covers the passivation layer in the present invention, particles remaining on the first oxide cap layer after the edge trimming process is performed can be removed completely by the removing process.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically depicts a cross-sectional view of a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 schematically depicts a cross-sectional view of a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 schematically depicts a cross-sectional view of a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 schematically depicts a cross-sectional view of a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 schematically depicts a cross-sectional view of a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 schematically depicts a cross-sectional view of a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 1-6 schematically depict cross-sectional views of a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1 , a device wafer 110 is provided. The device wafer 110 may be divided into a product-obtaining part A and an edge part B, wherein the edge part B surrounds the product-obtaining part A. The product-obtaining part A may include transistors with various functions, and an inter-dielectric layer may cover these transistors. A device layer 120 may be formed to cover the device wafer 110 . The device layer 120 may include inter-metal dielectric layers such as metal 0 to metal 4 layers, depending upon practical requirements. A passivation layer 130 is formed to cover the device layer 120 . Preferably, the passivation layer 130 may include a silicon nitride layer, but it is not limited thereto. Still preferably, the passivation layer 130 may include a UV silicon nitride layer, but it is not limited thereto.

It is hard to remove particles remaining on the passivation layer 130 in later processes by scrubbing, brushing and wet cleaning methods such as dilute hyrofluoric acid containing wet cleaning processes. This leads to wafer bonding bubble and scrap. Thus, a first oxide cap layer 140 is formed to cover the passivation layer 130 in the present invention. In a preferred embodiment, the first oxide cap layer 140 may include a tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) oxide film. Thus, particles remaining on the first oxide cap layer 140 in later processes can be removed completely.

As shown in FIGS. 1-2 , an edge trimming process P 1 is performed to polish an edge part 142 of the first oxide cap layer 140 , an edge part 132 of the passivation layer 130 , an edge part 122 of the device layer 120 , and the edge part B of the device wafer 110 after the first oxide cap layer 140 is formed, thereby a device wafer 110 a , a device layer 120 a , a passivation layer 130 a and a first oxide cap layer 140 a being formed. In a preferred embodiment, the edge trimming process P 1 may include a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process, but it is not limited thereto. Defects such as particles D remains on the first oxide cap layer 140 a after the edge trimming process P 1 is performed. Most of these particles D left during performing the edge trimming process P 1 are Si/SiO 2 particles. A second high jet scrubbing process P 11 may be optionally performed on the first oxide cap layer 140 before the edge trimming process P 1 is performed to remove defects, depending upon practical requirements.

As shown in FIGS. 2-3 , a removing process P 2 is performed to remove the particles D remaining on the first oxide cap layer 140 a and to remove apart 142 a of the first oxide cap layer 140 a , therefore the particles D are removed completely, and a first oxide cap layer 140 b without particles thereon being formed. The removing process P 2 may include a first high jet scrubbing process, but it is not limited thereto.

As shown in FIG. 4 , a second oxide cap layer 150 is formed to cover the first oxide cap layer 140 b and an edge part 112 a of the device wafer 110 a . In a preferred embodiment, the second oxide cap layer 150 may include a tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) oxide film. In a still preferred embodiment, the first oxide cap layer 140 b and the second oxide cap layer 150 are formed by same methods to simplify processes and reduce costs. The first oxide cap layer 140 a of FIG. 2 is used to remove the particles D, and thus only a thin film of the first oxide cap layer 140 a on the passivation layer 130 is needed. Preferably, a thickness t 1 of the second oxide cap layer 150 is larger than a thickness t 2 of the first oxide cap layer 140 a . For instance, the thickness t 2 of the first oxide cap layer 140 a is 10-1000 angstroms while the thickness t 1 of the second oxide cap layer 150 is 27000 angstroms.

As shown in FIG. 5 , a polishing process P 2 may be performed before bonding the device wafer 110 a to a carrier wafer, therefore a second oxide cap layer 150 a with a proper thickness t 3 for bonding being obtained. In a preferred embodiment, the polishing process P 2 may include a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process, but it is not limited thereto.

As shown in FIG. 6 , the device wafer 110 a is bonded with a trap rich wafer (or a carrier wafer) 200 by serving a side S of the second oxide cap layer 150 a as a bonding interface.

To summarize, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, which forms a passivation layer covering a device wafer, forms a first oxide cap layer covering the passivation layer, and then performs an edge trimming process to polish an edge part of the first oxide cap layer, an edge part of the passivation layer and an edge part of the device wafer. Thereafter, a removing process is performed to remove the first oxide cap layer. Since the first oxide cap layer covers the passivation layer in the present invention, particles remaining on the first oxide cap layer after the edge trimming process is performed can be removed completely by the removing process.

Moreover, the passivation layer may include a silicon nitride layer, and thus the first oxide cap layer preferably includes an oxide layer. Still preferably, the first oxide cap layer and the second oxide cap layer both include tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) oxide films, and a thickness of the second oxide cap layer is larger than a thickness of the first oxide cap layer. A thin film of the first oxide cap layer is formed before the edge trimming process is performed, so that the particles left during the edge trimming process can fall on the first oxide cap layer instead of the passivation layer.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.