U.S. patent application number 11/370724 was filed with the patent office on 2006-09-14 for conductive bump structure of circuit board and method for fabricating the same.
Invention is credited to Wen-Hung Hu.
Application Number | 20060202331 11/370724 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36969965 |
Filed Date | 2006-09-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060202331 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hu; Wen-Hung |
September 14, 2006 |
Conductive bump structure of circuit board and method for
fabricating the same
Abstract
A conductive bump structure of a circuit board and a method for
fabricating the same are proposed. The circuit board with a
plurality of electrical connection pads is provided. An insulating
protective layer and a resist layer are successively applied on the
circuit board, wherein openings are formed in the layers at
positions corresponding to the pads to expose the pads. Then, a
conductive layer is formed on surfaces of the resist layer and
openings, and a metal layer is formed on the conductive layer via
electroplating and filled in the openings. Subsequently, the metal
layer and conductive layer formed on the resist layer are removed
via thinning, so as to form metal bumps on the pads. After the
resist layer is removed, the metal bumps are covered by an adhesive
layer to form a conductive bump structure for electrically
connecting the circuit board to the external electronic
component.
Inventors: |
Hu; Wen-Hung; (Hsin-chu,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Mr. Joseph A. Sawyer, Jr.;SAWYER LAW GROUP LLP
Suite 406
2465 East Bayshore Road
Palo Alto
CA
94303
US
|
Family ID: |
36969965 |
Appl. No.: |
11/370724 |
Filed: |
March 7, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
257/737 ;
257/E23.068; 438/613 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01L 2924/00014
20130101; H01L 2924/10253 20130101; H01L 2224/81193 20130101; H01L
2224/73204 20130101; H05K 3/4007 20130101; H05K 2201/09845
20130101; H01L 2224/16225 20130101; H01L 2924/00 20130101; H01L
2224/16225 20130101; H01L 2924/14 20130101; H01L 2224/0554
20130101; H01L 2224/136 20130101; H01L 2924/00014 20130101; H01L
2224/136 20130101; H01L 2224/1147 20130101; H01L 2224/81815
20130101; H01L 2224/116 20130101; H05K 3/243 20130101; H01L
2224/114 20130101; H01L 2224/8121 20130101; H05K 2203/054 20130101;
H01L 2924/00 20130101; H01L 2224/32225 20130101; H01L 2224/0556
20130101; H01L 2224/0555 20130101; H01L 2924/014 20130101; H01L
2224/05599 20130101; H05K 3/28 20130101; H01L 2224/11462 20130101;
H05K 2201/0367 20130101; H05K 2203/0577 20130101; H01L 21/4853
20130101; H01L 2224/05573 20130101; H01L 2224/73204 20130101; H01L
24/81 20130101; H01L 2924/10253 20130101; H01L 23/49811 20130101;
H01L 2924/00014 20130101; H01L 2924/00014 20130101; H01L 2924/01079
20130101; H01L 2924/14 20130101; H01L 2224/32225 20130101; H01L
2924/01078 20130101; H01L 2224/05568 20130101; H05K 3/0035
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
257/737 ;
438/613 |
International
Class: |
H01L 21/44 20060101
H01L021/44; H01L 23/48 20060101 H01L023/48 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Mar 9, 2005 |
TW |
094107081 |
Claims
1. A method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board, comprising the steps of: providing the circuit board
having at least a surface formed with a plurality of electrical
connection pads; forming an insulating protective layer and a
resist layer on the circuit board in sequence; forming a plurality
of openings in the insulating protective layer and resist layer at
positions corresponding to the electrical connection pads to expose
the electrical connection pads of the circuit board; forming a
conductive layer on surfaces of the resist layer and openings;
forming a metal layer on the conductive layer via electroplating,
and filling the metal layer in the openings of the insulating
protective layer and the resist layer; removing the metal layer and
conductive layer formed on the surface of the resist layer via
thinning, and retaining the metal layer and conductive layer filled
in the openings to form metal bumps on the electrical connection
pads; and removing the resist layer, and forming an adhesive layer
over exposed surfaces of the metal bumps, so as to form the
conductive bump structure for electrically connecting the circuit
board to the external electronic component.
2. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 1, wherein the method for fabricating the
electrical connection pads comprises steps of: forming a conductive
layer on an insulating layer formed on a surface of the circuit
board; forming a resist layer on the conductive layer, and forming
openings of the resist layer to expose a portion of the conductive
layer; and forming the electrical connection pads in the openings
of the resist layer via electroplating.
3. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 2, further comprising the step of removing
the resist layer and the conductive layer covered by the resist
layer.
4. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 1, wherein the openings of the insulating
protective layer and resist layer are formed via one of plasma
etching and laser drilling.
5. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 1, wherein the metal bumps are made of the
metal layer and the conductive layer formed at positions
corresponding to the electrical connection pads.
6. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 1, wherein the adhesive layer is an organic
solderability preservative.
7. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 1, wherein the adhesive layer is made of a
material selected from the group consisting of copper (Cu), tin
(Sn), lead (Pb), silver (Ag), nickel (Ni), gold (Au), platinum (Pt)
and their alloys.
8. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 1, wherein the metal layer is made of a
material selected from the group consisting of copper (Cu), tin
(Sn), lead (Pb), silver (Ag), and their alloys.
9. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 1, wherein the thinning process is one of
etching or abrading.
10. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 1, wherein the resist layer is removed via
one of chemical stripping and physical tearing.
11. A method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board, comprising the steps of: providing the circuit board
having at least a surface formed with a plurality of electrical
connection pads; forming an insulating protective layer on the
circuit board in sequence, and forming a plurality of openings in
the insulating protective layer to expose the electrical connection
pads of the circuit board; forming a resist layer on the insulating
protective layer, and forming a plurality of openings in the resist
layer at positions corresponding to the openings of the insulating
protective layer to expose the electrical connection pads; forming
a conductive layer on exposed surfaces of the resist layer and
openings; forming a metal layer on the conductive layer via
electroplating, and filling the metal layer in the openings;
removing the resist layer, the conductive layer and metal layer
formed on the surface of the resist layer to form metal bumps on
the electrical connection pads of the circuit board, wherein the
metal bumps comprise the metal layer and conductive layer; and
forming an adhesive layer over exposed surfaces of the metal
bumps.
12. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 11, wherein the method for fabricating the
electrical connection pads comprises steps of: forming a conductive
layer on an insulating layer formed on a surface of the circuit
board; forming a resist layer on the conductive layer, and forming
openings of the resist layer to expose a portion of the conductive
layer; and forming the electrical connection pads in the openings
of the resist layer via electroplating.
13. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 12, further comprising the step of removing
the resist layer and the conductive layer covered by the resist
layer.
14. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 11, wherein the process of removing the
resist layer and conductive layer covered by the resist layer is to
remove the metal layer and conductive layer formed on the surface
of the resist layer first via thinning and retain the metal layer
and conductive layer filled in the openings.
15. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 11, wherein the process of removing the
resist layer and conductive layer covered by the resist layer is to
remove the resist layer, the metal layer and conductive layer
formed on the surface of the resist layer first via physical
methods.
16. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 11, wherein the adhesive layer is made of a
material selected from the group consisting of copper (Cu), tin
(Sn), lead (Pb), silver (Ag), nickel (Ni), gold (Au), platinum (Pt)
and their alloys.
17. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 11, wherein the adhesive layer is an organic
solderability preservative.
18. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 11, wherein the metal layer is made of a
material selected from the group consisting of copper (Cu), tin
(Sn), lead (Pb), silver (Ag), and their alloys.
19. The method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of a
circuit board of claim 11, wherein the openings of the insulating
protective layer and the resist layer are formed by patterning
process such as exposure and developing or by laser.
20. A conductive bump structure of a circuit board, wherein a
surface of the circuit board is formed with an electrical
connection pad and covered by an insulating protective layer, an
opening is formed in the insulating protective layer to expose the
electrical connection pad covered by the insulating protective
layer and the conductive bump structure is formed on the electrical
connection pad of the circuit board and protruded from the opening
of the insulating protective layer, the conductive bump structure
comprising: a metal bump having a metal layer and a conductive
layer formed on the lateral and bottom sides of the metal layer,
wherein the metal bump is protruded from the opening of the
insulating layer; and an adhesive layer covering the exposed
surface of the metal bump.
21. The conductive bump structure of a circuit board of claim 20,
wherein the adhesive layer is made of a material selected from the
group consisting of copper (Cu), tin (Sn), lead (Pb), silver (Ag),
nickel (Ni), gold (Au), platinum (Pt) and their alloys.
22. The conductive bump structure of a circuit board of claim 20,
wherein the adhesive layer is an organic solderability
preservative.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims benefit under 35 USC 119 of Taiwan
Application No. 094107081, filed on Mar. 9, 2005.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to conductive bump structures
of circuit boards and methods for fabricating the same, and more
particularly, to a conductive bump structure formed on an
electrical connection pad of a circuit board for electrically
connecting the circuit board to the external electronic
component.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The flip chip packaging technology was introduced by IBM in
the early 1960s, and this technology differs from the wire bonding
technology in that the electrical connectivity between the
semiconductor chip and the substrate is achieved by the solder
bumps instead of the ordinary wires. The main advantage of the flip
chip packaging technology lies in its capability of elevating
packaging density, thus the size of the packaged components are
reduced; on the other hand, the flip chip packaging technology does
not require wires of longer length, and hence the electrical
functionality can be improved. As a result, the industry has been
employing high-temperature soldering on ceramic substrates for
years, and this technology is termed as control-collapse chip
connection or 4C technology. Because the demand for semiconductor
components of high-density, high-speed, low-cost has increased
dramatically, and a trend that calls for smaller electronic
products has emerged; it has become common to place the flip chip
components on a low-cost organic circuit board (for example, a
printed circuit board or a substrate board), then followed by the
filling of epoxy underfill resin underneath the chip in order to
minimize the thermal stress resulted from the differences in
thermal expansion between silicon chip and organic circuit board
structure, and the phenomenon has grown exponentially.
[0004] In the current flip chip packaging technology, the surface
of semiconductor integrated circuit chip is disposed an electrode
pad thereof, and its corresponding connecting pads are disposed on
the organic circuit board; solder bumps or other conductive solder
materials are filled between the chip and the circuit board, so
that the chip is disposed on the circuit board with its electrical
connecting side facing downwards. The solder bumps or the
conductive adhesive materials used in this technology provides for
the electrical input and output, as well as the mechanical
connection between the chip and the circuit board.
[0005] As shown in FIG. 1, in the flip chip packaging technology, a
plurality of metal bumps 11 are formed on electrode pads 12 of a
chip 13, and a plurality of preset solder bumps 14 made of solder
are formed on electrical connection pads 15 of a circuit board 16,
then solder joint 17 are formed by reflowing preset solder bumps 14
to the corresponding metal bumps 11 under the condition of having
the temperature sufficient for melting the preset solder bumps 14.
In the next step, the chip and the circuit board are coupled by
using the underfill material 18, so that the integration and the
reliability of the electrical connection between chip 13 and
circuit board 16 can be ensured.
[0006] Moreover, when the circuit board and the semiconductor chip
are to be packaged, a plurality of solder balls are required to be
implanted on the bottom surface of the circuit board, so that it is
possible for the circuit board to electrically connect to external
electronic devices. In order to allow the solder balls to connect
to the circuit board effectively, the electrical connection pads of
the circuit board that are to be used for the disposition of solder
balls must be formed with the solder materials for connecting the
solder balls first.
[0007] Currently, the method that is most commonly used to form
solder material on the electrical connection pad of the circuit
board is the stencil printing technology. As shown in FIG. 2, a
solder-mask layer 21 is formed on a circuit board 20 that has been
wired with circuits, then a plurality of electrical connection pads
22 are exposed, so that a stencil 23 with a plurality of openings
23a are placed on the solder-mask layer 21 of the circuit board 20;
solder deposition can be formed on the electrical connection pads
22 by the openings 23a (not shown in the figure). A roller 24 or
spray mode can be utilized to allow the solder to accumulate in the
openings 23a, and once stencil 23 is removed, the solder deposition
is formed in the openings 23a. This is followed by the reflowing
process, which allows the solder deposition on the electrical
connection pads 22 to solidify into the solder structure.
[0008] However, the developmental trend of miniaturization for
semiconductor chip is driving changes in the semiconductor
packaging technology, in order to allow the ever-shrinking chips to
have more input and output terminals. But the change also shrinks
the total area of carried components in a chip, which in turn
increases the quantity of electrical connection pad on the carried
components; as a result, the demands for the development of chip
can only be satisfied by shrinking the size and the pitch of
electrical connection pad. But the shrinking of electrical
connection pad also makes the openings on the stencil used in
stencil printing technology smaller as well. As a result, the
smaller openings on the stencil not only increases the cost for
producing the stencil, which is resulted from difficulty in stencil
production; but also hampers the later production process because
the smaller opening on the stencil can be impervious to the solder
material. Furthermore, apart from the requirement of accurate size
of stencil in order to ensure the precision in the shaping of
solder material; there are the problems of the number of times the
stencil has been used and cleaned. Since the solder material is
viscous, it can stick to the inner wall of openings in the stencil
and accumulate as the stencil is used to print many times, and this
can give rise to incorrect quantity and shape of solder material
from the design specification when the stencil is used next time.
Therefore, when the stencil is put to actual usage, it must be
cleaned after a certain times of printing, otherwise problems like
conflicting shape and size of solder material can arise and result
in the production process being impeded, which lowers its
reliability.
[0009] To solve the above disadvantages, the method of
electroplating has been employed to form solder material on the
circuit board. FIGS. 3A to 3D are figures showing the procedural
steps in the method for electroplating preset solder bumps on the
circuit board. As shown in FIG. 3A, a solder mask layer 31 is
formed on the circuit board 30 that has electrical connection pads
300, then openings 310 are formed on the solder mask layer 31 to
expose the electrical connection pads 300 of the circuit board 30.
As shown in FIG. 3B, a conductive layer 32 is formed on the surface
of solder mask layer 31 and its openings 310, then an electroplated
resist layer 33 that is to be electroplated and formed with
openings 330 is formed on the conductive layer 32, so that the
conductive layer 32 covered on the electrical connection pads 300
is exposed. As shown in FIG. 3C, the electroplating process is
carried out, which utilizes the conductivity of conductive layer 32
as the electrically conductive pathway during electroplating, so
that solder material 34 is formed by electroplating in the openings
330 that are to be electroplated. As shown in FIG. 3D, the resist
layer 33 and the portion of the conductive layer 32 covered by the
resist layer 33 are removed, then followed by solder reflowing so
that preset solder bumps 35 are formed on the electrical connection
pads of the circuit board.
[0010] Although the above procedures can solve the problems of
stencil printing described previously, the difficulty of
electroplating can be increased due to minimal area for
electroplating, because solder materials 34 is formed in the
openings of resist layer by direct electroplating. Moreover, when
solder material is formed on the electrical connection pads in the
openings of solder mask layer by direct electroplating, it becomes
difficult to control the height of solder material on the
electrical connection pads, which can lead to problems like uneven
height of conductive bumps on the surface of circuit board, and
this will have serious impact on the reliability of the electrical
connecting process of later circuit boards and external electronic
components (especially semiconductor chips).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] In light of the above prior art drawbacks, a primary
objective of the present invention is to provide a conductive bump
structure of the circuit board and a method for fabricating the
same to avoid problems related to formation of conductive bumps of
uneven height on a surface of the circuit board, so as to ensure
the reliability of the subsequent electrical connecting process for
circuit boards and external electronic components.
[0012] Another objective of the present invention is to provide a
conductive bump structure of the circuit board and a method for
fabricating the same to avoid problems such as having the
difficulty of electroplating increased due to minimal area for
electroplating.
[0013] Still another objective of the present invention is to
provide a conductive bump structure of the circuit board and a
method for fabricating the same to reduce the amount of solder
materials used and the cost of production.
[0014] A further objective of the present invention is to provide a
conductive bump structure of the circuit board and a method for
fabricating the same to effectively form conductive bumps serving
as external electrical connections on fine-pitch electrical
connection pads of the circuit board.
[0015] Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide
a conductive bump structure of the circuit board and a method for
fabricating the same to prevent restrictions on size of conductive
bumps, an increase in production cost or complexity of fabrication
process.
[0016] In accordance with the foregoing and other objectives, the
present invention proposes a method for fabricating a conductive
bump structure of the circuit board, comprising steps of: providing
the circuit board having at least a surface formed with a plurality
of electrical connection pads; forming an insulating protective
layer and a resist layer on the circuit board in sequence; forming
a plurality of openings in the insulating protective layer and
resist layer at positions corresponding to the electrical
connection pads to expose the electrical connection pads of the
circuit board; forming a conductive layer on surfaces of the resist
layer and openings; forming a metal layer on the conductive layer
via electroplating, and filling the metal layer in the openings of
the insulating protective layer and resist layer; removing the
metal layer and conductive layer formed on the surface of the
resist layer via thinning, and retaining the metal layer and
conductive layer filled in the openings to form metal bumps on the
electrical connection pads; and removing the resist layer via
chemical etching or physical tearing, and forming an adhesive layer
over exposed surfaces of the metal bumps, so as to form the
conductive bump structure for electrically connecting the circuit
board to the externalelectronic component. Further, the metal layer
may be made of a material selected from the group consisting of
copper (Cu), tin (Sn), lead (Pb), silver (Ag), and their alloys;
the adhesive layer may be made of a material selected from the
group consisting of copper (Cu), tin (Sn), lead (Pb), silver (Ag),
nickel (Ni), gold (Au), platinum (Pt) and their alloys, or be an
organic solderability preservative (OSP).
[0017] In another preferred embodiment, the present invention
proposes a method for fabricating a conductive bump structure of
the circuit board, comprising steps of: providing the circuit board
having at least a surface formed with a plurality of electrical
connection pads; forming an insulating protective layer on the
circuit board in sequence, and forming a plurality of openings in
the insulating protective layer to expose the electrical connection
pads of the circuit board; forming a resist layer on the insulating
protective layer, and forming a plurality of openings in the resist
layer at positions corresponding to the openings of the insulating
protective layer to expose the electrical connection pads; forming
a conductive layer on exposed surfaces of the resist layer and
openings; forming a metal layer on the conductive layer via
electroplating, and filling the metal layer in the openings;
removing the resist layer, the conductive layer and metal layer
formed on the surface of the resist layer via chemical etching or
physical tearing so as to form metal bumps on the electrical
connection pads of the circuit board, wherein the metal bumps
comprise the metal layer and conductive layer; and forming an
adhesive layer over exposed surfaces of the metal bumps.
Furthermore, the insulating protective layer can be previously
formed with a plurality of openings to expose the electrical
connection pads on the surface of the circuit board. Then, the
resist layer formed on the insulating protective layer with a
plurality of openings located at positions corresponding to the
electrical connection pads. However, the insulating protective
layer and resist layer may be successively formed first, before
forming the openings of the insulating protective layer and resist
layer at the same time.
[0018] Referring to the aforementioned fabricating methods, a
conductive bump structure of the circuit board fabricated in
accordance with present invention is provided, wherein a surface of
the circuit board is formed with an electrical connection pad and
covered by an insulating protective layer, an opening is formed in
the insulating protective layer to expose the electrical connection
pad covered by the insulating protective layer and the conductive
bump structure is formed on the electrical connection pad of the
circuit board and protruded from the opening of the insulating
protective layer. Further, the conductive bump structure comprises
a metal bump having a metal layer and a conductive layer formed on
the lateral and bottom sides of the metal layer, wherein the metal
bump is protruded from the opening of the insulating layer; and an
adhesive layer covering the exposed surface of the metal bump.
[0019] Therefore, according to a conductive bump structure of the
circuit board and a method for fabricating the same provided in the
present invention, an insulating layer and a resist layer with
openings are formed on a surface of a circuit board, wherein the
openings are corresponding to electrical connection pads, so that
the electrical connection pads are exposed. Then a conductive layer
is formed on the surfaces of the openings and resist layer. This
thereby allows the conductive layer with larger surface area to
provide a sufficiently large area for subsequent electroplating
process and form a metal layer thereon by electroplating. Later,
the metal layer and the conductive layer formed on a surface of the
resist layer are removed, so as to reduce the difficulty of
electroplating increased due to minimal area for electroplating.
Further, the metal layer is filled in the openings of the
insulating protective layer and the resist layer in order to
flatten the surface of the metal layer; and then a portion of the
metal layer is removed to form the metal bumps of even height, so
as to avoid problems like forming uneven height of conductive bumps
on the surface of circuit board, which is incurred as a result of
directly forming the metal bumps in the openings of the insulating
protective layer and the resist layer by electroplating and will
have a serious impact on the reliability of the electrical
connecting process of circuit boards and external electronic
components (including semiconductor chips).
[0020] Moreover, in accordance with a conductive bump structure of
the circuit board and a method for fabricating the same provided in
the present invention, the conductive layer is formed on surfaces
of the electrical connection pads first, and then the metal layer
is formed on the conductive layer of larger surface area via
electroplating. Accordingly, the metal layer formed on the
electrical connection pads via copper electroplating, having a low
material cost and faster electroplating speed, is made with copper
characteristics to save the fabrication time. Further, the
difficulty of electroplating is reduced because of having a larger
surface area of the conductive layer for electroplating. As a
result, the conductive bump structure of the circuit provided in
the present invention could reduce the amount of solder material
used and thus reduce the cost of production. Meanwhile, the present
invention could also avoid problems such as bridging effect and
short circuit, resulting from using too much solder materials in
the conventional solder reflow process; and hence provide the
fine-pitch electrical connection pads and solve problems caused by
the conventional stencil printing technique, such as size
limitation on conductive bumps, restrictiosn on distances between
contact pads or increase of production cost and complexity of
fabrication.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] The present invention can be more fully understood by
reading the following detailed description of the preferred
embodiments, with reference made to the accompanying drawings,
wherein:
[0022] FIG. 1A (PRIOR ART) is a cross-sectional schematic diagram
of a conventional flip-chip component;
[0023] FIG. 2A (PRIOR ART) is a cross-sectional schematic diagram
of a conventional circuit board having solder material deposited on
electrical connection pads via stencil printing technology;
[0024] FIGS. 3A to 3D (PRIOR ART) are cross-sectional schematic
diagrams of a conventional pre-soldering bump of the circuit board
in prior-art;
[0025] FIGS. 4A to 4I are cross-sectional schematic diagrams of a
conductive bump structure of the circuit board in accordance with a
first exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
[0026] FIGS. 5A to 5G are cross-sectional schematic diagrams of a
conductive bump structure of the circuit board in accordance with a
second exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and
[0027] FIGS. 6A to 6G are cross-sectional schematic diagrams of a
conductive bump structure of the circuit board in accordance with a
third exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0028] The present invention relates generally to conductive bump
structures of circuit boards and methods for fabricating the same,
and more particularly, to a conductive bump structure formed on an
electrical connection pad of a circuit board for electrically
connecting the circuit board to the external electronic component.
The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary
skill in the art to make and use the invention and is provided in
the context of a patent application and its requirements. Various
modifications to the preferred embodiments and the generic
principles and features described herein will be readily apparent
to those skilled in the art. Thus, the present invention is not
intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be
accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and
features described herein.
[0029] Proposed in the present invention can be more fully
understood by reading the detailed description of the preferred
embodiments. What needs to be concerned here is that the drawings
are simplified schematic diagrams, and thus only constructs
relevant to the present invention are illustrated.
[0030] FIGS. 4A-4I show a preferred embodiment of a conductive bump
structure of a circuit board of the present invention and the
method of making the same.
[0031] Referring to FIG. 4A-4C, a surface of a circuit board formed
with a plurality of electrical connection pads is provided first.
The fabrication of forming an electrical connection pad on a
surface of a circuit board is further described as follows. As
shown in FIG. 4A, a conductive layer 42 is formed on an insulating
layer 41, which is formed on a surface of the circuit board, and a
resist layer 43 is formed on the conductive layer 42, wherein a
plurality of openings 430 are formed in the resist layer 43. In one
embodiment, the conductive layer 42 may serve as an electrical
conductive pathway for electroplating metal materials employed in
subsequent processes, and be made of metals, multi-deposited metal
layers, or any conductive molecule material such as conductive
polymer, polyacetylene, polyaniline, organosulfur or organosulfide
polymer and the like. The resist layer 43 may be a photo-resist
layer such as a dry film photo-resist or a liquid photo-resist
layer. The resist layer 43 is applied to the surface of the
conductive layer 42 by performing process such as printing,
spin-coating, laminating, adhering or the like. Then exposure and
developing is preformed for patterning the resist layer 43, so that
openings 430 are formed in the resist layer 43 to expose a portion
of the conductive layer 42 of the surface of the circuit board.
[0032] As shown in FIG. 4B, an electroplating process is preformed.
During the electroplating process, the conductive layer 42 served
as an electrical conductive pathway, for example, a current
transmission pathway, allows the electrical connection pads 410 to
be formed in the openings 430 of the resist layer 43 via
electroplating. Further, conductive wirings may also be formed on
the surface of the circuit board simultaneously via electroplating
(not shown). As shown in FIG. 4C, the resist layer and the
conductive layer 42 covered by the resist layer 43 are removed.
[0033] As shown in FIG. 4D, an insulating protective layer 45 is
formed on the circuit board comprising the electrical connection
pads 410, and then a resist layer 46 is formed on the insulating
protective layer 45. In the embodiment, the insulating protective
layer 45 and the resist layer 46 are formed on the surface of the
circuit board in sequence by performing at least one of printing,
coating, spin-coating, laminating, and adhering processes. The
insulating protective layer 45 may be a mask layer and the resist
layer 46 may be a photo-resist layer such as dry film photo-resist
or liquid photo-resist, or a non-photosensitive layer
[0034] Referring to FIG. 4E, openings 450, 460 are formed on the
insulating protective layer 45 and the resist layer 46 at positions
corresponding to the electrical connection pads 410 to expose the
electrical connection pads 410. Further, the openings 450, 460 may
be formed by plasma etching or laser etching.
[0035] Referring to FIG. 4F, a conductive layer 47 is formed on
surfaces of the resist layer 46 and the openings 450, 460. The
conductive layer 47 serves as an electrical conductive pathway for
electroplating metal materials in subsequent processes, and may be
made of metals, alloys, stacked metal layers, or any conductive
molecule material such as conductive polymers.
[0036] Referring to FIG. 4G, an electroplating process is
performed. The conductive layer 47 served as an electrical
conductive pathway, provides a large surface area for
electroplating. A metal layer 48 is thus formed on the conductive
layer 47 via electroplating, wherein the openings 450, 460 of the
insulating protective layer 45 and the resist layer 46 are filled
with the metal layer 48. Further, the metal layer 48 may be made of
metals such as lead (Pb), tin (Sn), silver (Ag), copper (Cu), or
their alloys. However, based on the implementation experience, the
metal layer 48 is preferably made of, but not limit to, copper via
electroplating, because the copper is a well-known electroplating
material with a lower material cost.
[0037] Referring to FIG. 4H, a thinning process is performed to
remove the conductive layer 47 and the metal layer 48 formed on the
surface of the resist layer 46. Thus, the parts of the metal layer
48 and the conductive layer 47 formed at the position corresponding
to the electrical connection pad 410 and filled in the opening 450
of the insulating protective layer and the opening 460 of the
resist layer are retained, in order to form metal bumps 480
comprising the metal layer 48 and the conductive layer 47 at even
height. The thinning process may include, but not limited to,
etching or abrading process.
[0038] Referring to FIG. 4I, the resist layer 46 is moved by
chemical means such as etching or physical means such as tearing,
and an adhesive layer 49 is formed on the exposed surfaces of the
metal bump 480. Further, the material of the adhesive layer 49 may
be selected from, but not limited to, at least one of the group
consisting of copper (Cu), tin (Sn), lead (Pb), silver (Ag), nickel
(Ni), gold (Au), platinum (Pt), their alloys, solder materials, and
an organic solderability preservative (OSP), so as to form the
conductive bumps 480 for electrically connecting the circuit board
to a semiconductor chip of an electronic devices.
[0039] Referring to the aforementioned fabricating methods, a
conductive bump structure of the circuit board fabricated in
accordance with present invention is provided, wherein a surface of
the circuit board is formed with an electrical connection pad 410
and covered by an insulating protective layer 45, an opening 450 is
formed in the insulating protective layer 45 to expose the
electrical connection pad 410 covered by the insulating protective
layer 45 and the conductive bump structure is formed on the
electrical connection pad 410 of the circuit board and protruded
from the opening 450 of the insulating protective layer. Further,
the conductive bump structure comprises a metal bump 480 having a
metal layer 48 and a conductive layer 47 formed on the lateral and
bottom sides of the metal layer 48, wherein the metal bump 48 is
protruded from the opening of the insulating layer 41; and an
adhesive layer 49 covering the exposed surface of the metal bump
480.
[0040] Therefore, in one embodiment, according to a conductive bump
structure of the circuit board and a method for fabricating the
same provided in the present invention, an insulating layer 45 and
a resist layer 46 with openings 450, 460 are formed on a surface of
the circuit board, wherein the openings 450, 460 are formed at
positions corresponding to electrical connection pads 410, so that
the electrical connection pads 410 are exposed. Then a conductive
layer 47 is formed on the surfaces of the openings 450, 460 and
resist layer 46. This thereby allows the conductive layer 47 with
larger surface area to provide a sufficiently large area for
subsequent electroplating process and form a metal layer 48 on the
conductive layer 47 by electroplating. Later, portions of the metal
layer 48 and the conductive layer 47 formed on a surface of the
resist layer 46 are removed, so as to reduce the difficulty of
electroplating increased due to minimal area for electroplating.
Further, the metal layer 48 is filled in the openings 450, 460, and
portions of the metal layer 48 and conductive layer 47 are removed
to form the metal bumps 480 of even height, so as to avoid problems
like forming uneven height of conductive bumps on the surface of
circuit board, which is incurred as a result of directly forming
the metal bumps in the openings of the insulating protective layer
and the resist layer by electroplating and will have a serious
impact on the reliability of the electrical connecting process of
circuit boards and the external electronic component.
[0041] Moreover, in accordance with a conductive bump structure of
the circuit board and a method for fabricating the same provided in
the present invention, the conductive layer 47 is formed on
surfaces of the electrical connection pads 410 first, and then the
metal layer 48 is formed on the conductive layer 47 of larger
surface area via electroplating. Accordingly, the metal layer 48
formed on the electrical connection pads 410 via copper
electroplating, having a low material cost and faster
electroplating speed, is made with copper characteristics. Further,
portions of the metal layer 48 and conductive layer 47 are removed
to form the metal bumps 480, so as to save the fabrication time.
Since a larger surface area of the conductive layer 47 is provided
for electroplating, the difficulty of electroplating is thus
reduced.
[0042] Moreover, the adhesive layer 49 made of solder materials,
which is high material cost, is formed on the surfaces of the metal
bumps 480, so as to reduce the usage of high cost solder materials
to reduce the cost of production. Such adhesive layer 49 also
provides strong binding force between the circuit board and the
external device. Meanwhile, the present invention could also avoid
problems such as bridging effect and short circuit, resulting from
using too much solder materials in the conventional solder reflow
process; and hence provide the fine-pitch electrical connection
pads and solve problems caused by the conventional stencil printing
technique, such as size limitation on conductive bumps,
restrictiosn on distances between contact pads or increase of
production cost and complexity of fabrication.
[0043] FIG. 5A-5G are cross-sectional schematic diagrams of a
second preferred embodiment of a conductive bump structure of the
circuit board. The fabrication method provided herewith is similar
to the one disclosed in the foregoing embodiment; however, in this
embodiment, openings are formed in the insulating protective layer
before the resist layer. Later, openings of the resist layer are
formed at positions corresponding to electrical connection pads for
subsequent electroplating process.
[0044] Referring to FIG. 5A, a circuit board 50 having a surface
formed with a plurality of electrical connection pads 510 is
provided.
[0045] Referring to FIG. 5B, the surface of the circuit board 50 is
covered by an insulating protective layer 55, wherein the
insulating protective layer 55 is formed with a plurality of
openings 550, so that the electrical connection pads 510 are
exposed from the insulating protective layer 55.
[0046] Referring to FIG. 5C, a resist layer 56 is formed on the
insulating protective layer 55, wherein openings 560 are formed on
the resist layer 56 at positions corresponding to the openings 550
of the insulating protective layer 55 via exposure and developing,
so as to expose the electrical connection pads 510 formed on the
surface of the circuit board 50.
[0047] Referring to FIG. 5D, a conductive layer 57 is formed on
surfaces of the resist layer 56 and openings 550, 560.
[0048] Referring to FIG. 5E, an electroplating process is
performed. The conductive layer 57 serves as an electrical
conductive pathway and provides a large surface area for
electroplating. Later, a metal layer 58 is formed on the conductive
layer 57 via electroplating, wherein the metal layer 58 is filled
in the openings 550, 560 of the insulating protective layer 55 and
resist layer 56.
[0049] Referring to FIG. 5F, a thinning process is performed to
remove portions of the conductive layer 57 and metal layer 58
formed on the surface of the resist layer 56. However, the
conductive layer 57 and the metal layer 58 formed in the openings
550, 560 are retained, so as to form even height of metal bumps 580
comprising portions of the metal layer 58 and the conductive layer
57 on the electrical connection pads 510 of the circuit board 50.
What is more is that, in the embodiment, the metal layer 58 and the
conductive layer 57 on the surface of the resist layer 56 are
removed via thinning, and the metal layer 58 and the conductive
layer 47 which are formed at a position corresponding to the
electrical connection pad 510 formed on the surface of the circuit
board and filled in the openings 560,550 of the resist layer and
the insulating protective layer are retained, in order to form the
metal bumps 580 of even height on the electrical connection pads
510 to provide a flat surface for forming subsequent electrical
connection with the external device. Further, the thinning process
may be, but not limited to, etching or abrading process.
[0050] Referring to FIG. 5G, subsequently, the resist layer 56 is
moved by chemical means such as etching or physical means such as
tearing, so as to form an adhesive layer 59 on the exposed surface
areas of the metal bump 580.
[0051] FIG. 6A-6G are cross-sectional schematic views of a third
preferred embodiment of conductive bump structures of a circuit
board. The fabrication method provided herewith is similar to the
one disclosed in the second embodiment; however, in this
embodiment, a resist layer, a metal layer and a conductive layer
formed on a surface of the resist layer are removed at once, so as
to form the conductive bumps on the electrical connection pads of
the circuit board.
[0052] Referring to FIG. 6A, a circuit board 60 having a surface
formed with a plurality of electrical connection pads 610 is
provided.
[0053] Referring to FIG. 6B, the surface of the circuit board 60 is
covered by an insulating protective layer 62, wherein the
insulating protective layer 62 is formed with a plurality of
openings 630 to expose the electrical connection pads 610 of the
circuit board 60.
[0054] Referring to FIG. 6C, a resist layer 63 is formed on the
insulating protective layer 62, wherein openings 630 are formed in
the resist layer 63 at positions corresponding to the openings 620
of the insulating protective layer 62 via exposure and developing,
so as to expose the electrical connection pads 610 formed on the
surface of the circuit board 60.
[0055] Referring to FIG. 6D, a conductive layer 64 is formed on
surfaces of the resist layer 63 and the openings 620, 630.
[0056] Referring to FIG. 6E, an electroplating process is
performed. The conductive layer 64 serves as an electrical
conductive pathway and provides a large surface area for
electroplating. Later, a metal layer 65 is thus formed on the
conductive layer 64 via electroplating, wherein metal layer 65 is
filled in the openings 620, 630 of the insulating protective layer
62 and resist layer 63.
[0057] Referring to FIG. 6F, the resist layer 63 is moved by
physical means such as tearing. Due to the tearing force applied to
the resist layer 63, a stress concentration effect occurs around
the openings 620 of the resist layer 63, and thereby allows the
conductive layer 64 and metal layer 65 to be removed simultaneously
along with the removal of the resist layer 63, so as to form metal
bumps 650 with even height on the electrical connection pads 610.
Arrangement as such provides a fairly flat surface for connecting
the circuit boards to the external electronic components (including
semiconductor chips) in subsequent process.
[0058] Referring to FIG. 6G, an adhesive layer 66 is formed over
the metal bumps 650.
[0059] Therefore, according to a conductive bump structure of the
circuit board and a method for fabricating the same provided in the
present invention, an insulating layer and a resist layer with
openings are formed on a surface of a circuit board, wherein the
openings are corresponding to electrical connection pads, so that
the electrical connection pads are exposed. Then a conductive layer
is formed on the surfaces of the openings and resist layer. This
thereby allows the conductive layer with larger surface area to
provide a sufficiently large area for subsequent electroplating
process and form a metal layer thereon by electroplating. Later,
the metal layer and the conductive layer formed on a surface of the
resist layer are removed; however, the metal layer and the
conductive layer formed in the openings are retained to form metal
bumps on the electrical connection pads of the circuit board, so as
to reduce the difficulty of electroplating increased due to minimal
area for electroplating. Further, the metal layer is filled in the
openings of the insulating protective and the resist layer in order
to flatten the surface of the metal layer; and then a portion of
the metal layer is removed to form the metal bumps of even height,
so as to avoid problems like forming uneven height of conductive
bumps on the surface of circuit board, which is incurred as a
result of directly forming the metal bumps in the openings of the
insulating protective layer and the resist layer by electroplating
and will have a serious impact on the reliability of the electrical
connecting process of circuit boards and external electronic
components (including semiconductor chips).
[0060] Moreover, in accordance with a conductive bump structure of
the circuit board and a method for fabricating the same provided in
the present invention, the conductive layer is formed on surfaces
of the electrical connection pads first, and then the metal layer
is formed on the conductive layer of larger surface area via
electroplating. Accordingly, the metal layer formed on the
electrical connection pads via copper electroplating, having a low
material cost and faster electroplating speed, is made with copper
characteristics to save the fabrication time. Further, the
difficulty of electroplating is reduced because of having a larger
surface area of the conductive layer for electroplating. As a
result, the conductive bump structure of the circuit provided in
the present invention could reduce the amount of solder material
used and thus reduce the cost of production. Meanwhile, the present
invention could also avoid problems such as bridging effect and
short circuit, resulting from using too much solder materials in
the conventional solder reflow process; and hence provide the
fine-pitch electrical connection pads and solve problems caused by
the conventional stencil printing technique, such as size
limitation on conductive bumps, restrictions on distances between
contact pads or increase of production cost and complexity of
fabrication.
[0061] Although the present invention has been described in
accordance with the embodiments shown, one of ordinary skill in the
art will readily recognize that there could be variations to the
embodiments and those variations would be within the spirit and
scope of the present invention. Accordingly, many modifications may
be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from
the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
* * * * *