The application of dry photoresists in fabricating cost-effective tapered through-silicon vias and redistribution lines in a single step

In this paper, we report a simple and cost-effective technique to fabricate a partially electroplated tapered through-silicon via (TSV) and redistribution line (RDL)-like structures on the field in a single process step using dry laminated photoresists. An array of 100 µm deep positively tapered silicon vias was etched by a three-step non-Bosch plasma etching process. Insulation, diffusion barrier and seed layers were deposited by low-temperature plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and sputtering processes, respectively. A 15 µm thick dry MXA115 photoresist was laminated on the wafer by a roller-less vacuum lamination process. The dry resist allows a satisfactory patterning of the RDL-like structures by eliminating the chances of resist residuals falling in the etched TSVs. Direct-current (dc) electroplating was used to deposit 10 µm thick copper layers on the via sidewalls as well as on the field. Therefore, the electroplating not only partially fills the vias but also forms the RDL structures at the same time. Since both TSVs and RDLs are fabricated together in a single process step, several conventional process steps such as over-burden polishing, lithography, and metal etching were avoided. Compared to the conventional TSV fabrication processes, this dry resist lithography-based method turned out to be simple and very cost-effective in making complex TSV interconnects.