Samsung patents chip design with graded metal layer for better power flow
Samsung has been granted a patent for a semiconductor structure that improves how electricity reaches the core of a chip. The design uses a specific layer between the power line and the contact point that gradually changes in composition to reduce resistance.
In the filing’s own words
A semiconductor device may include a substrate including an active pattern, a source/drain pattern on the active pattern, an active contact on the source/drain pattern; a lower power line in the substrate, a lower contact that vertically connects the active contact to the lower power line, a conductive layer between the lower contact and the lower power line, and a power delivery network layer on a bottom surface of the substrate. The conductive layer may include silicon (Si) and a first element. The first element may include a transition metal or a metalloid. A concentration of the first element may decrease in a direction from the lower contact toward the lower power line.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A semiconductor device, comprising: a substrate including an active pattern; a source/drain pattern on the active pattern; an active contact on the source/drain pattern; a lower power line in the substrate; a lower contact that vertically connects the active contact to the lower power line; a conductive layer between the lower contact and the lower power line; and a power delivery network layer on a bottom surface of the substrate, wherein the conductive layer includes silicon (Si) and a first element, the first element includes a transition metal or a metalloid, and a concentration of the first element decreases in a direction from the lower contact toward the lower power line.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
- Official title
- Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same
- Patent number
- US12733476B2
- Application number
- 18468317
- Filed
- Sep 15, 2023
- Granted
- Sep 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 6
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
H10W 20/20 Electricity & electronicsH10D 30/43 Electricity & electronicsH10D 30/6729 Electricity & electronicsH10D 30/6735 Electricity & electronicsH10D 30/6757 Electricity & electronicsH10D 62/121 Electricity & electronicsMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.