METHOD AND STRUCTURES FOR REDUCED PARASITIC CAPACITANCE IN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT METALLIZATIONS

摘要

A method of reducing parasitic capacitance in an integrated circuit having three or more metal levels (M1, M2, M3, etc) is described. The method comprises forming a bond pad (20) at least partially exposed at the top surface of the integrated circuit, forming a metal pad (22) on the metal level (42) below the bond pad (20) and forming an underlying metal pad (26b) on each of the one or more lower metal levels. In the illustrated embodiments, the ratio of an area of at least one of the underlying metal pads (22, 26b) to the area of the bond pad (20) is less than 30%. Parasitic capacitance is thus greatly reduced and signal propagation speeds improved.