AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT RESISTANT TO THE FORMATION OF CRACKS IN A PASSIVATION LAYER

摘要

In integrated circuits produced by etching and damascene techniques, it is common for cracking to occur in dielectric material surrounding an interconnect metal layer (400) integrated into the device, presumably as a result of the transfer of stresses from the interconnect metal layer to the surrounding dielectric material (401). The present invention addresses this problem by providing an interconnect metal layer that comprises rounded corners which are believed to reduce the stresses transferred to a surrounding dielectric layer.