SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT WITH TEMPORARILY INTERCONNECTED BOND PADS

摘要

A semiconductor integrated circuit has a plurality of bond pads, substantially all of which are interconnected by severable electrical conductor elements. Interconnection substantially reduces surface etch damage to the bond pads during wafer processing and/or storage. Severing the electrical conductor elements results in a functional integrated circuit whose bond pads are substantially free of surface etch damage. A process for preventing or substantially diminishing surface etch damage to the bond pads of an integrated circuit entails temporarily interconnecting substantially all of the bond pads of the circuit by severable electrical conductor elements, which results in the equalization of potential energy across the interconnected bond pads.