JP2005191590A - Semiconductor device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a semiconductor device capable of adjusting the electrical characteristics of a semiconductor chip after resin sealing without drastically increasing the number of terminals of the semiconductor device. <P>SOLUTION: The semiconductor device is formed as one chip integrated circuit, and has a plurality of status setting circuits comprising a fuse element with one end being connected to standard potential, and a voltage setting portion connected between the other end of the fuse element and a terminal for adjusting characteristics. Each voltage setting portion consists of a circuit connected with different numbers of voltage setting elements, or a circuit having only wirings without the voltage setting element, and the respective connection points of the voltage setting portion and the fuse element is connected to an internal circuit in which an adjustment of the electric characteristic value is required. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a circuit configuration of a semiconductor device in which a plurality of internal circuit states can be set after the semiconductor device is assembled.

  Conventionally, in a circuit made up of transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitor elements, etc. provided in a semiconductor device, the electrical characteristics of the elements vary due to variations in manufacturing conditions, etc., so that the oscillation frequency, voltage value, current value, etc. The characteristic value often varies beyond a desired accuracy range.

  Therefore, when these characteristics require accuracy higher than manufacturing accuracy (hereinafter referred to as “built-in accuracy”), external connection terminals (characteristic adjustment terminals) for adjusting the characteristics of the semiconductor device Are formed in advance, and the required accuracy can be obtained by selectively setting the necessary characteristic adjustment terminals according to the characteristic measurement results after assembling the semiconductor device. As another method, a plurality of characteristic selection circuits are formed in advance at the time of forming a semiconductor device, and necessary circuits are left in accordance with the result of electrical characteristic measurement in a wafer state, and other circuits are replaced with a laser beam or the like. By cutting, a semiconductor chip having a circuit configuration capable of obtaining the required accuracy was obtained, and this was resin-sealed to complete the semiconductor device.

  However, the former method requires a large number of characteristic adjustment terminals that are finally unnecessary and terminals (pads) in the semiconductor chip connected thereto, so that the chip size of the semiconductor chip and the package of the semiconductor device are required. There is a problem that the unit size of the semiconductor device increases as the size increases. In the latter case, the electrical characteristics once adjusted in the wafer state are changed again due to the influence of temperature, stress, etc. during the resin sealing of the semiconductor chip performed after the adjustment, and the desired accuracy is obtained. Otherwise, the yield may be significantly reduced.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve these problems and to provide a semiconductor device capable of adjusting electrical characteristics after resin sealing of a semiconductor chip without significantly increasing the number of terminals of the semiconductor device.

  In order to solve the above problem, a semiconductor device according to claim 1 is a semiconductor device that is formed as a one-chip integrated circuit and has an internal circuit that requires adjustment of electrical characteristic values. A plurality of state setting circuits each including a fuse element connected to the potential and a voltage setting unit connected between the other end of the fuse element and the characteristic adjustment terminal. It consists of a circuit with a voltage setting element connected or a circuit only with no voltage setting element, and connects each connection point between the voltage setting unit and the fuse element to the internal circuit, and at the predetermined terminal for the characteristic adjustment A predetermined fuse element of the state circuit is cut by applying a voltage of

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device that is formed as a one-chip integrated circuit and has an internal circuit that requires adjustment of electrical characteristic values. A plurality of state setting circuits each having a different number of voltage setting elements connected as fuse elements,
In addition, a predetermined fuse element of the state circuit is cut by applying a predetermined voltage to the characteristic adjustment terminal.
Connect the other end of the voltage setting element with one end connected to the reference potential to the internal circuit.

  Therefore, according to the circuit configuration of the semiconductor device of the present invention, it is not necessary to greatly increase the number of terminals of the semiconductor device, and the characteristic value can be adjusted after the semiconductor device is completed with a simple circuit configuration.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. In the present specification, the same or similar parts are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the drawings, and redundant description is omitted.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a main part of a semiconductor device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. A semiconductor chip 10 of the semiconductor device includes state setting circuits SL1a to SL4a provided in the chip and respective state setting circuits. A current source circuit 13 composed of constant current source circuits 13a to 13d for detecting the setting state of the circuit, and a circuit that requires an accuracy higher than the accuracy of electrical characteristics due to manufacturing variations (hereinafter referred to as "built-in accuracy"). The adjustment circuit 15 for changing the constants of the circuit, wirings L1 to L4 that connect the state setting circuits, the constant current source circuit 13 and the adjustment circuit 15 in correspondence with each other, and one end of each state setting circuit as a semiconductor. It comprises a terminal (pad) T1 for connecting to an external connection terminal (hereinafter referred to as “characteristic adjustment terminal”) of the apparatus with a thin metal wire or the like.

  Each state setting circuit is provided in parallel between the terminal T1 and the reference potential (GND), and is provided between the reference potential and each wiring, so that the fuse elements 11a to 11a are blown by an overcurrent. 11d and a voltage setting unit in which different numbers of diode elements 12a to 12f are connected as voltage setting elements between each wiring and the terminal T1, and each constant current source circuit of the current source circuit 13 includes a constant current source circuit. A control line L5 for collectively controlling the operation of the current source circuit is connected.

  A setting procedure of each state setting circuit in FIG. 1 and a method of using the semiconductor device of the present invention will be described. First, in a semiconductor device after a semiconductor chip having a circuit (not shown) including a transistor, a diode, a resistor, a capacitor element, and the like is sealed with a resin, in order to achieve an accuracy higher than the fabrication accuracy or a high yield of the semiconductor device. Electrical characteristics that require characteristic value adjustment such as oscillation frequency, voltage value, current value, etc. are measured by a measuring device such as a semiconductor tester, and one or more state setting circuits are disconnected according to the measurement result. Determine the fuse element to be used.

Next, a voltage according to the voltage setting unit of the state setting circuit is applied from an external power source (not shown) to the terminal T1, and a desired current is blown by flowing a current exceeding the allowable current only to the selected fuse element. A semiconductor device in which adjustment information of electrical characteristics is recorded is obtained.
When the semiconductor device obtained in this way is mounted on an application board and used, each constant current source of the current source circuit 13 is controlled by the control line L5 as a pre-operation of the semiconductor device before the operation of the application board is started. When operated, the current flows only to the fuse elements that are not blown. Therefore, the connection state (adjustment information) of each fuse element is detected by the adjustment circuit 15 and the result is stored in a storage circuit such as a RAM. Is operated so as to set the circuit constant of the circuit required for the stored data. As a result, variations in electrical characteristics of the semiconductor device can be suppressed, and the characteristic accuracy can be improved beyond the fabrication accuracy. The characteristic adjustment terminal of the semiconductor device mounted on the application board may be left unconnected.

  Next, the method for selectively fusing each fuse element will be described in more detail. For example, when the fuse elements 11a to 11c are blown as a result of the characteristic measurement by the tester, the forward voltage (2VF) for two diode elements exceeds the forward voltage for two diode elements from the external power source to the terminal T1. If a voltage lower than the voltage (3VF) is applied, the voltage is lower than the setting voltage (3VF) of the state setting circuit SL4a, so that no current flows through the fuse element 11d, and the fuse element 11a to 11c has an allowable current of the fuse element. The above current value, for example, a constant current in the range of several tens mA to several hundred mA flows, and only the fuse elements 11a to 11c are blown.

  Similarly, if a voltage less than 1 VF is applied to the terminal T1, only the fuse element 11a is blown, and if a voltage exceeding 1 VF and less than 2 VF is applied, the fuse elements 11a and 11b are blown and a voltage exceeding 3 VF is applied. For example, since all of the fuse elements 11a to 11d are blown, five states can be set by the circuit of FIG.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the shape of a fuse element used in the present invention. A part of a wiring element made of aluminum, polysilicon, or the like provided in the semiconductor device, or a resistance element made of a diffusion layer, polysilicon, etc. is replaced with another part. The fuse element is made thin with the same layer thickness as that of the portion and the allowable current capacity of the portion is reduced. If the width (W2) of the part to be fused of the fuse element is about half of the minimum line width (W1) of the design rule of the semiconductor element, it is a violation of the partial design rule. There is almost no problem that the yield is lowered due to being formed in a disconnected state, and the current value for fusing is relatively small. A specific width value of W2 is preferably about 0.1 μm to 1 μm.

  FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a main part of another embodiment of the first embodiment. A semiconductor chip 10a is configured by replacing Zener diode elements 14a to 14f with voltage setting elements instead of the diode elements of FIG. This is a circuit provided with the state setting circuits SL1b to SL4b used. Accordingly, when each fuse element is blown, the voltage applied to the terminal T1 may be used in the same manner as the circuit of FIG. 1 except that a multiple of the Zener voltage (Vz) of the Zener diode element is used as a reference. The detailed explanation is omitted.

  FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing the main part of the second embodiment of the present invention. The semiconductor chip 10b of the semiconductor device functions as a voltage setting element and a fuse element between the terminal T1 and the reference potential. Resistors 17a connected to the power supply via state setting circuits SL1c to SL4c provided with the Zener diode elements 14a to 14j in parallel and switch circuits 16a to 16d for detecting the setting states of the respective state setting circuits. Between the voltage source circuit 16 including 17 to 17d, the adjustment circuit 15b for changing the constants of the circuit that requires accuracy higher than the built-in accuracy, and each state setting circuit, the voltage source circuit 16 and the adjustment circuit 15b. Are respectively connected to wirings L1 ′ to L4 ′.

The wirings L1 'to L4' are connected to one end of each resistor of the voltage source circuit 16, respectively, and a detection circuit 18 for detecting the connection state of each wiring, and the other end side of the Zener diode connected to the reference potential The number (n) of control lines L6 corresponding to the number of switch circuits are connected to the switch circuit of the voltage source circuit 16.
In order to set each state setting circuit with this circuit, as in the first embodiment, a constant voltage corresponding to the characteristic measurement result after assembly is applied from the external power source to the terminal T1, and the setting voltage of the state setting circuit is set. However, the current exceeding the allowable value is allowed to flow only in the Zener diode element whose voltage is less than the external power supply voltage. As a result, all the Zener diode elements of the state setting circuit in which a current exceeding the allowable current flows are destroyed, and a semiconductor device in which the wirings L1 ′ to L4 ′ connected to the destroyed state setting circuit are open is obtained.

  When the semiconductor device obtained in this way is mounted on an application board and used, each switch circuit of the voltage source circuit 16 is controlled by the control line L6 as a pre-operation of the semiconductor device before the operation of the application board is started. By detecting the voltage of each wiring by the adjustment circuit 15a while operating, it is possible to detect whether or not each Zener diode element is connected, and the RAM corresponding to the setting state of each state setting circuit for each control line is not shown. The circuit constant of a circuit that requires a desired characteristic accuracy is controlled by the adjustment circuit 15a based on the stored correspondence data.

  The semiconductor device of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the number of state setting circuits may be two or more, and the voltage setting element can set a constant voltage. A circuit, for example, a circuit using characteristics such as a base-emitter voltage of a transistor or a threshold voltage of a MOS transistor may be used. The adjustment circuit may be a circuit that can confirm the current flowing through the fuse element or the voltage by the voltage setting element, for example, a circuit using a comparator circuit or the like. When the Zener voltage is higher than the power supply voltage or when the current consumption is not a concern, the switch circuit of the voltage source circuit may be omitted. The fuse element may be formed with a width or layer thickness larger than that of the wiring by using a material having a higher specific resistance value and lower melting point temperature than the wiring.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, only the case where the number of the same voltage elements as the voltage setting elements is different has been described, but the set voltage can be changed with the same number of voltage setting elements by combining diodes and Zener diodes. The state setting circuit may be configured as described above. Further, the voltage setting unit of the state setting circuit in each figure shows a case where there is no voltage setting element in the voltage selection circuits SL1a, SL1b and SL1c in order to reduce the number of voltage setting elements, and other voltage setting units Shows only the case where the voltage setting elements are increased one by one, but one or more voltage setting elements may be provided in each state setting circuit, or a plurality of voltage setting elements may be increased.

  As described above, according to the circuit configuration of the semiconductor device of the present invention, it is not necessary to greatly increase the number of terminals of the semiconductor device, and a desired characteristic value can be adjusted with a simple circuit configuration after the semiconductor device is assembled. As a result, there is an effect that a small-sized semiconductor device with good characteristic accuracy can be easily used. Further, since the characteristic accuracy is good, the yield is improved and the unit price of the semiconductor device can be suppressed.

A circuit diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention, Shape diagram showing a shape example of the fuse element used in the present invention, The circuit diagram which shows the other example of the 1st Embodiment of this invention, A circuit diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention,

Explanation of symbols

10: Semiconductor chip (semiconductor device)
T1: Terminal (Characteristic adjustment terminal)
SL1 to SL4: state setting circuits 11a to 11c: fuse elements 12a to 12f: voltage setting elements (diode elements)
13: Current source circuit

Claims (2)

In a semiconductor device having an internal circuit formed as a one-chip integrated circuit and requiring adjustment of electrical characteristic values,
A plurality of state setting circuits comprising a fuse element having one end connected to a reference potential, and a voltage setting unit connected between the other end of the fuse element and a characteristic adjustment terminal;
The voltage setting unit is composed of a circuit in which a different number of voltage setting elements are connected or a circuit having only the wiring without the voltage setting element,
The connection point between the voltage setting unit and the fuse element is connected to the internal circuit, and the predetermined fuse element of the state circuit is disconnected by applying a predetermined voltage to the characteristic adjustment terminal. A semiconductor device characterized by that. In a semiconductor device having an internal circuit formed as a one-chip integrated circuit and requiring adjustment of electrical characteristic values,
A plurality of state setting circuits each having a different number of voltage setting elements functioning as fuse elements connected between the reference potential of the semiconductor device and the characteristic adjustment terminal,
The other end side of the voltage setting element, one end of which is connected to a reference potential, is connected to the internal circuit, and a predetermined voltage is applied to the characteristic adjustment terminal to thereby apply a predetermined fuse element of the state circuit. A semiconductor device characterized by being cut.

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