INTEGRATED CAPACITOR WITH ARRAY OF CROSSES

• US 20100127349A1
• Filed: 11/21/2008
• Published: 05/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xilinx, Inc. (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xilinx, Inc. (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Quinn, Patrick J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,207,592 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 257/532
• CPC Class Codes: H01G 4/012 Form of non-self-supporting electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01G 4/33 Thin- or thick-film capacitors thin- or thick-film circuits H01L27/00; capacitors without a potential-jump or surface barrier specially adapted for integrated circuits, details thereof, multistep manufacturing processes therefor H01L28/40
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/5223 Capacitor integral with wiring layers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/0207 Geometrical layout of the components, e.g. computer aided design; custom LSI, semi-custom LSI, standard cell technique
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/0805 Capacitors only
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 28/60 Electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/3011 Impedance

Abstract

A capacitor in an integrated circuit (“IC”) has a first plurality of conductive crosses formed in a layer of the IC electrically connected to and forming a portion of a first node of the capacitor and a second plurality of conductive crosses formed in the metal layer of the IC. The conductive crosses in the second plurality of conductive crosses are electrically connected to and form a portion of a second node of the capacitor and capacitively couple to the first node.

Claims

1. A capacitor in an integrated circuit (“

IC”

) comprising;

a first plurality of conductive crosses formed in a layer of the IC, each of the first plurality of conductive crosses being electrically connected to and forming a first portion of a first node of the capacitor; and

a second plurality of conductive crosses formed in the metal layer of the IC, each of the second plurality of conductive crosses being electrically connected to and forming a first portion of a second node of the capacitor and capacitively coupling to the first node.

2. The capacitor of claim 1 wherein each of the first plurality of conductive crosses is symmetrical.

3. The capacitor of claim 2 wherein each of the second plurality of conductive crosses is symmetrical.

4. The capacitor of claim 1 wherein the conductive crosses in the first plurality of conductive crosses are electrically isolated from each other within the layer by dielectric material.

5. The capacitor of claim 1 further comprising a first buss bar electrically connected to and forming a second portion of the first node and a second buss bar electrically connected to and forming a second portion of the second node, each of the first plurality of conductive crosses electrically connected to the first buss bar in the layer and each of the second plurality of conductive crosses electrically connected to the second buss bar in the layer.

6. The capacitor of claim 5 further comprising a second layer overlying the layer having a third plurality of conductive crosses electrically connected to and forming a third portion of the second node, each of the conductive crosses in the third plurality of conductive crosses overlying conductive crosses in the first plurality of conductive crosses.

7. The capacitor of claim 6 further comprising a fourth plurality of conductive crosses in the second layer electrically connected to and forming a third portion of the first node overlying conductive crosses in the second plurality of conductive crosses.

8. The capacitor of claim 1 wherein a first horizontal member of a first cross of the first plurality of conductive crosses overlaps a portion of a parallel member of a second cross of the second plurality of conductive crosses and overlaps an end of a perpendicular member of a third cross of the second plurality of conductive crosses.

9. The capacitor of claim 1 further comprising an interconnection layer in a second layer of the IC above or below the layer, the interconnection layer having a first node interconnector conductor and a second node interconnector conductor, the first node interconnector conductor being electrically connected to each of the first plurality of conductive crosses and the second node interconnector conductor being electrically connected to each of the second plurality of conductive crosses.

10. The capacitor of claim 9 further comprising

a third layer of the IC, the interconnection layer being between the third layer and the layer, a third plurality of conductive crosses formed in the third layer electrically connected to and forming a second portion of the first node interconnector conductor;

and

a fourth plurality of conductive crosses formed in the third layer electrically connected to and forming a second portion of the second node interconnector conductor.

11. The capacitor of claim 9 wherein the layer is a first metal layer of the IC, the interconnection layer is a second metal layer of the IC, and the third layer is a third metal layer of the IC.

12. The capacitor of claim 11 wherein the first node interconnector conductor includes an interconnect trace overlying and electrically connecting to a first cross of the first plurality of conductive crosses and at least partially overlying and capacitively coupling to a second cross of the second plurality of conductive crosses.

13. The capacitor of claim 9 wherein the interconnection layer includes a first plurality of interconnect traces of the first node interconnector conductor alternating with a second plurality of interconnect traces of the second node interconnector conductor.

14. The capacitor of claim 12 wherein the first cross in the layer has a vertical element having a first width and each of the first plurality of interconnector traces has a first portion having the first width and a second portion having a second width greater than the first width.

15. The capacitor of claim 13 wherein the first plurality of interconnect traces are staggered traces and the second plurality of interconnect traces are staggered traces.

16. The capacitor of claim 1 wherein the layer has a first row of conductive crosses of alternating polarity an a second row of conductive H-elements of alternating polarity proximate to the first row, a first conductive H-element in the second row being diagonally connected to a conductive first cross in the first row, each of the first conductive H-element and the first conductive cross being electrically connected to and forming a second portion of the first node, and

a second conductive H-element in the second row being diagonally connected to a second conductive cross in the first row, each of the second conductive H-element and the second conductive cross being electrically connected to and forming a second portion of the second node.

17. The capacitor of claim 16 further comprising a second layer overlying the layer having a third row of conductive H-elements of alternating polarity, a third conductive H-element overlying the first conductive H-element and being electrically connected to and forming a third portion of the second node.

18. The capacitor of claim 1 wherein the capacitor is located in an analog-to-digital converter.

19. The capacitor of claim 1 wherein the capacitor is located in a transceiver.

20. The capacitor of claim 1 wherein the integrated circuit is a field programmable gate array.