Laser formed connections for programmable wiring

Solid metallic connections have been successfully formed between two standard levels of metallization using a focussed IR laser system. This new process of laser farmed connections has been used to link chins with resistances of less than 0.8 Ω per connection. Commercial laser repair systems used extensively by the memory industry were employed to perform over 100,000 individual links over a wide set of laser parameters without failure. This technology has the potential to replace laser fuse cutting techniques to program wiring in silicon-on-silicon, wafer scale integration (WSI), and system-on-a-chip applications. Furthermore, because it is an additive process and the passivation remains completely in tact, it lends itself to redundancy with perfect yield and exceptional reliability.