The present invention relates to a multichip semiconductor device using multiple chips.
The present invention also relates to a chip for a multichip semiconductor device and a method of manufacture thereof.
Recent computers and communication equipment use for their important section a large-scale integrated circuit (chip) which has a great number of electronic components, such as transistors, resistors, etc., integrated into a semiconductor substrate. Thus, the performance of the entire equipment depends largely on the performance of the chip.
On the other hand, so-called multichip semiconductor devices have proposed, each having a plurality of chips to improve the whole performance of the equipment. FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 are sectional views of conventional multichip semiconductor devices.
FIG. 1 shows a multichip semiconductor device of a type in which a plurality of chips 82 are placed side by side on a multilayered interconnection substrate 81. Reference numeral 83 denotes a solder bump.
FIG. 2 shows a multichip semiconductor device of a type in which chips are connected together with their major surfaces opposed to each other. FIG. 3 shows a multichip semiconductor device of a type in which a plurality of chips 82 are stacked using stacking plates 84.
However, these conventional multichip semiconductor devices have the following problems.
In the multichip semiconductor device shown in FIG. 1, the plane area of the device increases because the chips 82 are arranged in the same plane.
The conventional semiconductor device of FIG. 2 is free of the problem with the device of FIG. 1 that the plane area of the device increases. This is because the chips 82 are stacked one above another. However, the device of FIG. 2 has a problem that the number of chips that can be stacked is limited to two. In addition, it is difficult to electrically test each chip.
The conventional semiconductor device of FIG. 3 does not suffer from the problems with the conventional semiconductor devices of FIGS. 1 and 2. However, its structure is complex, its thickness is great, and its manufacturing cost is high. This is because a stacking plate 84 need to be provided between any two adjacent two chip.