Polysilicon resistor trimming by laser link making

A technique for laser trimming of polysilicon resistors has been developed. In this scheme an undoped polysilicon film is patterned lithographically, and then photoresist patterns are used to prevent doping of certain narrow areas of each resistor during the impurity implant; thus, the protected areas remain insulating after wafer processing. Subsequent laser scanning of the undoped regions can produce precise reductions in resistance by lateral diffusion of dopant impurities. Trimming can be accomplished by changing either the laser power or the position. Q-switched Nd:YAG (1.06- mu m wavelength) and second-harmonic (0.53- mu m wavelength) radiations have produced successful results. The process was applied to passivated resistors with negligible (perhaps zero) post-trim drift, and the temperature coefficients of resistivity (TCRs) of trimmed resistors can be matched to the TCRs of untrimmed resistors in the same film.< >