Appeal No. 1998-0338 Application No. 08/350,865 and 23 since there is no prior art rejection for these claims. The invention relates to a bond pad such as that used in a semiconductor integrated circuit. Stress on parts of a bond pad makes them susceptible to cracking (see Figure 2 and crack 16). Looking at Figure 3, an elongated strip-shaped volume of oxide (36) in contact with the foundation layer (22) underlying the bond pad, along with strip-shaped openings (note width B of the opening) in the metal plate (24) overlying the foundation layer (22), relieves this stress. Representative independent claim 1 is reproduced as follows: 1. A bond pad structure, comprising: a first metal plate, an opening existing in said first metal plate; a second metal plate disposed over said first metal plate and extending over said opening; a layer of oxide disposed between said first metal plate and said second metal plate, a plurality of vias formed in said layer of oxide between said first metal plate and said second metal plate; and a plurality of conductive plugs, each of said conductive plugs being disposed in a respective one of said vias, each of said conductive plugs being 2Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007