| CPC H01L 23/544 (2013.01) [H01L 21/76877 (2013.01); H01L 23/5226 (2013.01); H01L 2223/54426 (2013.01)] | 20 Claims |

|
1. A method comprising:
forming a metallization layer in a dielectric layer overlying an interconnect structure, the interconnect structure being over a device wafer with a first integrated circuit; and
forming a dummy insertion structure within the dielectric layer, the dummy insertion structure having a stepped pattern density and including a first pattern density region of a first set of dummy insertion features and a second pattern density region of a second set of dummy insertion features, the second pattern density region is embedded within a perimeter of the first pattern density region, wherein a first density of patterns in the first pattern density region is different from a second density of patterns in the second pattern density region, and the first pattern density region and the second pattern density region are both within a same level of the dielectric layer.
|