1. A method for adjusting provisions of derivative contracts to account for time value of money due to an occurrence of a corporate event that affects the value of the derivative contract, comprising the steps of:
receiving, via a processor based computer, financial information regarding a derivative contract comprising at least a termination claim of the derivative contract and the length of the derivative contract, wherein each derivative contract represents one of a plurality of economic interests of at least two shares of an underlying security: an option with limited stock (OWLS) derivative contract representing a nucleus of said at least two shares of the underlying security, and a residual interest in stock (RISKS) derivative contract representing speculation on future gains on the value of said at least two shares of the underlying security, and wherein the termination claim determines the payout to the OWLS contract at the end of the derivative contract;
receiving, via the computer, information identifying a corporate event that affects the value of the derivative contract;
adjusting, via the computer, the termination claim of the derivative contract by reducing the termination claim by a future value of a payment to the OWLS discounted at an OWLS internal rate of return (IRR) to the termination claim;
adjusting, via the computer, one or more provisions of the derivative contract based on the adjusted termination claim and a predetermined formula for determining the effect of the corporate event on the derivative contract based on a type of distribution to the underlying security; and
storing an adjusted termination claim and an adjusted derivative contract in a database.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprises the step of allocating the value of said at least two shares of the underlying security into the OWLS and RISKS derivative contracts.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the type of the distribution to the underlying security is a cash distribution; and further comprising the steps of:
allocating entire cash distribution to the OWLS derivative contract if the cash distribution is less than or equal to an average price of the OWLS over a predetermined number of days before the announcement of the corporate event which is referred to as an Average OWLS Price;
allocating a portion of the cash distribution up to the Average OWLS Price to the OWLS derivative contract if the cash distribution is greater than the Average OWLS Price; and
allocating a remaining portion of the cash distribution to the RISKS derivative contract if the cash distribution is greater than the present value of the termination claim.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of reducing the adjusted termination claim to zero for the corporate event involving a full liquidating dividend.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of allocating payment in cash or securities to the OWLS and RISKS derivative contracts based on the adjusted termination claim at termination of the OWLS and RISK derivative contracts.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of forcing premature liquidation of said plurality of derivative contracts by an issuer of said plurality derivative contracts.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said each derivative contract represents one of at least three economic interests of said at least two shares of an underlying security: the OWLS derivative contract, the RISKS derivative contract, and a dividend value of stock (DIVS) derivative contract representing a stream of dividends distributed to a holder of said at least two shares of the underlying security; and further comprises the step of allocating the value of said at least two shares of the underlying security into the DIVS, OWLS and RISKS derivative contracts.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the type of the distribution to the underlying security is a cash distribution; and further comprising the steps of:
allocating to the DIVS derivative contract a portion of the cash distribution up to a present value of a reduction of a dividend paid on the underlying security over a remaining term of the DIV derivative contract discounted at a risk free rate;
reducing the cash distribution by a payment to the DIVS derivative contract to obtain an adjusted cash distribution;
allocating entire adjusted cash distribution to the OWLS derivative contract if the adjusted cash distribution is less than or equal to an average price of the OWLS over a predetermined number of days before the announcement of the corporate event which is referred to as an Average OWLS Price;
allocating a portion of the adjusted cash distribution up to the Average OWLS Price to the OWLS derivative contract if the adjusted cash distribution is greater than the Average OWLS Price;
allocating a remaining portion of the adjusted cash distribution to the RISKS derivative contract if the adjusted cash distribution is greater than the present value of the termination claim; and
adjusting the adjusted termination claim to zero for the corporate event involving a full liquidating dividend.
9. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of:
allocating a payment equal to present value of dividends discounted at the risk free rate at termination of the DIVS derivative contract; and
allocating payment in cash or securities to the OWLS and RISKS derivative contracts based on the adjusted termination claim at termination of the OWLS and RISK derivative contracts.
10. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of forcing premature liquidation of said plurality of derivative contracts by an issuer of said plurality derivative contracts.
11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable code for adjusting a derivative contract to account for time value of money due to an occurrence of a corporate event that affects the value of the derivative contract, said code comprising instructions for:
receiving, via a processor based computer, financial information regarding a derivative contract comprising at least a termination claim of the derivative contract and the length of the derivative contract, wherein each derivative contract represents one of a plurality of economic interests of at least two shares of an underlying security: an option with limited stock (OWLS) derivative contract representing a nucleus of said at least two shares of the underlying security, and a residual interest in stock (RISKS) derivative contract representing speculation on future gains on the value of said at least two shares of the underlying security, and wherein the termination claim determines the payout to the OWLS contract at the end of the derivative contract;
receiving, via the computer, information identifying a corporate event that affects the value of the derivative contract;
adjusting, via the computer, the termination claim of the derivative contract by reducing the termination claim by a future value of a payment to the OWLS discounted at an OWLS internal rate of return (IRR) to the termination claim;
adjusting, via the computer, one or more provisions of the derivative contract based on the adjusted termination claim and a predetermined formula for determining the effect of the corporate event on the derivative contract based on a type of distribution to the underlying security; and
storing an adjusted termination claim and an adjusted derivative contract in a database.
12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the type of the distribution to the underlying security is a cash distribution; and wherein said code further comprises instructions for:
allocating entire cash distribution to the OWLS derivative contract if the cash distribution is less than or equal to an average price of the OWLS over a predetermined number of days before the announcement of the corporate event which is referred to as an Average OWLS Price;
allocating a portion of the cash distribution up to the Average OWLS Price to the OWLS derivative contract if the cash distribution is greater than the Average OWLS Price;
allocating a remaining portion of the cash distribution to the RISKS derivative contract if the cash distribution is greater than the present value of the termination claim; and
adjusting the adjusted termination claim to zero for the corporate event involving a full liquidating dividend.
13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein said code further comprises instructions for allocating payment in cash or securities to the OWLS and RISKS derivative contracts based on the adjusted termination claim at termination of the OWLS and RISK derivative contracts.
14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein said each derivative contract represents one of at least three economic interests of said at least two shares of an underlying security: the OWLS derivative contract, the RISKS derivative contract, and a dividend value of stock (DIVS) derivative contract representing a stream of dividends distributed to a holder of said at least two shares of the underlying security; wherein the type of the distribution to the underlying security is a cash distribution; and wherein said code further comprises instructions for:
allocating to the DIVS derivative contract a portion of the cash distribution up to a present value of a reduction of a dividend paid on the underlying security over a remaining term of the DIVS derivative contract discounted at a risk free rate;
reducing the cash distribution by a payment to the DIVS derivative contract to obtain an adjusted cash distribution;
allocating entire adjusted cash distribution to the OWLS derivative contract if the adjusted cash distribution is less than or equal to an average price of the OWLS over a predetermined number of days before the announcement of the corporate event which is referred to as an Average OWLS Price;
allocating a portion of the adjusted cash distribution up to the Average OWLS Price to the OWLS derivative contract if the adjusted cash distribution is greater than the Average OWLS Price;
allocating a remaining portion of the adjusted cash distribution to the RISKS derivative contract if the adjusted cash distribution is greater than the present value of the termination claim; and
adjusting the adjusted termination claim to zero if the corporate event involves a full liquidating dividend.
15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein said code further comprises instructions for:
allocating a payment equal to present value of dividends discounted at the risk free rate at termination of the DIVS derivative contract; and
allocating payment in cash or securities to the OWLS and RISKS derivative contracts based on the adjusted termination claim at termination of the OWLS and RISK derivative contracts.
16. A system for adjusting a derivative contract to account for time value of money due to an occurrence of a corporate event that affects the value of the derivative contract, comprising:
a processor based computer programmed to:
receive financial information regarding a derivative contract comprising at least a termination claim of the derivative contract and the length of the derivative contract, wherein each derivative contract represents one of a plurality of economic interests of at least two shares of an underlying security: an option with limited stock (OWLS) derivative contract representing a nucleus of said at least two shares of the underlying security, and a residual interest in stock (RISKS) derivative contract representing speculation on future gains on the value of said at least two shares of the underlying security, and wherein the termination claim determines the payout to the OWLS contract at the end of the derivative contract;
receive information identifying a corporate event that affects the value of the derivative contract;
adjust the termination claim of the derivative contact by reducing the termination claim by a future value of a payment to the OWLS discounted at an OWLS internal rate of return (IRR) to the termination claim;
adjust one or more provisions of the derivative contract based on the adjusted termination claim and a predetermined formula for determining the effect of the corporate event on the derivative contract based on a type of distribution to the underlying security; and
a database to store an adjusted termination claim and an adjusted derivative contract.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the type of the distribution to the underlying security is a cash distribution; wherein the computer allocates entire cash distribution to the OWLS derivative contract if the cash distribution is less than or equal to an average price of the OWLS over a predetermined number of days before the announcement of the corporate event which is referred to as an Average OWLS Price; wherein if the cash distribution is greater than the Average OWLS Price, the computer allocates a portion of the cash distribution up to the Average OWLS Price to the OWLS derivative contract and allocates a remaining portion of the cash distribution to the RISKS derivative contract; and wherein the computer reduces the adjusted termination claim to zero if the corporate event involves a full liquidating dividend.
18. The system of claim 16, wherein the computer allocates payment in cash or securities to the OWLS and RISKS derivative contracts based on the adjusted termination claim at termination of the OWLS and RISK derivative contracts.
19. The system of claim 16, wherein said each derivative contract represents one of at least three economic interests of said at least two shares of an underlying security: the OWLS derivative contract, the RISKS derivative contract, and a dividend value of stock (DIVS) derivative contract representing a stream of dividends distributed to a holder of said at least two shares of the underlying security; wherein the type of the distribution to the underlying security is a cash distribution; wherein the computer allocates to the DIVS derivative contract a portion of the cash distribution up to a present value of a reduction of a dividend paid on the underlying security over a remaining term of the DIVS derivative contract discounted at a risk free rate; wherein the computer reduces the cash distribution by a payment to the DIVS derivative contract to obtain an adjusted cash distribution; wherein the computer allocates entire adjusted cash distribution to the OWLS derivative contract if the adjusted cash distribution is less than or equal to an average price of the OWLS over a predetermined number of days before the announcement of the corporate event which is referred to as an Average OWLS Price; wherein if the adjusted cash distribution is greater than the Average OWLS Price, the computer allocates a portion of the adjusted cash distribution up to the Average OWLS Price to the OWLS derivative contract and allocates a remaining portion of the adjusted cash distribution to the RISKS derivative contract; and wherein the computer reduces the adjusted termination claim to zero if the corporate event involves a full liquidating dividend.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein the computer allocates a payment equal to present value of dividends discounted at the risk free rate at termination of the DIVS derivative contract, and allocates payment in cash or securities to the OWLS and RISKS derivative contracts based on the adjusted termination claim at termination of the OWLS and RISK derivative contracts.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A semiconductor device comprising:
a substrate including an active area;
a last level interconnect capping layer disposed over the active area;
a buffer layercrack stop layer overlying the last level interconnect capping layer;
a passivation layer overlying the buffer layercrack stop layer; and
a contact pad overlying the passivation layer.
2. The device of claim 1 and further comprising a second buffer layercrack stop layer overlying the passivation layer and a second passivation layer overlying the second buffer layercrack stop layer.
3. The device of claim 2 wherein the buffer layercrack stop layer, passivation layer, second buffer layercrack stop layer, and second passivation layer comprise an arrangement of multiple buffer layerscrack stop layers alternating with the passivation layers all with reduced thickness.
4. The device of claim 1 wherein the buffer layercrack stop layer is made of a lower modulus material with reduced crack propagation properties.
5. The device of claim 1 wherein the buffer layercrack stop layer comprises a low-k organic dielectric.
6. The device of claim 5 wherein the buffer layercrack stop layer is made of SiLK\u2122, a product of Dow Chemical.
7. The device of claim 1 wherein the buffer layercrack stop layer is made of a dielectric material.
8. The device of claim 1 wherein the buffer layercrack layer has a thickness between about 50 nm and about 400 nm.
9. The device of claim 1 wherein the interconnect capping layer has a thickness between about 50 and about 200 nm.
10. The device of claim 9 wherein the interconnect capping layer is made of SiN.
11. The device of claim 1 wherein the passivation layer has a reduced thickness relative to a semiconductor device that does not include a buffer layercrack stop layer.
12. The device of claim 1 wherein the substrate comprises a silicon substrate and wherein the active area comprises a plurality of transistors formed in and over the substrate.
13. The device of claim 3 wherein the active area further includes a plurality of copper damascene interconnect lines.
14. The device of claim 1 wherein the contact pad comprises an aluminum pad.
15. The device of claim 1 wherein the contact pad comprises a probe pad.
16. The device of claim 1 wherein the contact pad comprises a wire bond pad.
17. The device of claim 1 wherein the contact pad comprises a flip-chip pad.
18. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
forming a plurality of transistors in a silicon body;
forming a plurality of interconnect layers over the silicon body, the interconnect layers including a last interconnect level;
forming a capping layer over the last interconnect level;
forming a buffer layer over the capping layer;
forming a passivation layer over the buffer layer;
etching a contact hole through the capping layer, the buffer layer, and the passivation layer, the contact hole exposing a portion of the last interconnect level; and
forming a contact pad over the passivation layer, the contact pad electrically connected to the last interconnect level through a conductor formed in the contact hole.
19. The method of claim 18 wherein the buffer layer comprises a low-k organic dielectric.
20. The method of claim 18 wherein the buffer layer has a thickness between about 50 nm and about 400 nm.