910 a solder ball can be formed in the ubm bucket having a first portion contained within the ubm bucket and a second portion extending above the dielectric cap layer more detailed exemplary embodiments of the method 900 are described below fig3 is a flow diagram depicting a method 300 of forming a semiconductor device according to one or more embodiments of the invention fig4 a 4d depict semiconductor device cross sections corresponding to steps of the method 300 elements in fig4 a 4d that are the same or similar to those of fig2 are designated with identical reference numerals at step 302 a semiconductor substrate having a passivation layer formed thereon is obtained fig4 a shows the substrate 202 having a passivation layer 402 formed on the interconnect 206 the substrate 202 may be formed using conventional semiconductor processes at step 304 a dielectric layer is deposited on the passivation layer and a passivation mask is used to selectively etch a tapered via in the dielectric layer to expose at least a portion of a bond pad the tapered via may be formed using conventional deposition photolithographic and etching processes fig4 b shows the passivation and dielectric layers 208 and 210 and a tapered via 404 formed therein the dielectric layer 210 may be thick relative to the passivation layer 208 for example in a non limiting embodiment the dielectric layer 210 may have a thickness between 20 and 60 u03bcm whereas the passivation layer 208.