NOVELTY - The chip package has a substrate (102) having a semiconductor device e.g. image sensor device (104) and a conductive pad (106). An insulator ring (122) fills a trench (118) formed in the substrate. The insulator ring surrounds an intermediate layer (210) below the conductive pad, the insulator ring comprising a material of silicon oxide (SiO2), silicon nitride (Si3N4) or silicon oxynitride (SiON). A conductive layer (126) is arranged below a backside of the substrate and electrically connected to the conductive pad.    USE - Chip package such as image sensor package. Uses include but are not limited to optoelectronic device, micro electro mechanical system (MEMS), micro fluidic system, heat/light/pressure sensors, solar cell, ink printer heads, radio frequency (RF) circuit, accelerator, gyroscope, micro actuator, surface acoustic wave device, and LED used in digital camera, digital video recorder, and mobile phone.    ADVANTAGE - Since the conductive pad connects to the through hole within the isolation region, a signal from the image sensor device is transmitted to an exterior circuit through the conductive pad, the through hole and the conductive layer, rather than traveling around the sidewalls of the substrate to transmit the signal. Thus, the signal conductive path to the image sensor device is shortened. Since the conductive layer is not formed closer to an exterior area of the image sensor package, the damage to the conductive layer during fabrication is reduced with improved fabrication yield. Since the substrate is thinned, the overall thickness of the image sensor package is reduced. Thus, fabrication of the image sensor package with small dimension can be performed easily with reduced cost.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for method for fabricating chip package.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The drawing shows a schematic sectional view of the chip package during its fabrication.    Substrate (102)    Image sensor device (104)    Conductive pad (106)    Trench (118)    Insulator ring (122)    Conductive layer (126)    Intermediate layer (210)