Characterization of inorganic dielectric layers for low thermal budget wafer-to-wafer bonding

Abstract

The reduction of post annealing temperature for plasma activated dielectric bonding was achieved by using SiCN as dielectrics layer. The SiCN-SiCN bonding shows higher bond energy at 250 °C as compared to conventional SiOi-SiOi bonding. The surface and interface of the SiCN bonding dielectric layers were characterized by various quantitative and qualitative methodologies. This alternative bonding dielectric allows development of extremely thin 3D integration devices with minimal thermal budget at bonding step.