Measurement of bonding energy in an anhydrous nitrogen atmosphere and its application to silicon direct bonding technology

Abstract

Bonding energy represents an important parameter for direct bonding applications as well as for the elaboration of physical mechanisms at bonding interfaces. Measurement of bonding energy using double cantilever beam (DCB) under prescribed displacement is the most used technique thanks to its simplicity. The measurements are typically done in standard atmosphere with relative humidity above 30%. Therefore, the obtained bonding energies are strongly impacted by the water stress corrosion at the bonding interfaces. This paper presents measurements of bonding energies of directly bonded silicon wafers under anhydrous nitrogen conditions in order to prevent the water stress corrosion effect. It is shown that the measurements under anhydrous nitrogen conditions (less than 0.2 ppm of water in nitrogen) lead to high stable debonding lengths under static load and to higher bonding energies compared to the values measured under standard ambient conditions. Moreover, the bonding energies of Si/SiO2 or SiO2/SiO2 bonding interfaces are measured overall the classical post bond annealing temperature range. These new results allow to revisit the reported bonding mechanisms and to highlight physical and chemical phenomena in the absence of stress corrosion effect.