Low Temperature Hydrophilic SiC Wafer Level Direct Bonding for Ultrahigh-Voltage Device Applications

SiC direct bonding using O2 plasma activation is investigated in this work. SiC substrate and n− SiC epitaxy growth layer are activated with an optimized duration of 60s and power of the oxygen ion beam source at 20 W. After O2 plasma activation, both the SiC substrate and n− SiC epitaxy growth layer present a sufficient hydrophilic surface for bonding. The two 4-inch wafers are prebonded at room temperature followed by an annealing process in an atmospheric N2 ambient for 3 h at 300 °C. The scanning results obtained by C-mode scanning acoustic microscopy (C-SAM) shows a high bonding uniformity. The bonding strength of 1473 mJ/m2 is achieved. The bonding mechanisms are investigated through interface analysis by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Oxygen is found between the two interfaces, which indicates Si–O and C–O are formed at the bonding interface. However, a C-rich area is also detected at the bonding interface, which reveals the formation of C-C bonds in the activated SiC surface layer. These results show the potential of low cost and efficient surface activation method for SiC direct bonding for ultrahigh-voltage devices applications.

Influence of Potable Water Origin on the Physicochemical and Antimicrobial Properties of Plasma Activated Water

The interaction between a cold gas plasma and water creates a plasma activated liquid, a solution rich in highly reactive chemical species. Such liquids have garnered considerable attention due to their powerful antimicrobial properties and ease of production. In this contribution, air plasma was used to activate potable water samples from five different countries, including the UK, France, Norway, Slovenia and Palestine. All water samples had an initial pH in the range of 7.9 to 8.2, following plasma activation samples from the UK and Norway reached a pH below 3, whereas water from France and Palestine remained stable at 8. The concentration of NO3− increased in all samples, reaching a maximum concentration of 3 mM after 25 min plasma exposure; whereas the concentration of NO2− showed a non-linear dependence with exposure time, reaching between 10 and 25 µM after 25 min of exposure. To demonstrate the impact of water origin on the antimicrobial potential of each solution, the inactivation of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was considered. It was found that activated water from the UK was capable of achieving > 6 log reduction, whereas water from Palestine was only able to achieve a 0.4 log reduction, despite both liquids receiving an identical plasma exposure. The study demonstrates the importance of initial water composition on the level of plasma activation, indicating that additional purification steps prior to activation may be necessary to ensure efficacy and repeatability.

Time-Dependent Evolution Study of Ar/N2 Plasma-Activated Cu Surface for Enabling Two-Step Cu-Cu Direct Bonding in a Non-Vacuum Environment

In this paper, a two-step copper-copper direct bonding process in a non-vacuum environment is reported. Time-dependent evolution of argon/nitrogen plasma-activated copper surface is carefully studied. A multitude of surface characterizations are performed to investigate the evolution of the copper surface, with and without argon/nitrogen plasma treatment, when it is exposed to the cleanroom ambient for a period of time. The results reveal that a thin layer of copper nitride is formed upon argon/nitrogen plasma activation on copper surface. It is hypothesized that the nitride layer could dampen surface oxidation. This allows the surface to remain in an “activated” state for up to 6 hours. Afterwards, the activated dies are physically bonded at room temperature in cleanroom ambient. Thereafter, the bonded dies are annealed at 300ºC for varying duration, which results in an improvement of the bond strength by a factor of 70 ~ 140 times. A sample bonded after plasma activation and 2-hour cleanroom ambient exposure demonstrates the largest shear strength (~5 MPa). The degradation of copper nitride layer at elevated temperature could aid in maintaining a localized inert environment for the initial diffusion of copper atoms across the interface. This novel bonding technique would be useful for high-throughput three-dimensional wafer bonding and heterogeneous packaging in semiconductor manufacturing.

Investigating the Nucleation of AlOx and HfOx ALD on Polyimide: Influence of Plasma Activation

There is an increasing interest in atomic layer deposition (ALD) on polymers for the development of membranes, electronics, (3D) nanostructures and specially for the development of hermetic packaging of the new generation of flexible implantable micro-devices. This evolution demands a better understanding of the ALD nucleation process on polymers, which has not been reported in a visual way. Herein, a visual study of ALD nucleation on polymers is presented, based on the different dry etching speeds between polymers (fast) and metal oxides (slow). An etching process removes the polyimide with the nucleating ALD acting as a mask, making the nucleation features visible through secondary electron microscopy analyses. The nucleation of both Al2O3 and HfO2 on polyimide was investigated. Both materials followed an island-coalescence nucleation. First, local islands formed, progressively coalescing into filaments, which connected and formed meshes. These meshes evolved into porous layers that eventually grew to a full layer, marking the end of the nucleation. Cross-sections were analyzed, observing no sub-surface growth. This approach was used to evaluate the influence of plasma-activating polyimide on the nucleation. Plasma-induced oxygen functionalities provided additional surface reactive sites for the ALD precursors to adsorb and start the nucleation. The presented nucleation study proved to be a straightforward and simple way to evaluate ALD nucleation on polymers.

Effect of Combined Hydrophilic Activation on Interface Characteristics of Si/Si Wafer Direct Bonding

Wafer direct bonding is an attractive approach to manufacture future micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) and microelectronic and optoelectronic devices. In this paper, a combined hydrophilic activated Si/Si wafer direct bonding process based on wet chemical activation and O2 plasma activation is explored. Additionally, the effect on bonding interface characteristics is comprehensively investigated. The mechanism is proposed to better understand the nature of hydrophilic bonding. The water molecule management is controlled by O2 plasma activation process. According to the contact angle measurement and FTIR spectrum analysis, it can be concluded that water molecules play an important role in the type and density of chemical bonds at the bonding interface, which influence both bonding strength and voids’ characteristics. When annealed at 350 °C, a high bonding strength of more than 18.58 MPa is obtained by tensile pulling test. Cross sectional SEM and TEM images show a defect-free and tightly bonded interface with an amorphous SiOx layer of 3.58 nm. This amorphous SiOx layer will induce an additional energy state, resulting in a lager resistance. These results can facilitate a better understanding of low-temperature hydrophilicity wafer direct bonding and provide possible guidance for achieving good performance of homogenous and heterogenous wafer direct bonding.

Effect of Plasma Surface Modification on Print Quality of Biodegradable PLA Films

PLA films, as non-absorbent materials, require modification of the surface before the printing process in order to improve the wettability of the substrate and to obtain proper ink adhesion to the substrate. In this paper, the surfaces of two kinds of PLA films were modified using plasma activation with parameters enabling high surface free energy (SFE) values, and then the films were printed on using different kinds of flexographic inks. Two gases, oxygen and argon, were used for activation, as these make it possible to obtain good hydrophilicity and high SFE values while having different effects on the roughness, or the degree of surface etching. Plasma-activated films were subsequently subjected to the measurements of: contact angle with water, diiodomethane and three printing inks, roughness, weight change, strength properties, color and gloss change, and SFE was determined. Unmodified and activated films were flexographically printed in laboratory conditions and then the quality of obtained prints was analyzed. The results showed a strong effect of activation with both oxygen and argon plasma on the SFE value of the films and the contact angles of water and inks, with the gas used for plasma activation and the type of film significantly influencing the thickness of the fused ink layer and the resultant color. Moreover, plasma activation had a especially favorable and significant effect on the quality of prints made with water-based inks, while it had little effect when printing with solvent-based inks.