Bonding energy measurement
AssigneeTokyo Electron Limited
InventorsAndrew Tuchman, Ilseok Son
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of determining a bonding energy of a bonded wafer includes receiving the bonded wafer including a first wafer bonded with a second wafer, and inserting a blade between the first wafer and the second wafer to form a crack between the first wafer and the second wafer, the crack extending from a portion of the blade contacting the first wafer and the second wafer to a point where the first wafer and the second wafer are still bonded. The method further includes passing light beams through the crack at an outer edge of the bonded wafer, and collecting light beams transmitting through the crack at a light detector. And the method further includes determining the bonding energy of the bonded wafer based on a light intensity of the collected light beams.
Claims20
A method of determining a bonding energy of a bonded wafer, the method comprising:
- receiving the bonded wafer comprising a first wafer bonded with a second wafer;
- inserting a blade between the first wafer and the second wafer to form a crack between the first wafer and the second wafer, the crack extending from a portion of the blade contacting the first wafer and the second wafer to a point where the first wafer and the second wafer are still bonded;
- passing light beams through the crack at an outer edge of the bonded wafer;
- collecting light beams transmitting through the crack at a light detector;
- determining the bonding energy of the bonded wafer based on a light intensity of the collected light beams;
- and
- determining whether excess moisture is present between the first wafer and the second wafer of the bonded wafer based on the bonding energy.
A method of determining a bonding energy of a bonded wafer, the method comprising:
- exposing the bonded wafer to a light beam, the bonded wafer comprising a first wafer bonded with a second wafer;
- recording a video of the bonded wafer using a light detector, the light detector collecting the light beam after passing through the bonded wafer, the video being recorded over a timeframe;
- inserting a blade to form a crack between the first wafer and the second wafer of the bonded wafer during the timeframe, wherein the crack splits the bonded wafer into an unbonded region and a bonded region;
- generating a light intensity function comprising a light intensity as a function of a position for each image of a set of images from the video;
- determining, using a peak finding algorithm on the light intensity function, a crack length for each image of the set of images, and calculating, using the crack length, a bonding energy for each image of the set of images;
- and
- determining whether excess moisture is present between the first wafer and the second wafer of the bonded wafer based on the bonding energy.
A system for determining a bonding energy of a bonded wafer, the system comprising:
- a light source optically coupled to a light diffuser configured to support a bonded wafer, the bonded wafer comprising a first wafer bonded with a second wafer;
- a blade inserter to insert a blade in the bonded wafer;
- a light detector;
- and
- a controller operationally coupled to the light source, the blade inserter, the light detector, and coupled to a memory storing a program to be executed in the controller, the program comprising instructions to
- insert the blade between the first wafer and the second wafer to form a crack between the first wafer and the second wafer, the crack extending from a portion of the blade contacting the first wafer and the second wafer to a point where the first wafer and the second wafer are still bonded,
- pass light beams through the crack at an outer edge of the bonded wafer,
- collect light beams transmitting through the crack at the light detector,
- determine the bonding energy of the bonded wafer based on a light intensity of the collected light beams, and
- determine whether excess moisture is present between the first wafer and the second wafer of the bonded wafer based on the bonding energy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.