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US 12,751,323 B2Granted
Direct bonding methods and structures
AssigneeAdeia Semiconductor Bonding Technologies Inc.
InventorCyprian Emeka Uzoh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are processes and methods for direct bonding. In some embodiments, the process includes providing an element having a dielectric bonding surface and one or more conductive features exposed at the dielectric bonding surface, where the dielectric bonding surface has a planarity suitable for direct bonding. The process also includes, after providing the element, exposing the dielectric bonding surface to the products of a water vapor plasma prior to direct bonding the element.
Claims18
A process, comprising:
- providing an element having a dielectric bonding surface and a conductive feature exposed at the dielectric bonding surface, the dielectric bonding surface having a planarity suitable for direct bonding;
- generating a water vapor plasma with a plasma generation apparatus by supplying water vapor to the plasma generating apparatus;
- and
- exposing the dielectric bonding surface to products of a mixture of the water vapor plasma and a carrier gas prior to direct bonding.
1 more element
A process, comprising:
- providing a first element having a first dielectric bonding surface and a first conductive feature exposed at the first dielectric bonding surface;
- supplying products of an oxygen plasma to the first element to expose the first dielectric bonding surface to the products of the oxygen plasma;
- after supplying the products of the oxygen plasma to the first element, supplying products of a water vapor plasma to the first element and exposing the first dielectric bonding surface to the products of the water vapor plasma;
- providing a second element having a second dielectric bonding surface and a second conductive feature exposed at the second dielectric bonding surface;
- and
- directly hybrid bonding the first element to the second element after supplying the products of the water vapor plasma to the first element, wherein directly hybrid bonding comprises room temperature bonding the first dielectric bonding surface to the second dielectric bonding surface to form an initial bonded structure and subsequently annealing the initial bonded structure to form metallic bonds between the first and second conductive features.
3 more elements
A method of forming a bonded structure, the method comprising:
- supplying water vapor and oxygen to a plasma generation apparatus to generate a plasma;
- exposing a surface of a first element to products the plasma;
- and
- directly bonding the surface of the first element to a bonding surface of a second element.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.