Method for bonding semiconductor wafers using a molecular bonding apparatus
AssigneeSoitec
InventorsMarcel Broekaart, Ionut Radu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to an apparatus for the manufacture of semiconductor devices wherein the apparatus includes a bonding module that has a vacuum chamber to provide bonding of wafers under pressure below atmospheric pressure; and a loadlock module connected to the bonding module and configured for wafer transfer to the bonding module. The loadlock module is also connected to a first vacuum pumping device configured to reduce the pressure in the loadlock module to below atmospheric pressure. The bonding and loadlock modules remain at a pressure below atmospheric pressure while the wafer is transferred from the loadlock module into the bonding module.
Claims20
A method for bonding semiconductor wafers, the method comprising:
- evacuating a vacuum chamber of a bonding module to below atmospheric pressure;
- transferring at least a first wafer and a second wafer from an external environment to a loadlock module that is connected to the bonding module;
- evacuating the loadlock module to below atmospheric pressure after transferring at least the first wafer and the second wafer to the loadlock module;
- transferring at least the first wafer and the second wafer from the evacuated loadlock module to the evacuated vacuum chamber of the bonding module while retaining the bonding and loadlock modules at a pressure below atmospheric pressure;
- positioning the first wafer on a first bonding chuck and a positioning the second wafer on a second bonding chuck, respectively;
- and
- moving the first wafer and the second wafer toward each other by movement of the first and/or second bonding chuck such that a main surface of the first wafer and a main surface of the second wafer locally come sufficiently close to each other to allow bonding to be initiated.
A method for bonding semiconductor wafers, the method comprising:
- evacuating a vacuum chamber of a bonding module;
- transferring at least a first wafer and a second wafer from an external environment to a loadlock module;
- evacuating the loadlock module to below atmospheric pressure after transferring at least the first wafer and the second wafer to the loadlock module;
- and
- transferring at least the first wafer and the second wafer from the evacuated loadlock module to the evacuated vacuum chamber of the bonding module by a robot device while retaining the bonding and loadlock modules at a pressure or pressures below atmospheric pressure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.