Self-aligned common carrier

Abstract

Precision alignment of one or more parts on a common carrier is described. A self-aligned common carrier includes a carrier substrate having one or more pockets formed in the substrate. Each pocket includes a side profile formed in the pocket. A chip having an identical side profile that complements the side profile in the pocket is mounted to the carrier substrate by inserting the chip into the pocket. The complementary side profiles result in near perfect self-alignment between the chip and at least two orthogonal planes of the carrier substrate. The chip and the carrier substrate can be made from a single crystal semiconductor material and the side profiles can be formed by anisotropic etch process that selectively etches the chip and the substrate along a predetermined crystalline plane. The chip and the carrier substrate can be single crystal silicon having a (100) crystalline orientation and the side profiles can be formed by selectively etching the silicon along a (111) crystalline plane. The matching coefficients of thermal expansion between the chip and the carrier substrate substantially reduces thermal stress related interconnect failures and misalignment between the chip and the carrier substrate. The carrier substrate and the chip can be anodically bonded to each other by oxidizing either one of the carrier substrate and the chip and etching the side profiles so that they are atomically flat.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.