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US 9,446,467 B2Granted
Integrate rinse module in hybrid bonding platform
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsXin-Hua Huang, Ping-Yin Liu, Hung-Hua Lin, Xin-Chung Kuang, Yuan-Chih Hsieh, Lan-Lin Chao, Chia-Shiung Tsai, Xiaomeng Chen
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Abstract
A method includes performing a plasma activation on a surface of a first package component, removing oxide regions from surfaces of metal pads of the first package component, and performing a pre-bonding to bond the first package component to a second package component.
Claims19
A method comprising:
- performing a plasma activation on a surface of a first package component, wherein the first package component comprises oxide regions on surfaces of first metal pads, with the oxide regions comprising an oxide of a metal, and wherein portions of the oxide regions of the first package component are reduced by the plasma activation;
- removing remaining portions of the oxide regions from the surfaces of the first metal pads;
- performing a pre-bonding to bond the first package component to a second package component;
- and
- after the pre-bonding, annealing the first package component and the second package component, wherein after the annealing, the first metal pads are bonded to second metal pads of the second package component through direct metal-to-metal bonding, and a first surface dielectric layer of the first package component is bonded to a second surface dielectric layer of the second package component through fusion bonding.
2 more elements
A method comprising:
- performing a plasma activation on a surface of a first package component;
- transporting the first package component into an integrated cleaning station;
- adjusting a height of the first package component to a first level;
- removing oxide regions from surfaces of first metal pads of the first package component in the integrated cleaning station, wherein the oxide regions are removed when the first package component is at the first level, and wherein a chemical used in the removing the oxide regions is collected by a first container;
- adjusting the height of the first package component to a second level different from the first level;
- performing a De-Ionized (DI) water cleaning on the first package component in the integrated cleaning station, wherein the DI water cleaning is performed when the first package component is at the second level, and wherein the DI water used in the DI water cleaning is collected by a second container different from the first container;
- performing a pre-bonding to bond the first package component to a second package component to form a bonded pair, wherein the pre-bonding is performed at a temperature close to room temperature;
- and
- after the pre-bonding, annealing the bonded pair, wherein after the annealing, first metal pads of the first package component are bonded to second metal pads of the second package component through direct metal-to-metal bonding, and a first surface dielectric layer of the first package component is bonded to a second surface dielectric layer of the second package component through fusion bonding.
6 more elements
A method comprising:
- in a controlled environment, transporting a first package component into an integrated cleaning station, wherein the controlled environment is filled with clean air or an inert gas;
- removing oxide regions from surfaces of first metal pads of the first package component in the integrated cleaning station, wherein a chemical used for removing oxide regions is collected by a first container;
- performing a De-Ionized (DI) water cleaning on the first package component in the integrated cleaning station, wherein a DI water used in the DI water cleaning is collected by a second container different from the first container, with both the first container and the second container being in the integrated cleaning station;
- and
- in the controlled environment, transporting the first package component out of the integrated cleaning station.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.