Vacuum Hybrid Substrate Bonding for Low-Resistance Interconnects
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge is to bond substrates with high reliability, as existing methods face issues with dishing during chemical mechanical polishing, leading to increased contact resistance and reduced bonding strength due to oxide film formation and atmospheric contamination.
Innovation Solution
A substrate bonding system that includes a surface treatment module for plasma processing, a deposition module for selective film deposition, and a bonding module for hybrid bonding, all operating in a vacuum environment to control surface shapes and prevent contamination, ensuring reliable bonding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If substrates are bonded after chemical mechanical polishing, then substrate bonding is achieved, but dishing occurs in the electrode pad causing increased contact resistance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing plasma processing and deposition treatments on the substrate surfaces before bonding. The plasma processing removes oxide films and contaminants in advance, while the deposition process compensates for dishing by adding material to recessed areas, ensuring flat surfaces are achieved prior to bonding rather than relying solely on post-polishing bonding.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical and chemical parameters of the substrate surface through plasma processing (changing surface chemistry by removing oxides) and deposition (changing surface topology by adding material). These parameter changes transform the electrode pad surface from a dished, oxide-covered state to a flat, clean state suitable for low-resistance bonding.
2Ease of operation
If substrates are exposed to atmosphere during transfer, then handling is simplified, but oxide film formation increases contact resistance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs an inert atmosphere principle by maintaining a controlled environment (likely vacuum or inert gas) during substrate transfer between processing chambers. This prevents atmospheric oxygen from contacting the substrate surfaces, thereby preventing oxide film formation that would increase contact resistance, while still allowing for practical substrate handling through the controlled environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a controlled atmosphere environment as an intermediary between the substrate and atmospheric oxygen. This intermediary layer (vacuum or inert gas) allows substrate transfer to occur while blocking the harmful interaction between oxygen and the substrate surface, preventing oxidation during the transfer process.
3Device complexity
If atmospheric transfer is used between modules, then system complexity is reduced, but contamination increases and bonding strength decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends the inert atmosphere principle to the entire processing system by connecting multiple modules (plasma processing, deposition, bonding) through vacuum or inert gas pathways. This creates a contamination-free environment throughout the substrate transfer path, preventing atmospheric contaminants from degrading bonding strength, while the integrated modular design keeps system complexity manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple processing functions (plasma processing, deposition, and bonding) into an integrated system that operates under controlled atmosphere conditions. By combining these modules and their transfer pathways into a unified controlled environment system, the patent achieves high bonding strength without excessive system complexity, as the shared infrastructure serves multiple functions.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach effectively reduces contact resistance and enhances bonding strength by controlling surface shapes and preventing contamination, resulting in high-reliability substrate bonding.
Implementation Method 1
a surface treatment module configured to perform plasma processing on a surface of a substrate
Implementation Method 2
a deposition module configured to perform a deposition process on the substrate on which the plasma processing is performed
Data Source
AI summary
A substrate bonding system in one manner of the present disclosure includes a surface treatment module configured to perform plasma processing on a surface of a substrate. The substrate bonding system includes a deposition module coupled to the surface treatment module such that the substrate is transferred to the deposition module without being exposed to atmosphere, the deposition module being configured to perform a deposition process on the substrate on which the plasma processing is performed in the surface treatment module. The substrate bonding system includes a bonding module coupled to the deposition module such that the substrate is transferred to the bonding module without exposing the substrate to the atmosphere, the bonding module being configured to bond substrates on which the deposition process is performed in the deposition module, to form a bonded body.