Process of treating defects during the bonding of wafers

• US 8,530,334 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2009
• Issued: 09/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Soitec S.A.
• Original Assignee: Soitec S.A.
• Inventors: Lagahe, Chrystelle, Aspar, Bernard
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Kyoung
• Assistant Examiner(s): WITHERS, GRANT S
• Application Number:
  US12/811,203
• Publication Number:
  US 20100285213A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,698 Days
• Field of Search: 438/458
• US Class Current: 438/458
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/2007 Bonding of semiconductor wafers to insulating substrates or to semiconducting substrates using an intermediate insulating layer H01L21/2011 takes precedence; bonding of semiconductor wafers to semiconductor wafers for junction formation H01L21/187
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/12 for structural parameters, e.g. thickness, line width, refractive index, temperature, warp, bond strength, defects, optical inspection, electrical measurement of structural dimensions, metallurgic measurement of diffusions electrical measurement of diffusions H01L22/14

Abstract

The invention concerns a process of preparing a thin layer to be transferred onto a substrate having a surface topology and, therefore, variations in altitude or level, in a direction perpendicular to a plane defined by the thin layer, this process comprising the formation on the thin layer of a layer of adhesive material, the thickness of which enables carrying out a plurality of polishing steps of its surface in order to eliminate any defect or void or almost any defect or void, in preparation for an assembly via a molecular kind of bonding with the substrate.

Claims

1. A method of preparing a thin layer in preparation for a transfer onto a substrate, the thin layer comprising a surface topology including variations in altitude in a direction perpendicular to a plane defined by the thin layer, the method comprising:

forming a layer of adhesion material on the thin layer, the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer having a thickness having an initial value enabling performance of at least one step of leveling of the surface of the adhesion material on the thin layer;

leveling the surface of the adhesion material on the thin layer;

assembling the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer with the substrate;

detecting defects at a bonding interface between the layer of adhesion material and the substrate;

separating the substrate and the thin layer at the bonding interface; and

again leveling the surface of the adhesion material on the thin layer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming an adhesive layer on the substrate.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the substrate has a surface topology including variations in altitude in a direction perpendicular to a plane defined by the substrate.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the adhesive layer on the substrate has a thickness enabling performance of at least one step of leveling of the surface of the adhesive layer on the substrate.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising leveling the surface of the adhesive layer on the substrate prior to assembling the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer with the substrate.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the actions of separating the substrate and the thin layer at the bonding interface and again leveling the surface of the adhesion material on the thin layer are performed at least twice.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial value of the thickness of the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer is less than 10 μ

m.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the initial value of the thickness of the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer is greater than 0.5 μ

m.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the thin layer is initially on a support substrate, and wherein the method further comprises removal of at least a portion of the support substrate.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein assembling the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer with the substrate comprises attaching the thin layer to the substrate using molecular adhesion.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer comprises an oxide.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer comprises a silicon oxide (SiO_x) or a silicon oxynitride (SiO_xN_y).

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the variations in altitude of the topology of the surface of the thin layer have a maximum amplitude of less than 10 μ

m.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the variations in altitude of the topology of the surface of the thin layer have a maximum amplitude of between 1 μ

m and 5 μ

m.

15. A method of preparing a thin layer and a substrate in preparation for transferring the thin layer onto the substrate, the thin layer having a surface topology including variations in altitude in a direction perpendicular to a plane defined by the thin layer, the method comprising:

providing a layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and another layer of adhesion material on the substrate, the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate each having a respective thickness having an initial value enabling performance of at least one step of leveling of at least one of a surface of the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and a surface of the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate;

leveling at least one of the surface of the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the surface of the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate;

assembling the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate;

detecting defects at a bonding interface between the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the another layer of adhesion material;

separating the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate and the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer at the bonding interface; and

again leveling at least one of the surface of the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the surface of the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the substrate has a surface topology including variations in altitude in a direction perpendicular to a plane defined by the substrate.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the actions of separating the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate and the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer at the bonding interface and again leveling at least one of the surface of the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the surface of the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate are performed at least twice.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the initial value of the respective thicknesses of the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate is less than 10 μ

m.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the initial value of the respective thicknesses of the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate is greater than 0.5 μ

m.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein detecting defects at the bonding interface comprises using acoustic microscopy or infrared microscopy for detecting defects at the bonding interface.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the thin layer is initially on a support substrate, and wherein the method further comprises removal of at least a portion of the support substrate.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein assembling the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate comprises bonding the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate using molecular adhesion.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate comprises an oxide.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein at least one of the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate comprises a silicon oxide (SiO_x) or a silicon oxynitride (SiO_xN_y).

25. The method of claim 15, wherein the variations in altitude of the topology of the surface of the thin layer have a maximum amplitude of less than 10 μ

m.

26. The method of claim 15, further comprising at least one of polishing and cleaning the at least one of the surface of the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the surface of the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate after leveling the at least one of the surface of the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the surface of the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate and prior to assembling the layer of adhesion material on the thin layer and the another layer of adhesion material on the substrate.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the variations in altitude of the topology of the surface of the thin layer have a maximum amplitude of between 1 and 5 μ

m.

28. The method of claim 16, wherein the thin layer comprises components.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the components comprise components of at least one of an electronic circuit and an optical circuit for a micro system.