Bonding & Packaging of MEMS

Assembly & Bonding

Fabrication of a complete mechanical device needs the assembly of the
individual components formed using micromachining technique

Process and methods to assemble a device into a housing for useful,

safe and reliable interaction with its surroundings with full protections
from surroundings.
Wafer bonding in conjunction with micromachining allows the fabrication
of 3D structures that are thicker than a single wafer
Process developed for silicon bonding:
1. Bonding of hydrophobic wafers
2. Fusion bonding
3. Anodic bonding
Microelectronics packaging issues
Protection
Electrical connection
Heat transfer

MEMS packaging issues

Coupling to outside media (may or may not be necessary)
Vacuum packaging
Custom packaging
Cost
MEMS Testing
Electrical functionality can be usually be tested at wafer level.
However, to test other functionalities like pressure, temperature it
requires complete packaging.
 Bonding of Hydrophobic Wafers
Two hydrophobic silicon wafers bonded together when
pressed at a particular temperature
Spontaneous bonding of hydrophobic wafers leads to
very week bonding if not annealed
Bonding energy obtained with hydrophobic wafers is as
low as 26 mJ/m2
During annealing of the wafers, the bonding energy
raises quickly when the temperature exceeds 400oC
and reaches a value of 2.5 J/m2 at 600oC
 Silicon Fusion Bonding
Direct bonding is possible between all material if surface micro-
roughness (smoothness) is smaller than few nm and radius of
curvature is large enough

The process of wafer fusion bonding is the mating together of a

pair of wafers at room temperature followed by thermal annealing
at temperature between 700 to 1100oC
The wafers adhere at room temperature via hydrogen bridge
bonds of chemisorbed water molecules that subsequently react
during the annealing process to form Si O Si bonds
High annealing step is necessary to increase the strength of the
bond
800oC anneal results in sufficient bond strength for subsequent
processes such as grinding, polishing and etching
 Problems of High Annealing Temperature (>800oC)

Doping profile broadening

Thermal stress
Defect generation
Contamination
Limits use of compound semiconductor because of low
dissociation temperature
Limits post-metallization bonding because most of the
common metal used in metallization melt above 450oC

Thus low temperature bonding method have to be developed

with reasonable bond strength
 Bond Quality for Different Annealing Temperature
Temperature less than 450oC for post-metallization wafers

Temperature less than 800oC for wafers with diffusion dopant

layers (e.g. p+ etch stop)

Temperature greater than 1000oC for wafer bonding before

processing results in an almost complete reaction of the
interface. At 1000oC annealed for 2 hrs gives sufficiently high
bond strength and is not possible to separate the two bonded Si
wafers without breaking silicon
Structure Annealing Bond strength (Jm- Voids (%
temperature (oC) 2) nonbonding)

Si/Si 450 0.5 -

Si/Si 800 0.6 0.3
Si/Si 1000 2.6 0.3
Si/Si3N4 (140 nm) 800 0.9 0.2
Si/Si3N4 (140 nm) 1000 Cleavage 0.2
Si/Si3N4 (300 nm) 1000 Cleavage 25
 Critical Issues of Wafer Bonding:
Presence of non-contacting areas which are called voids
caused by particles, organic residues, surface defects,etc.
Both the surfaces that are fusion-bonded have to be
perfectly smooth and clean
Required optimized processing condition such as wafer
surface cleanliness, surface pretreatment (for hydrophilic
/hydrophobic).
Bonding of wafers covered with a thin thermal oxide/nitride
results in homogeneous bonded wafers, whereas wafer
with thicker oxide (or nitride) films develop voids during
annealing
In case of poly-Si bonding to Si, a polishing step for the
two surfaces to be bonded is necessary, which produces
two smooth defect free surfaces. Bonding mechanism is
identical to Si-to-Si fusion bonding
 Anodic Bonding
The term anodic bonding refers to bonding assisted by an electric field.
Silicon to silicon anodic bonding is used to seal silicon together by use
of a thin sputter deposited glass layer.
Advantages of Anodic Bonding Process :

1. Low process temperature (~450oC)

2. Low residual stress

3. Less stringent requirements on the surface quality of the wafers

as compared to fusion bonding

4. A well-developed technology with high yield if care is taken to

achieve a good cleaning procedure and a dust free environment.
Anodic Bonding of a Silicon Wafer to a Pyrex wafer
Schematic Cross Section of an Anodic Bonding Apparatus

The negative electrode is connected to the top sputter-coated wafer

The voltage should be applied over a long time to allow the current
to settle at the steady-state minimized level
Typically 10 20 minutes time required to complete bonding
process in air atmospheric pressure
 Anodic Bonding of a Silicon Wafer to a Pyrex wafer

Anodic bonding is possible under atmospheric conditions as

well as in vacuum.
Requirements for anodic bonding process

The glass must be slightly conductive in order to be able to

build up a space charge region
The temperature must stay well below the softening point
The metal must not inject charge carriers into the glass
The surface roughness of the wafers must be smaller than 1
m rms, and the surfaces must be clean and dust free
The (native or thermally grown) oxide layer on the silicon
must be thinner than 200 nm
The thermal expansion coefficients of the bonded materials
must match in the range of temperatures
 Typical Anodic Bonding Process

After surface cleaning and polishing, the top wafer is sputter-

deposited a few micron thick glass film. The top wafer is then placed
on the support wafer. The two wafers are sealed together by anodic
bonding at temperature less than 400oC with an electrostatic DC
voltage of 1000 to 2000 V
 Important Effects in Anodic Bonding

A DC voltage is preferable over an AC voltage. The

electrostatic bonding pressure varies with the inverse of
AC frequency.
The advantage of using a point cathode (instead of an
extended planar cathode) is that the electrostatic
pressure develops due to the finite conductivity of the
glass, starting below the cathode tip, radially propagating
across the wafer. The bonding can be observed by
looking through the glass
Anodic Bonding is now a well developed technology.
This process has a high yield if care is taken to achieve
good cleaning procedures and dust free environment
and if polished wafers are used