Polymer adhesive wafer bonding

FIGURE 15.10 Time-temperature transformation chart illustrating various levels of cross-linking for given temperature and time treatment for BCB (from Ref. 79). 

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Another approach to 3D integration is to use wafer bonding to stack die before singulation this approach is referred to as wafer-level 3D. There have been a variety of approaches to wafer-level 3D that have been demonstrated, which can be categorized by the wafer-bonding approach used oxide-to-oxide, copper-to-copper, polymer-to-polymer (or adhesive bonding), and mixtures of these approaches (such as redistribution layer bonding). Each of these four approaches will be introduced in this section, with emphasis placed on their application to 3D. The bond unit processes are described further in Section 15.4.2, and their associated CMP issues are discussed in detail in Section 15.5. 

PDMS based siloxane polymers wet and spread easily on most surfaces as their surface tensions are less than the critical surface tensions of most substrates. This thermodynamically driven property ensures that surface irregularities and pores are filled with adhesive, giving an interfacial phase that is continuous and without voids. The gas permeability of the silicone will allow any gases trapped at the interface to be displaced. Thus, maximum van der Waals and London dispersion intermolecular interactions are obtained at the silicone-substrate interface. It must be noted that suitable liquids reaching the adhesive-substrate interface would immediately interfere with these intermolecular interactions and displace the adhesive from the surface. For example, a study that involved curing a one-part alkoxy terminated silicone adhesive against a wafer of alumina, has shown that water will theoretically displace the cured silicone from the surface of the wafer if physisorption was the sole interaction between the surfaces [38]. Moreover, all these low energy bonds would be thermally sensitive and reversible. 

XPS is one of the most widely used surface and materials analysis techniques in both academia and industry. Applications include semiconductor wafer defect analysis, identification of surface contamination in industrial processes, adhesion chemistry analysis, analysis of fracture or failure surfaces, and analysis of the strength and type of carbon bonding in polymers. 

In a similar process, known as polymer-film interconnect (PFI), an insulative thermoplastic film is laminated over the devices at the wafer stage, and vias are opened over the bonding pads using a laser. At that point, either the normal solder bumps can be formed or a silver-filled conductive adhesive can be stencil printed into the vias to form polymer bumps. After printing, the epoxy is B-staged and the flip-chip devices are diced. In assembly, the devices are heated to a temperature that completes the cure of the B-staged bumps and simultaneously reflows the thermoplastic underfill material. 

Adhesive bonding uses photoresist, spin-on glasses, or polymers to deposit a planarizing material between two wafers. Such materials can be annealed or UV cured at low temperature to provide a low-stress wafer stack. 

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