Patent · US Active

Wafer bonding method and wafer stack formed thereby

US8119498B2 · kind B2 · utility

8Cited by
6References
24Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 23, 2009
Grant dateFeb 21, 2012
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 8, 2030

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01L2924/0002
  • WIPO fieldSemiconductors
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A wafer bonding process that compensates for curvatures in wafer surfaces, and a wafer stack produced by the bonding process. The process entails forming a groove in a surface of a first wafer, depositing a bonding stack on a surface of a second wafer, aligning and mating the first and second wafers so that the bonding stack on the second wafer contacts a bonding site on the first wafer, and then heating the first and second wafers to reflow the bonding stack. The groove either surrounds the bonding site or lies entirely within the bonding site, and the heating step forms a molten bonding material, causes at least a portion of the molten bonding material to flow into the groove, and forms a bonding structure that bonds the second wafer to the first wafer. Bonding stacks having different lateral surface areas can be deposited to form bonding structures of different heights to compensate for variations in the wafer gap.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.