Hydrophobic silicon wafer bonding

Wafers prepared by an HF dip without a subsequent water rinse were bonded at room temperature and annealed at temperatures up to 1100 “C. Based on substantial differences between bonded hydrophilic and hydrophobic Si wafer pairs in the changes of the interface energy with respect to temperature, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we suggest that hydrogen bonding between Si-F and H-Si across two mating wafers is responsible for room temperature bonding of hydrophobic Si wafers. The interface energy of the bonded hydrophobic Si wafer pairs does not change appreciably with time up to 150 “C. This stability of the bonding interface makes reversible room-temperature hydrophobic wafer bonding attractive for the protection of silicon wafer surfaces.