Mechanistic Studies of Wafer Bonding and Thin Silicon Film Exfoliation

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper, we review and highlight the central role that infrared spectroscopy has played in elucidating the microscopic details of the bonding and exfoliation processes and we introduce a novel technique for imaging and measuring strain with submicron resolution. The mechanism for chemical bond formation between two interfaces is derived from monitoring the chemical evolution of interfacial species as a function of annealing. The mechanism for silicon shearing upon Himplantation/annealing is understood as an evolution of H-passivated point defects into H-stabilized internal surfaces, together with H2 formation. The nucleation and propagation of microbubbles that form prior to exfoliation is imaged with x-rays and a detailed strain map in the vicinity of bubbles just prior to exfoliation can be made.