Room-Temperature Bonding of Wafers with Smooth Au Thin Films in Ambient Air Using a Surface-Activated Bonding Method

Wafers with smooth Au thin films (rms surface roughness: < 0.5nm, thickness: < 50nm) were successfully bonded in ambient air at room temperature after an Ar radio frequency plasma activation process. The room temperature bonded glass wafers without any heat treatment showed a sufficiently high die-shear strength of 47-70MPa. Transmission electron microscopy observations showed that direct bonding on the atomic scale was achieved. This surface-activated bonding method is expected to be a useful technique for future heterogeneous photonic integration.