Wafer-level plasma activated bonding: new technology for MEMS fabrication

Manufacturing and integration of MEMS devices by wafer bonding often lead to problems generated by thermal properties of materials. These include alignment shifts, substrate warping and thin film stress. By limiting the thermal processing temperatures, thermal expansion differences between materials can be minimized in order to achieve stress-free, aligned substrates without warpage. Achieving wafer level bonding at low temperature employs a little magic and requires new technology development. The cornerstone of low temperature bonding is plasma activation. The plasma is chosen to compliment existing interface conditions and can result in conductive or insulating interfaces. A wide range of materials including semiconductors, glasses, quartz and even plastics respond favorably to plasma activated bonding. The annealing temperatures required to create permanent bonds are typically ranging from room temperature to 400°C for process times ranging from 15–30 min and up to 2–3 h. This new technique enables integration of various materials combinations coming from different production lines.