Abstract
This paper describes on characteristics of 2" 3C-SiC wafer bonding using PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition) oxide and HF (hydrofluoride acid) for SiCOI (SiC-on-Insulator) structures and MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) applications. In this work, insulator layers were formed on a heteroepitaxial 3C-SiC film grown on a Si (001) wafer by thermal wet oxidation and PECVD process, successively. The pre-bonding of two polished PECVD oxide layers made the surface activation in HF and bonded under applied pressure. The bonding characteristics were evaluated by the effect of HF concentration used in the surface treatment on the roughness of the oxide and pre-bonding strength. Hydrophilic character of the oxidized 3C-SiC film surface was investigated by ATR-FTIR (attenuated total reflection Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy). The root-mean-square suface roughness of the oxidized SiC layers was measured by AFM (atomic force microscope). The strength of the bond was measured by tensile strength meter. The bonded interface was also analyzed by IR camera and SEM (scanning electron microscope), and there are no bubbles or cavities in the bonding interface. The bonding strength initially increases with increasing HF concentration and reaches the maximum value at 2.0 ％ and then decreases. These results indicate that the 3C-SiC wafer direct bonding technique will offers significant advantages in the harsh MEMS applications.ions.
