Electrical characterisation of UHV-bonded silicon interfaces

Abstract

ABSTRACTDirect wafer bonding can be used to mechanically and electrically connect semiconductors. In our experiments two 100 mm diameter (100) Si wafers (n-doping: 1014 cm−3) are first cleaned by standard chemical cleaning (RCA 1, 2). The surface is terminated by hydrogen after a HF dipping. The wafers are prebonded in air to protect the surface. After introduction into the ultra high vacuum (UHV) system the wafers are separated again. The hydrogen termination is released in a heating chamber. RHEED confirmed a surface reconstruction. The wafers are then cooled down to room temperature and bonded in UHV. The bonding energy is very close to the bulk bonding energy.Measurements of whole n-n wafers showed a linear relationship of voltage and current at a low current density of 0.05 A/cm2. The current flow is inhomogeneous, which is visible in IR- thermography images. Above 0.1 V the current density first saturates, but increases super- linearly for higher voltages. The electrical properties of a grain boundary can be modeled by a double Schottky barrier. The barrier height decreases with increasing applied voltage. C-V measurements show a strong dependence of capacitance on frequency, temperature and applied voltage.The capacitance increases with higher temperature and lower frequency. The interface state density can be estimated from the low temperature and high frequency capacitance limit as Dit = 1·1011 cm−2 eV−1 assuming a constant density of states.We can conclude that in order to avoid the undesirable effect of the potential barrier and trap states at the bonding interface a high doping near the interface is required for the application of wafer bonding to devices with a high current density across the bonded interface.