Overview of Adhesive Bonding Technology for Nano- and Microsystem Technics

Abstract

The review focuses on adhesive bonding technology, which is used both for manufacturing various micro- and nanoelectronic devices, sensors and microsystems, and for assembling or integrating various components. Information on the theory of adhesive bonding mechanisms is presented. The properties and applications of four classes of polymers are reviewed: thermoplastic, ther-mosetting, elastomeric, and hybrid. The classification of different mechanisms used to initialize the curing process of adhesives is presented. Existing methods of applying polymers to the wafer surface are described. The main types of designs and principles of operation of adhesive wafer bonding equipment are presented, as well as its main suppliers. Examples of procedures and suitable process parameters are given for both wafer bonding with a continuous layer of adhesive and wafer bonding with patterned adhesive layers (also called selective or local bonding). The conditions required to improve the quality of the adhesive bond and to reduce the density of defects are specified, including cases of bonding wafers made from different materials. Adhesive wafer bonding is used for the fabrication of three-dimensional integrated circuits, and for the integration of integrated circuits with microsystems such as infrared focal plane arrays, spatial light modulators (micromirror arrays), microtip arrays for data storage systems, and laser systems. Adhesive wafer bonding is also used for the fabrication of microcavities in packaging applications, for manufacturing of liquid crystal on silicon (LcoS) components, for thin-film solar cells, for radiofrequency components, for microfuel cells, for hard disk drive microactuators, for the bioMEMS and micrototal analysis systems.