Surface Preparation of Aluminum Nitride for Metallization

Abstract

Currently, the surface preparation of aluminum nitride (AlN) substrates prior to metallization includes an aqueous cleaning step. Surface reactions that occur in this step cause performance and reliability issues with AlN substrates to be used in microelectronic packaging. There is a lack of published data on the reactivity of AlN substrates with common solvents. This study investigated the effects of different solvents on the surface corrosion of AlN substrates. The variables studied were pH, aqueous vs. organic solutions, prior surface condition, and time (up to 3.6 Ms or 42 days). The solvents tested were hydrochloric acid (HCl) with pH values ranging from 2 to 5, sulfuric acid (H2SO4) with pH values ranging from 2 to 5, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) with pH values ranging from 8 to 12, 1 M citric acid, oleic acid, Micro-90, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, acetone, and deionized water. Three types of surface reaction behavior were observed in this study. The substrates either showed no reaction (HCl pH = 2, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, acetone, citric acid, and oleic acid), slight corrosion without spalling (Micro-90, HCl pH = 3, H2SO4pH = 3), or they were severely corroded and spalled (HCl pH = 5, H2SO4pH = 5, all NaOH solutions, and deionized water).