Temporary polymer bonding for the manufacturing of thin wafers: An innovative low temperature process

Abstract

The study deals with the handling of thin wafers in 3D integration. It concerns the fabrication of 300 mm wafers in industrial tools. Usually, the manufacturing is based on a temporary bonding process performed at 200 °C using a thermoplastic adhesive. In that condition bonding, thinning and dismounting are satisfactory. Moreover, the adhesive flattening during bonding results in an excellent thickness uniformity of the bonded pairs, with a small total thickness variation (TTV) value suitable for 3D integration. If the temperature is 150 °C or lower, the adhesive thickness uniformity is not acceptable anymore. An innovative temporary bonding process at low temperature has thus been developed. It consists in a carrier fabrication with highly uniform adhesive thickness. The standard coated adhesive is flattened with a first reversible temporary bonding at 210 °C. After a first dismounting, this carrier is then bonded to the target device wafer with a low bonding temperature, from 110 °C to 150 °C. Due to the pre-flattening, 80 μm thick silicon films with an excellent TTV value can thus be obtained even with a low bonding temperature required by the device wafer. Moreover, after the device wafer thinning, the final dismounting can be performed without any antisticking layer.