Effect of bonding process conditions on the interfacial adhesion energy of Al-Al direct bonds

3-D IC integration enables the smallest form factor and highest performance due to the shortest and most plentiful interconnects between chips. Direct metal bonding has several advantages over the solder-based bonding, including lower electrical resistivity, better electromigration resistance and more reduced interconnect RC delay, while high process temperature is one of the major bottlenecks of metal direct bonding because it can negatively influence device reliability and manufacturing yield. We performed quantitative analyses of the interfacial properties of Al-Al bonds with varying process parameters, bonding temperature, bonding time, and bonding environment. A 4-point bending method was used to measure the interfacial adhesion energy. The quantitative interfacial adhesion energy measured by a 4-point bending test shows 1.33, 2.25, and 6.44 J/m² for 400, 450, and 500°C, respectively, in a N₂ atmosphere. Increasing the bonding time from 1 to 4 hrs enhanced the interfacial fracture toughness while the effects of forming gas were negligible, which were correlated to the bonding interface analysis results. XPS depth analysis results on the delaminated interfaces showed that the relative area fraction of aluminum oxide to the pure aluminum phase near the bonding surfaces match well the variations of interfacial adhesion energies with bonding process conditions.