Directional diffusion and void formation at a Si (001) bonded wafer interface

Low-temperature hydrophobic bonding is an enabling technology allowing the fabrication of device structures. Current research into improvement of hydrophobic bonding has focused on the elimination of thermally generated voids. It has been observed that a regular grid etched into the bonding interface can eliminate the thermally generated voids. By manipulation of patterns etched into the bond interface, it was possible to ascertain that the diffusion of interfacial gasses that form the thermally generated voids is enhanced along the [110] directions. This is shown by an analysis of the void density at various locations in relation to the etched trenches at the bonded interface. Void density between trenches is shown to be 12% of the void density near trenches but nto along a [110] direction.