Bonding Of Plural Semiconductive Substrates Patents (Class 438/406)
  • Patent number: 7851330
    Abstract: Methods are disclosed for preparing a reconditioned donor substrate by providing a remainder substrate from a donor substrate wherein the remainder substrate has a detachment surface where a transfer layer was detached and an opposite surface; and depositing an additional layer onto the opposite surface of the remainder substrate to increase its thickness and to form a reconditioned substrate. The reconditioned substrate is recycled as a donor substrate for fabricating compound material wafers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2010
    Assignee: S.O.I.Tec Silicon on Insulator Technologies
    Inventor: Frederic Dupont
  • Patent number: 7834398
    Abstract: There is provided a method of removing trap levels and defects, which are caused by stress, from a single crystal silicon thin film formed by an SOI technique. First, a single crystal silicon film is formed by using a typical bonding SOI technique such as Smart-Cut or ELTRAN. Next, the single crystal silicon thin film is patterned to form an island-like silicon layer, and then, a thermal oxidation treatment is carried out in an oxidizing atmosphere containing a halogen element, so that an island-like silicon layer in which the trap levels and the defects are removed is obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2010
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 7825002
    Abstract: There is provided a peeling method capable of preventing a damage to a layer to be peeled. Thus, not only a layer to be peeled having a small area but also a layer to be peeled having a large area can be peeled over the entire surface at a high yield. Processing for partially reducing contact property between a first material layer (11) and a second material layer (12) (laser light irradiation, pressure application, or the like) is performed before peeling, and then peeling is conducted by physical means. Therefore, sufficient separation can be easily conducted in an inner portion of the second material layer (12) or an interface thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2010
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toru Takayama, Junya Maruyama, Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 7820523
    Abstract: The invention concerns a micro-electronic device comprising a substrate, a first insulating zone and a second insulating zone laying on said substrate, a first active zone comprising at least one layer made of a first semi-conductor crystalline material, resting on said first insulating zone which insulates it from the substrate, at least one second active zone comprising at least one layer in a second semi-conductor crystalline material, laying on said second insulating zone which insulates it from the substrate, said first semi-conductor crystalline material having a different composition from that of the second semi-conductor crystalline material and/or different crystalline orientation from that of the second semi-conductor crystalline material and/or mechanical strains from that of the second semi-conductor crystalline material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2010
    Assignee: Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique
    Inventors: François Andrieu, Thomas Ernst, Simon Deleonibus
  • Patent number: 7820524
    Abstract: A manufacturing method of an SOI substrate which possesses a base substrate having low heat resistance and a very thin semiconductor layer having high planarity is demonstrated. The method includes: implanting hydrogen ions into a semiconductor substrate to form an ion implantation layer; bonding the semiconductor substrate and a base substrate such as a glass substrate, placing a bonding layer therebetween; heating the substrates bonded to each other to separate the semiconductor substrate from the base substrate, leaving a thin semiconductor layer over the base substrate; irradiating the surface of the thin semiconductor layer with laser light to improve the planarity and recover the crystallinity of the thin semiconductor layer; and thinning the thin semiconductor layer. This method allows the formation of an SOI substrate which has a single-crystalline semiconductor layer with a thickness of 100 nm or less over a base substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2010
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hidekazu Miyairi, Akihisa Shimomura, Tatsuya Mizoi, Eiji Higa, Yoji Nagano
  • Patent number: 7816225
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus provide for forming a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) structure, including subjecting a implantation surface of a donor semiconductor wafer to an ion implantation step to create a weakened slice in cross-section defining an exfoliation layer of the donor semiconductor wafer; and subjecting the donor semiconductor wafer to a spatial variation step, either before, during or after the ion implantation step, such that at least one parameter of the weakened slice varies spatially across the weakened slice in at least one of X-and Y-axial directions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2010
    Assignee: Corning Incorporated
    Inventors: Sarko Cherekdjian, Jeffrey Scott Cites, James Gregory Couillard, Richard Orr Maschmeyer, Michael John Moore, Alex Usenko
  • Patent number: 7816999
    Abstract: MEMS switches of varying configurations provide individually acutatable contacts. The MEMS switches are sealed by an improved anodic bonding technique.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2010
    Assignee: Siverta, Inc.
    Inventors: Gary Joseph Pashby, Timothy G. Slater, Glenn Gottlieb
  • Patent number: 7816233
    Abstract: The invention provides a method of manufacturing a composite wafer structure. In particular, the method, according to the invention, is based on the fracture mechanics theory to actively control fracture induced during the manufacture of the composite wafer structure and to further protect from undesired edge damage. Thereby, the method, according to the invention, can enhance the yield rate of industrial mass production regarding the composite wafer structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2010
    Assignee: Sino-American Silicon Products Inc.
    Inventors: Jer-Liang Yeh, Jing-Yi Huang, Wen-Ching Hsu, Ya-Lan Ho, Sung-Lin Hsu, Jung-Tsung Wang
  • Patent number: 7814773
    Abstract: A reference leak (10) includes a first substrate (20), a second substrate (40) disposed and bonded on the first substrate, and predetermined numbers of leak channels (14) defined in at least one of the first and second substrates. Oblique walls of the leak channels are formed by crystal planes of the at least one of the first and second substrates, the oblique walls thereby being aligned according to such crystal planes. A method for making a reference leak is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2010
    Assignees: Tsinghua University, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Liang Liu, Shuai-Ping Ge, Zhao-Fu Hu, Bing-Chu Du, Cai-Lin Guo, Pi-Jin Chen, Shou-Shan Fan
  • Patent number: 7807549
    Abstract: A method for bonding at low or room temperature includes steps of surface cleaning and activation by cleaning or etching. One etching process The method may also include removing by-products of interface polymerization to prevent a reverse polymerization reaction to allow room temperature chemical bonding of materials such as silicon, silicon nitride and SiO2. The surfaces to be bonded are polished to a high degree of smoothness and planarity. VSE may use reactive ion etching or wet etching to slightly etch the surfaces being bonded. The surface roughness and planarity are not degraded and may be enhanced by the VSE process. The etched surfaces may be rinsed in solutions such as ammonium hydroxide or ammonium fluoride to promote the formation of desired bonding species on the surfaces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Ziptronix, Inc.
    Inventors: Qin-Yi Tong, Gaius Gillman Fountain, Jr., Paul M. Enquist
  • Patent number: 7807500
    Abstract: A process for producing an adhered SOI substrate without causing cracking and peeling of a single-crystal silicon thin film. The process consists of selectively forming a porous silicon layer in a single-crystal semiconductor substrate, adding hydrogen into the single-crystal semiconductor substrate to form a hydrogen-added layer, adhering the single-crystal semiconductor substrate to a supporting substrate, separating the single-crystal semiconductor substrate at the hydrogen-added layer by thermal annealing, performing thermal annealing again to stabilize the adhering interface, and selectively removing the porous silicon layer to give single-crystal silicon layer divided into islands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Takeshi Fukunaga
  • Publication number: 20100244054
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, includes: a step of etching a Si (111) substrate along a (111) plane of the Si (111) substrate to separate a Si (111) thin-film device having a separated surface along the (111) plane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 24, 2010
    Publication date: September 30, 2010
    Applicant: OKI DATA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mitsuhiko OGIHARA, Tomohiko SAGIMORI, Takahito SUZUKI, Masataka MUTO
  • Patent number: 7799651
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of treating a structure produced from semiconductor materials, wherein the structure includes a first and second substrates defining a common interface that has defects. The method includes forming a layer, called the disorganized layer, which includes the interface, in which at least a part of the crystal lattice is disorganized; and reorganizing the crystal lattice of the disorganized layer in order to force the defects back deeper into the first substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: S.O.I.Tec Silicon on Insulator Technologies
    Inventors: Carlos Mazure, Ian Cayrefourcq, Konstantin Bourdelle
  • Patent number: 7795114
    Abstract: A manufacturing method of an SOI substrate and a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device are provided. When a large-area single crystalline semiconductor film is formed over an enlarged substrate having an insulating surface, e.g., a glass substrate by an SOI technique, the large-area single crystalline semiconductor film is formed without any gap between plural single crystalline semiconductor films, even when plural silicon wafers are used. An aspect of the manufacturing method includes the steps of disposing a first seed substrate over a fixing substrate; tightly arranging a plurality of single crystalline semiconductor substrates over the first seed substrate to form a second seed substrate; forming a large-area continuous single crystalline semiconductor film by an ion implantation separation method and an epitaxial growth method; forming a large-area single crystalline semiconductor film without any gap over a large glass substrate by an ion implantation separation method again.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomoaki Moriwaka
  • Patent number: 7790570
    Abstract: There is provided a method of removing trap levels and defects, which are caused by stress, from a single crystal silicon thin film formed by an SOI technique. First, a single crystal silicon film is formed by using a typical bonding SOI technique such as Smart-Cut or ELTRAN. Next, the single crystal silicon thin film is patterned to form an island-like silicon layer, and then, a thermal oxidation treatment is carried out in an oxidizing atmosphere containing a halogen element, so that an island-like silicon layer in which the trap levels and the defects are removed is obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2010
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 7781307
    Abstract: A method for bonding at low or room temperature includes steps of surface cleaning and activation by cleaning or etching. The method may also include removing by-products of interface polymerization to prevent a reverse polymerization reaction to allow room temperature chemical bonding of materials such as silicon, silicon nitride and SiO2. The surfaces to be bonded are polished to a high degree of smoothness and planarity. VSE may use reactive ion etching or wet etching to slightly etch the surfaces being bonded. The surface roughness and planarity are not degraded and may be enhanced by the VSE process. The etched surfaces may be rinsed in solutions such as ammonium hydroxide or ammonium fluoride to promote the formation of desired bonding species on the surfaces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2010
    Assignee: Ziptronix, Inc.
    Inventors: Qin-Yi Tong, Gaius Gillman Fountain, Jr., Paul M. Enquist
  • Patent number: 7776715
    Abstract: A method of fabricating a memory cell comprises forming a plurality of doped semiconductor layers on a carrier substrate. The method further comprises forming a plurality of digit lines separated by an insulating material. The digit lines are arrayed over the doped semiconductor layers. The method further comprises etching a plurality of trenches into the doped semiconductor layers. The method further comprises depositing an insulating material into the plurality of trenches to form a plurality of electrically isolated transistor pillars. The method further comprises bonding at least a portion of the structure formed on the carrier substrate to a host substrate. The method further comprises separating the carrier substrate from the host substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2010
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: David H. Wells, H. Montgomery Manning
  • Patent number: 7772646
    Abstract: There is a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device with a semiconductor body comprising a semiconductor substrate and a semiconductor region which are separated from each other with an electrically insulating layer which includes a first and a second sub-layer which, viewed in projection, are adjacent to one another, wherein the first sub-layer has a smaller thickness than the second sub-layer, and wherein, in a first sub-region of the semiconductor region lying above the first sub-layer, at least one digital semiconductor element is formed and, in a second sub-region of the semiconductor region lying above the second sub-layer, at least one analog semiconductor element is formed. According to an example embodiment, the second sub-layer is formed in that the lower border thereof is recessed in the semiconductor body in relation to the lower border of the first sub-layer Fully depleted SOI devices are thus formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2010
    Assignee: NXP B.V.
    Inventors: Josine Johanna Gerarda Petra Loo, Vincent Charles Venezia, Youri Ponomarev
  • Patent number: 7772117
    Abstract: Methods of fabricating highly conductive regions in semiconductor substrates for radio frequency applications are used to fabricate two structures: (1) a first structure includes porous Si (silicon) regions extending throughout the thickness of an Si substrate that allows for the subsequent formation of metallized posts and metallized moats in the porous regions; and (2) a second structure includes staggered deep V-grooves or trenches etched into an Si substrate, or some other semiconductor substrate, from the front and/or the back of the substrate, wherein these V-grooves and trenches are filled or coated with metal to form the metallized moats.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2010
    Assignee: The Regents of the University of California
    Inventors: King-Ning Tu, Ya-Hong Xie, Chang-Ching Yeh
  • Publication number: 20100181638
    Abstract: Provided is a method of fabricating a semiconductor device that includes providing a semiconductor substrate having a front side and a back side, forming a first circuit and a second circuit at the front side of the semiconductor substrate, bonding the front side of the semiconductor substrate to a carrier substrate, thinning the semiconductor substrate from the back side, and forming an trench from the back side to the front side of the semiconductor substrate to isolate the first circuit from the second circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 21, 2009
    Publication date: July 22, 2010
    Applicant: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Ching-Chun Wang, Tzu-Hsuan Hsu
  • Patent number: 7749861
    Abstract: According to the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing an SOI substrate based on a bonding method, comprising at least: forming a silicon oxide film on a surface of at least one of a single-crystal silicon substrate that becomes an SOI layer and a single-crystal silicon substrate that becomes a support substrate; bonding the single-crystal silicon substrate that becomes the SOI layer to the single-crystal silicon substrate that becomes the support substrate through the silicon oxide film; and performing a heat treatment for holding at a temperature falling within the range of at least 950° C. to 1100° C. and then carrying out a heat treatment at a temperature higher than 1100° C. when effecting a bonding heat treatment for increasing bonding strength.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2010
    Assignee: Shin-Etsu Handotai Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Takeno, Nobuhiko Noto
  • Patent number: 7750406
    Abstract: Design structure embodied in a machine readable medium for designing, manufacturing, or testing a design in which the design structure includes devices formed in a hybrid substrate characterized by semiconductor islands of different crystal orientations. An insulating layer divides the islands of at least one of the different crystal orientations into mutually aligned device and body regions. The body regions may be electrically floating relative to the device regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2010
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ethan Harrison Cannon, Toshiharu Furukawa, John Gerard Gaudiello, Mark Charles Hakey, Steven John Holmes, David Vaclav Horak, Charles William Koburger, III, Jack Allan Mandelman, William Robert Tonti
  • Patent number: 7741193
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure and a method of manufacturing a silicon on insulator (SOI) structure having a silicon germanium (SiGe) layer interposed between the silicon and the insulator. According to one manufacturing method, a first SiGe layer, a silicon layer, and a second SiGe layer are epitaxially grown in sequence over a first substrate, and then an insulating layer is formed on the second SiGe layer. Then, impurity ions are implanted into a predetermined location of the first substrate underlying the first SiGe layer to form an impurity implantation region. A second substrate is bonded to the insulating layer on the first substrate. After the first substrate is separated along the impurity implantation region and removed, the first SiGe layer remaining on the surface of the separated region is removed so that the surface of the silicon layer may be exposed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2010
    Assignees: Sumitomo Mitsubishi Silicon Corp., Jeagun Park
    Inventors: Jeagun Park, Kenji Tomizawa, Gonsub Lee, Eiji Kamiyama
  • Patent number: 7736988
    Abstract: A method for forming a relaxed or pseudo-relaxed useful layer on a substrate is described. The method includes growing a strained semiconductor layer on a donor substrate, bonding a receiver substrate to the strained semiconductor layer by a vitreous layer of a material that becomes viscous above a certain viscosity temperature to form a first structure. The method further includes detaching the donor substrate from the first structure to form a second structure comprising the receiver substrate, the vitreous layer, and the strained layer, and then heat treating the second structure at a temperature and time sufficient to relax strains in the strained semiconductor layer and to form a relaxed or pseudo-relaxed useful layer on the receiver substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2010
    Assignee: S.O.I.Tec Silicon on Insulator Technologies
    Inventors: Bruno Ghyselen, Carlos Mazure, Emmanuel Arene
  • Patent number: 7736994
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for manufacturing compound material wafers, in particular, silicon on insulator type wafers, by providing an initial donor substrate, forming an insulating layer over the initial donor substrate, forming a predetermined splitting area in the initial donor substrate, attaching the initial donor substrate onto a handle substrate and detaching the donor substrate at the predetermined splitting area, thereby transferring a layer of the initial donor substrate onto the handle substrate to form a compound material wafer. In order to be able to reuse the donor substrate more often, the invention proposes to carry out the thermal treatment step to form the insulating layer at a temperature of less than 950° C., in particular, less than 900° C., and preferably at 850° C. The invention also relates to a silicon on insulator type wafer manufactured according to the inventive method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2010
    Assignee: S.O.I.Tec Silicon on Insulator Technologies
    Inventors: Patrick Reynaud, Oleg Kononchuk, Michael Stinco
  • Patent number: 7736946
    Abstract: A method for assembling a hermetically sealed package to contain a MEMS die and the hermetically sealed package are presented. The method includes selectively applying a glass mixture to a dome. The dome is heated to a first temperature sufficient to flow the glass mixture. The dome is pressed into contact with a carrier containing the MEMS device, the pressing being maintained at a pressure and for a temporal interval sufficient to flow the glass mixture onto the carrier. The dome is cooled while maintaining contact with the carrier, to a second temperature sufficient to allow the glass mixture to harden into a glass frit thereby to seal the carrier to the dome. The glass frit has a seal width.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2010
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Bryan R. Seppala, Harlan L. Curtis, Jon B. DCamp, Richard K. Spielberger
  • Publication number: 20100144111
    Abstract: A process for producing an adhered SOI substrate without causing cracking and peeling of a single-crystal silicon thin film. The process consists of selectively forming a porous silicon layer in a single-crystal semiconductor substrate, adding hydrogen into the single-crystal semiconductor substrate to form a hydrogen-added layer, adhering the single-crystal semiconductor substrate to a supporting substrate, separating the single-crystal semiconductor substrate at the hydrogen-added layer by thermal annealing, performing thermal annealing again to stabilize the adhering interface, and selectively removing the porous silicon layer to give single-crystal silicon layer divided into islands.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 16, 2010
    Publication date: June 10, 2010
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Takeshi FUKUNAGA
  • Patent number: 7727854
    Abstract: An IC card is more expensive than a magnetic card, and an electronic tag is also more expensive as a substitute for bar codes. Therefore, the present invention provides an extremely thin integrated circuit that can be mass-produced at low cost unlike a chip of a conventional silicon wafer, and a manufacturing method thereof. One feature of the present invention is that a thin integrated circuit is formed by a formation method that can form a pattern selectively, on a glass substrate, a quartz substrate, a stainless substrate, a substrate made of synthetic resin having flexibility, such as acryl, or the like except for a bulk substrate. Further, another feature of the present invention is that an ID chip in which a thin film integrated circuit and an antenna according to the present invention are mounted is formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2010
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinji Maekawa, Gen Fujii, Junya Maruyama, Toru Takayama, Yumiko Fukumoto, Yasuyuki Arai
  • Patent number: 7727855
    Abstract: Methodologies associated with fabricating aligned nanowire lattices are described. One exemplary method embodiment includes providing a twist wafer bonded thin single crystal semiconductor film and a bulk single crystal substrate of the same material. Periodic non-uniform elastic strains present on the surface of the film control the positions where nanocrystals will form on the film. The strains may be removed via annealing and alloying after the formation of nanocrystal arrays.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2010
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Qingqiao Wei
  • Patent number: 7704765
    Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, capable of keeping a peeling layer from being peeled from a substrate in the phase before the completion of a semiconductor element and peeling a semiconductor element rapidly. It is considered that a peeling layer tends to be peeled from a substrate because the stress is applied to a peeling layer due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between a substrate and a peeling layer, or because the volume of a peeling layer is reduced and thus the stress is applied thereto by crystallization of the peeling layer due to heat treatment. Therefore, according to one feature of the invention, the adhesion of a substrate and a peeling layer is enhanced by forming an insulating film (buffer film) for relieving the stress on the peeling layer between the substrate and the peeling layer before forming the peeling layer over the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2010
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Junya Maruyama, Atsuo Isobe, Susumu Okazaki, Koichiro Tanaka, Yoshiaki Yamamoto, Koji Dairiki, Tomoko Tamura
  • Patent number: 7704852
    Abstract: The present invention provides an improved amorphization/templated recrystallization (ATR) method for fabricating low-defect-density hybrid orientation substrates. ATR methods for hybrid orientation substrate fabrication generally start with a Si layer having a first orientation bonded to a second Si layer or substrate having a second orientation. Selected regions of the first Si layer are amorphized and then recrystallized into the orientation of the second Si layer by using the second Si layer as a template. The process flow of the present invention solves two major difficulties not disclosed by prior art ATR methods: the creation of “corner defects” at the edges of amorphized Si regions bounded by trenches, and undesired orientation changes during a high temperature post-recrystallization defect-removal annealing of non-ATR'd regions not bounded by trenches.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2010
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Keith E. Fogel, Katherine L. Saenger, Chun-Yung Sung, Haizhou Yin
  • Patent number: 7696058
    Abstract: An object is to reduce occurrence of defective bonding between a base substrate and a semiconductor substrate even when a silicon nitride film or the like is used as a bonding layer. Another object is to provide a method for manufacturing an SOI substrate by which an increase in the number of steps can be suppressed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2010
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tetsuya Kakehata, Kazutaka Kuriki
  • Patent number: 7686912
    Abstract: A substrate bonding method for mutually bonding substrates, has a first radiation step for irradiating the surfaces of the individual substrates with an oxygen particle beam, a second radiation step for irradiating the surfaces of the individual substrate with a nitrogen particle beam simultaneously with or subsequently to the first radiation step, and a step for stacking the individual substrates and bringing the surfaces thereof into close contact. Particularly, the substrates which have been irradiated first with an oxygen plasma and subsequently with a nitrogen plasma are stacked and bonded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2010
    Assignees: Ayumi Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tadatomo Suga, Taehyun Kim, Tomoyuki Abe
  • Patent number: 7659191
    Abstract: A direct gold/silicon eutectic die bonding method is disclosed. The method includes the steps of gold plating a die bonding pad, grinding a wafer to a desired thickness, dicing the wafer after the grinding step, picking a die, and attaching the die to the die bonding pad at a temperature above the gold/silicon eutectic temperature. For thinner wafers, a dicing before grinding process is employed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2010
    Assignee: Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Incorporated
    Inventors: Kai Liu, Ming Sun
  • Patent number: 7645682
    Abstract: The invention relates to improvements in a method for molecularly bonding first and second substrates together by placing them in surface to surface contact. The improvement includes, prior to placing the substrates in contact, cleaning the surface of one or both of the substrates in a manner to provide a cleaned surface that is slightly roughened compared to a conventionally polished surface, and heating at least one or both of the substrates prior to placing the substrates in contact while retaining the heating at least until the substrates are in surface to surface contact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2010
    Assignee: S.O.I.Tec Silicon on Insulator Technologies
    Inventors: Sebastien Kerdiles, Willy Michel, Walter Schwarzenbach, Daniel Delprat
  • Patent number: 7638410
    Abstract: The transfer of strained semiconductor layers from one substrate to another substrate involves depositing a multilayer structure on a substrate having surface contaminants. An interface that includes the contaminants is formed in between the deposited layer and the substrate. Hydrogen atoms are introduced into the structure and allowed to diffuse to the interface. Afterward, the deposited multilayer structure is bonded to a second substrate and is separated away at the interface, which results in transferring a multilayer structure from one substrate to the other substrate. The multilayer structure includes at least one strained semiconductor layer and at least one strain-induced seed layer. The strain-induced seed layer can be optionally etched away after the layer transfer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2009
    Assignee: Los Alamos National Security, LLC
    Inventors: Michael A. Nastasi, Lin Shao
  • Patent number: 7638408
    Abstract: A plurality of rectangular single crystal semiconductor substrates are prepared. Each of the single crystal semiconductor substrates is doped with hydrogen ions and a damaged region is formed at a desired depth, and a bonding layer is formed on a surface thereof. The plurality of single crystal substrates with the damaged regions formed therein and the bonding layers formed thereover are arranged on a tray. Depression portions for holding the single crystal semiconductor substrates are formed in the tray. With the single crystal semiconductor substrates arranged on the tray, the plurality of single crystal semiconductor substrates with the damaged regions formed therein and the bonding layers formed thereover are bonded to a base substrate. By performing heat treatment and dividing the single crystal semiconductor substrates along the damaged regions, the plurality of single crystal semiconductor layers that are sliced are formed over the base substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2009
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Makoto Furuno
  • Patent number: 7635635
    Abstract: A method of bonding a semiconductor substrate to a metal substrate is disclosed. In some embodiments the method includes forming a semiconductor device in a semiconductor substrate, the semiconductor device comprising a first surface. The method further includes obtaining a metal substrate. The metal substrate is bonded to the first surface of the semiconductor device, wherein at least a portion of the metal substrate forms an electrical terminal for the semiconductor device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2009
    Assignee: Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Hamza Yilmaz, Qi Wang, Minhua Li, Chung-Lin Wu
  • Patent number: 7629666
    Abstract: A partially completed multi-layered substrate, e.g., silicon on silicon. The substrate has a thickness of material from a first substrate. The thickness of material comprises a first face region. The substrate has a second substrate having a second face region. Preferably, the first face region of the thickness of material is joined to the second face region of the second substrate. The substrate has an interface region formed between the first face region of the thickness of material and the second face region of the second substrate. A plurality of particles are implanted within a portion of the thickness of the material and a portion of the interface region to electrically couple a portion of the thickness of material to a portion of the second substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2009
    Assignee: Silicon Genesis Corporation
    Inventor: Francois J. Henley
  • Patent number: 7625809
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a substrate, and a semiconductor thin film bonded to the substrate, wherein the semiconductor thin film includes a plurality of discrete operating regions and an element isolating region which isolates the plurality of discrete operating regions, and the element isolating region is etched to a shallower depth than a thickness of the semiconductor thin film, and is a thinner region than the plurality of discrete operating regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2009
    Assignee: Oki Data Corporation
    Inventors: Takahito Suzuki, Hiroyuki Fujiwara
  • Publication number: 20090286379
    Abstract: In a method of manufacturing an imprint substrate, a concave pattern, which is recessed, is formed on a top surface of the mold substrate. A light blocking layer is formed on the concave pattern and the top surface of the mold substrate. After bonding an adhesive substrate to the mold substrate such that the adhesive substrate faces the mold substrate, the adhesive substrate is separated from the mold substrate, so that the light blocking layer on the top surface is removed from the mold substrate. An imprint substrate having the light blocking layer only on the concave pattern is formed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2008
    Publication date: November 19, 2009
    Inventor: Pil-Soon HONG
  • Patent number: 7615465
    Abstract: A method for fabricating a strained silicon film to a silicon on insulation (SOI) wafer. A layer of oxide is deposited onto a wafer that has a stack structure of a first base substrate, a layer of relaxed film and a second layer of strained film. The SOI wafer has a stack structure of a second base substrate and a layer of oxidized film. The SOI wafer is attached to the wafer and is heated at a first temperature. This causes a silicon dioxide (SiO2) dangling bond to form on the second base substrate of the SOI wafer, transferring the strained film from one wafer to the other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2009
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Brian S. Doyle, Brian E. Roberds
  • Patent number: 7611928
    Abstract: Substrate having a first partial substrate with a carrier layer and a second partial substrate, which is bonded to the first partial substrate. The second partial substrate has an insulator layer, which is applied on the carrier layer and has at least two regions each having a different thickness, thereby forming a stepped surface of the insulator layer, and a semiconductor layer, which is applied to the stepped surface of the insulator layer and is formed at least partially epitaxially, wherein the semiconductor layer has a planar surface which is opposite to the stepped surface of the insulator layer. Transistors are formed on the semiconductor layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2009
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Franz Hofmann, Richard Johannes Luyken, Wolfgang Roesner, Michael Specht, Martin Stadele
  • Publication number: 20090256206
    Abstract: According to one exemplary embodiment, a p-channel germanium on insulator (GOI) one transistor memory cell comprises a buried oxide (BOX) layer formed over a bulk substrate, and a gate formed over a gate dielectric layer situated over a germanium layer formed over the buried oxide (BOX) layer. A source region is formed in the germanium layer adjacent to a channel region underlying the gate and overlaying the BOX layer, and a drain region is formed in the germanium layer adjacent to the channel region. The source region and the drain region are implanted with a p-type dopant. In one embodiment, a p-channel GOI one transistor memory cell is implemented as a capacitorless dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cell. In one embodiment, a plurality of p-channel GOI one transistor memory cells are included in a memory array.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 10, 2008
    Publication date: October 15, 2009
    Applicant: Advanced micro devices, Inc.
    Inventor: Zoran Krivokapic
  • Patent number: 7598153
    Abstract: A method for fabricating bonded substrate structures, e.g., silicon on silicon. In a specific embodiment, the method includes providing a thickness of single crystal silicon material transferred from a first silicon substrate coupled to a second silicon substrate. In a specific embodiment, the second silicon substrate has a second surface region that is joined to a first surface region from the thickness of single crystal silicon material to form of an interface region having a first characteristic including a silicon oxide material between the thickness of single crystal silicon material and the second silicon substrate. The method includes subjecting the interface region to a thermal process to cause a change to the interface region from the first characteristic to a second characteristic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2009
    Assignee: Silicon Genesis Corporation
    Inventors: Francois J. Henley, James Andrew Sullivan, Sien Giok Kang, Philip James Ong, Harry Robert Kirk, David Jacy, Igor Malik
  • Patent number: 7592239
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a flexible single-crystal film and a method of manufacturing the same from a single-crystal wafer. That is, the present invention can manufacture a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer comprising a base wafer, one or more buried insulator layers, and a single-crystal layer into a flexible single-crystal film with a desired thickness by employing various wafer thinning techniques. The method for manufacturing a flexible film comprises the steps of (i) providing a SOI wafer comprising a base wafer, one or more buried insulator layers on the base wafer, and a single-crystal layer on said one or more buried insulator layers, (ii) forming one or more protective insulator layers on said single-crystal layer, (iii) removing said base wafer, and (iv) removing one or more of the insulator layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2009
    Assignee: Industry University Cooperation Foundation-Hanyang University
    Inventors: Jong-Wan Park, Jea-Gun Park
  • Patent number: 7588994
    Abstract: The benefits of strained semiconductors are combined with silicon-on-insulator approaches to substrate and device fabrication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2009
    Assignee: AmberWave Systems Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas A. Langdo, Matthew T. Currie, Richard Hammond, Anthony J. Lochtefeld, Eugene A. Fitzgerald
  • Patent number: 7585793
    Abstract: The invention provides methods for applying high temperature treatments to semiconductor wafers that limit surface tearing-off defects and surface particle contamination. In preferred embodiments, the high temperature treatments begin at boat-in temperatures of less than about 550° C. and include a first temperature ramp-up to the HT treatment temperatures at rates of 6° C./min or less. These methods are advantageously applied to semiconductor wafers comprising layers of different thermal properties, and in particular to semiconductor wafers comprising silicon-on-insulator structures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2009
    Assignee: S.O.I.Tec Silicon on Insulator Technologies
    Inventors: Christophe Maleville, Walter Schwarzenbach, Vivien Renauld
  • Patent number: 7579268
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing an integrated circuit including a first isolated chip electrically and mechanically connected via wafer bonding to a second isolated chip, wherein the active faces of the chips face one another, includes: forming metallic contact zones on active faces of first and second wafers, positioning and fixing the wafers one above another at a predetermined distance such that the active faces of the wafers face one another and the contact zones are aligned, placing the fixed wafers in a bath for electroless metal deposition onto the contact zones; and removing the fixed wafers in the event that the metal layers growing on the aligned contact zones of the first and second wafers have grown together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2009
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventor: Horst Theuss
  • Publication number: 20090181514
    Abstract: A heat treatment apparatus is disclosed, which enables suppression of a warp of a base substrate to which a plurality of single crystal semiconductor substrates are bonded. An example of the apparatus comprises a treatment chamber, a supporting base provided in the treatment chamber, a plurality of supports which are provided over the supporting base and are arranged to support the base substrate, and a heating unit for heating the base substrate, where each position of the plurality of supports can be changed over the supporting base. The use of this apparatus contributes to the reduction in the region where the base substrate and the supports are in contact with each other, which allows uniform heating of the base substrate, leading to the formation of an SOI substrate with high quality.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2009
    Publication date: July 16, 2009
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Shunpei YAMAZAKI