Relation between Electrical and Mechanical Characteristics of Low-Temperature Bonded Si/Si Interfaces

The bonding energy of low-temperature plasma bonded silicon-silicon interfaces is correlated with their electrical properties. From current versus voltage and capacitance versus voltage data, mobile ion charges are shown to play a considerable role for the bond force. By comparing the evolution of the bonding strength during the first 48 hours after bonding with that of ionic charge in the interlayer and interface electron state concentrations, we demonstrate a relation between these quantities for low temperature plasma bonded silicon surfaces. The results suggest that mobile ions in an interfacial layer change the charge distribution, resistance, capacitance, interface state density distributions and correlate with the bonding energy of the silicon-silicon junction