Texture of Al films for wafer-level thermocompression bonding

Properties of aluminum thin films for thermocompression bonding have been studied in terms of surface roughness, grain size, and grain orientation by AFM, SEM, XRD and EBSD for thermocompression bonding. Al films were sputter deposited directly on Si and thermally oxidized Si wafers, respectively. The resulting Si/Al and Si/SiO2/Al sample types were compared after annealing (300–550 °C) in vacuum. The Si/SiO2/Al film samples showed higher surface roughness than the Si/Al samples. The as-deposited films had (111) preferred orientation, while (100) and (110) oriented Al grains were also present in Si/SiO2/Al samples. The Si/SiO2/Al samples and Si/Al sample annealed at 550 °C had a conical <111> texture. The observed evolution of the grain structure with annealing temperature is discussed in terms of native oxide, surface roughness, diffusivity and grain orientation dependent mechanical properties in order to shine light on previously observed differences in AlAl thermocompression wafer-level bonding with Si/SiO2/Al and Si/Al wafers.