Doped Aluminum Oxide Bonding Layer for Hybrid Bonding

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025285856-A1
Application number	US-202418599819-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 8, 2024
Priority date	Mar 8, 2024
Publication date	Sep 11, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for processing a substrate for hybrid bonding that includes doping an aluminum oxide (Al2O3) layer prior to bonding of the substrate. A method may include forming an aluminum oxide layer with a metal dopant to form a doped aluminum oxide layer on the substrate where the doped aluminum oxide forms a bonding layer for a hybrid bonding process on an uppermost surface of the substrate. A metal contact is formed on the substrate that penetrates through the doped aluminum oxide layer and a chemical mechanical polish (CMP) process is performed to recess an uppermost surface of the metal contact below a surface of the doped aluminum oxide layer.

First claim

1 . A method for processing a substrate, comprising:
providing a first substrate for a hybrid bonding process; and forming, on the first substrate, a hybrid bonding layer that comprises:
a doped aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) layer; and
a metal contact penetrating through the doped aluminum oxide layer.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
hybrid bonding the first substrate to a second substrate via the hybrid bonding layer.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the doped aluminum oxide layer is doped with a metal dopant that has an atomic radius greater than an atomic radius of aluminum or oxygen.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein formation of the doped aluminum oxide layer includes depositing an aluminum oxide layer in conjunction with the metal dopant.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein aluminum oxide and the metal dopant are co-sputtered using a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process to form the doped aluminum oxide layer with the metal dopant interspersed throughout.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein aluminum oxide and the metal dopant are deposited using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process to form the doped aluminum oxide layer with the metal dopant interspersed throughout.

7 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the metal dopant is hafnium, zirconium, titanium, tungsten, or tantalum.

8 . The method of claim 3 , wherein an amount of the metal dopant in the doped aluminum oxide layer is selected based on a temperature of an annealing process to be performed after a bonding process.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the doped aluminum oxide layer is an aluminum oxide layer that is formed first on the first substrate followed by a formation of the metal contact on the first substrate which penetrates through the aluminum oxide layer and then doped with a metal dopant throughout.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein doping of the aluminum oxide layer is performed selectively only on the aluminum oxide layer.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein doping of the aluminum oxide layer is performed on the aluminum oxide layer and on the metal contact.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the doped aluminum oxide layer is approximately 30 nm to approximately 50 nm in thickness.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the doped aluminum oxide layer has a leakage current of less than approximately 2× a leakage current of aluminum oxide or silicon dioxide.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the doped aluminum oxide layer contains at least approximately 25% metal dopant.

15 . A substrate prepared for hybrid bonding, comprising:
a dielectric material; at least one metal contact; and a doped dielectric bonding layer surrounding the at least one metal contact, wherein an uppermost surface of the at least one metal contact is exposed through the doped dielectric bonding layer.

16 . The substrate of claim 15 , wherein the doped dielectric bonding layer is a doped aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) layer, wherein at least one of the at least one metal contact is copper, and wherein the doped aluminum oxide layer is doped with a metal dopant throughout.

17 . The substrate of claim 16 , wherein the metal dopant is hafnium, zirconium, titanium, tungsten, or tantalum.

18 . A device, comprising:
the substrate of claim 15 ; and another substrate that is hybrid bonded to the substrate via the doped dielectric bonding layer and the at least one metal contact.

19 . A non-transitory, computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a method for processing a substrate, the method comprising:
providing a substrate for a hybrid bonding process; and forming, on the substrate, a hybrid bonding layer that comprises:
a doped aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) layer; and
a metal contact penetrating through the doped aluminum oxide layer.

20 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the method further comprises (a), (b), (c), or (d):
a) wherein the doped aluminum oxide layer has a leakage current of less than approximately 2× a leakage current of aluminum oxide or silicon dioxide; b) wherein the doped aluminum oxide layer is doped with a metal dopant and wherein an amount of the metal dopant in the doped aluminum oxide layer is selected based on a temperature of an annealing process to be performed after a bonding process; c) wherein formation of the doped aluminum oxide layer includes depositing an aluminum oxide layer on the substrate and then doping the aluminum oxide layer with a metal dopant; or d) wherein formation of the doped aluminum oxide layer includes depositing an aluminum oxide layer in conjunction with a metal dopant.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Holt Joshua Stuart
• Gorchichko Mariia
• Kumar Archana
• Prakash Amit
• Jain Shubhendra Kumar
• Charles William Oghandi
• Quon Roger Allan
• Ley Ryan Thomas
• Weeks Stephen
• Briggs Benjamin D
• Jeon Yoocharn

Classifications

• H10P32/30

  Diffusion for doping of conductive or resistive layers · CPC title

• H10P14/69391 Primary

  the material containing aluminium, e.g. Al2O3 · CPC title

• C23C16/403

  of aluminium, magnesium or beryllium · CPC title

• C23C16/45525

  Atomic layer deposition [ALD] · CPC title

• H01L21/3215

  Electricity · mapped topic