Lutz Hofmann

3D integration approaches for MEMS and CMOS sensors based on a Cu through-silicon-via technology and wafer level bonding

Technologies for the 3D integration are described within this paper with respect to devices that have to retain a specific minimum wafer thickness for handling purposes (CMOS) and integrity of mechanical elements (MEMS). This implies Through-Silicon Vias (TSVs) with large dimensions and high aspect ratios (HAR). Moreover, as a main objective, the aspired TSV technology had to be universal and scalable with the designated utilization in a MEMS/CMOS foundry. Two TSV approaches are investigated and discussed, in which the TSVs were fabricated either before or after wafer thinning. One distinctive feature is an incomplete TSV Cu-filling, which avoids long processing and complex process control, while minimizing the thermomechanical stress between Cu and Si and related adverse effects in the device. However, the incomplete filling also includes various challenges regarding process integration. A method based on pattern plating is described, in which TSVs are metalized at the same time as the redistribution layer and which eliminates the need for additional planarization and patterning steps. For MEMS, the realization of a protective hermetically sealed capping is crucial, which is addressed in this paper by glass frit wafer level bonding and is discussed for hermetic sealing of MEMS inertial sensors. The TSV based 3D integration technologies are demonstrated on CMOS like test vehicle and on a MEMS device fabricated in Air Gap Insulated Microstructure (AIM) technology.

Nanofabrication of reactive structure for low temperature bonding

Microsystems that are used for medical application mostly consist of temperature sensible components. Therefore the temperatures during the fabrication process must be limited. This paper deals with the fabrication of reactive nanostructures that have the capability to be used as local heat source and thus can be used for processes during the fabrication of temperature sensible systems. Hereby, heat is produced during a self propagating exothermal reaction of two different materials that are present in a multilayered system of horizontal or vertical arranged material films in nanoscale dimensions. In this paper the principle of the self propagating reaction of those reactive systems as well as their fabrication is shown.

Thermal ALD of Cu via reduction of Cu x O films for the advanced metallization in spintronic and ULSI interconnect systems

In this work, an approach for copper atomic layer deposition (ALD) via reduction of CuxO films was investigated regarding applications in ULSI interconnects, like Cu seed layers directly grown on diffusion barriers (e. g. TaN) or possible liner materials (e. g. Ru or Ni) as well as non-ferromagnetic spacer layers between ferromagnetic films in GMR sensor elements, like Ni or Co. The thermal CuxO ALD process is based on the Cu (I) β-diketonate precursor [(nBu3P)2Cu(acac)] and a mixture of water vapor and oxygen (“wet O2”) as co-reactant at temperatures between 100 and 130 °C. Highly efficient conversions of the CuxO to metallic Cu films are realized by a vapor phase treatment with formic acid (HCOOH), especially on Ru substrates. Electrochemical deposition (ECD) experiments on Cu ALD seed / Ru liner stacks in typical interconnect patterns are showing nearly perfectly filling behavior. For improving the HCOOH reduction on arbitrary substrates, a catalytic amount of Ru was successful introduced into the CuxO films during the ALD with a precursor mixture of the Cu (I) β-diketonate and an organometallic Ru precursor. Furthermore, molecular and atomic hydrogen were studied as promising alternative reducing agents.

4-ary PAM Signaling for increasing the Capacity of Metro Light-wave Systems

We investigated both experimentally and by simulation, non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (RZ) 4-ary PAM operating at 20 Gb/s. A simple scheme to realize the quadratic signal leveling by suitably driving a MZ modulator is proposed, which provides greater than 6 dB improvement in receiver sensitivity as compared to equal level spacing. We experimentally demonstrated NRZ and RZ 10 Gbaud/s 4-ARY PAM transmissions over an 80 km standard single mode fiber (SSMF) link as a proof of concept and more detailed experimental results over longer reach will follow. Numerical simulations for the 4-ary PAM performance over longer distances (>200 km) are also presented.

Mode polarization partition noise in multimode short-wavelength VCSELs

Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) designed for 10 G Ethernet over 300 m graded index multimode fiber in general have optical aperture diameters of 7 to 10 μm; cavities of these sizes support multiple transverse modes. The circularly symmetric structures are assumed to have no polarization selection, however, we show that orthogonally polarized lasing modes are often present and cause polarization partition noise which degrades the link bit error rate (BER). When a polarization selector was used in the link to allow only one polarization, the BER improved by two-order of magnitude even with the loss of more than 32 percent of the VCSEL average emitted power.