Delphi Technologies, Inc.

Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Hughes Electronics Corporation

Delco Electronics Corporation

Larry Lee Jordan

Ruth Ellen Beni

Douglas A Knapp

Douglas Ray Sparks

Shing Yeh

Richard W Dost

Anthony Alan Duffer

James L Hudson

Harold M Olsen

Leslie A Momoda

A method of glass frit bonding wafers to form a package, in which the width of the glass bond line between the wafers is minimized to reduce package size. The method entails the use of a glass frit material containing a particulate filler material that establishes the stand-off distance between wafers, instead of relying on discrete structural features on one of the wafers dedicated to this function. In addition, the amount of glass frit material used to form the glass bond line between wafers is reduced to such levels as to reduce the width of the glass bond line, allowing the overall size of the package to be minimized. To accommodate the variability associated with screening processes when low volume lines of paste are printed, the invention further entails the use of storage regions defined by walls adjacent the glass bond line to accommodate excess glass frit material without significantly increasing the width of the bond line. The storage regions also ensure adequate flow of glass frit material around electrical runners that cross the glass bond line, as well as into any isolation trenches surrounding the runners.

Glass frit wafer bonding process and packages formed thereby

A method by which semiconductor wafers (10, 12) can be solder bonded to form a semiconductor device, such as a sensor with a micromachined structure (14). The method entails forming a solderable ring (18) on the mating surface of a device wafer (10), such that the solderable ring (18) circumscribes the micromachine (14) on the wafer (10). A solderable layer (20, 26, 28) is formed on a capping wafer (12), such that at least the mating surface (24) of the capping wafer (12) is entirely covered by the solderable layer (20, 26, 28). The solderable layer (20, 26, 28) can be formed by etching the mating surface (24) of the capping wafer (12) to form a recess (16) circumscribed by the mating surface (24), and then forming the solderable layer (26) to cover the mating surface (24) and the recess (16) of the capping wafer (12). Alternatively, the solderable layer (28) can be formed by depositing a solderable material to cover the entire lower surface of the capping wafer (12), patterning the resulting solderable layer (28) to form an etch mask on the capping wafer (12), and then to form the recess (16), such that the solderable layer (28) covers the mating surface (24) but not the surfaces of the recess (16).

Process for bonding micromachined wafers using solder

A method of bonding two electrically conductive substrates together includes the steps of forming a dielectric layer between the substrates, with the layer being formed from a sol-gel solution. Through the application of a constant voltage an ionic depletion region is created in the dielectric layer. After the step of creating the ionic depletion region, the dielectric layer and substrates are heated such that an oxygen depletion region is created in one of the substrates. The sol-gel solution includes sodium aluminoborosilicate having about 75-90 mol % SiO.sub.2, about 5-20 mol % B.sub.2 O.sub.3, about 1-10 mol % Na.sub.2 O and about 0-5 mol % Al.sub.2 O.sub.3.

Sol-gel bonding solution for anodic bonding

An alignment assembly for masking and a process for depositing a metallic coating on selected areas on the back side of a semiconductor wafer. The assembly and process involves a distinctive alignment chuck having a pattern of grooves therein and a mask aligned with the chuck. In the method, a photomask for the back side of the wafer is aligned with the grooves in the chuck, a wafer nested face down in the chuck, and the mask moved into contact with the back side of the wafer. The front side of the wafer has a pattern of ridges that nest in the chuck grooves to align the wafer in the chuck. A photoresist layer on the back side of the wafer is subjected to an ultraviolet light through the photomask. Unexposed areas of photoresist are removed to expose selected areas on the back side of the wafer on which a metallic coating can be deposited.

Positive selective nickel alignment system

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Kokomo, IN, United States of America

Larry Lee Jordan