Eastman-kodak Company

Ronald M Gluck

Gilbert Allan Hawkins

Madhav Mehra

Edmund Kenneth Banghart

David P Hamblen

Paul L Roselle

A method of making a backside illuminated image includes forming a device on the frontside of thin device layer provided on an oxide layer which is mounted on a sacrificial substrate and bonding the front side of the device layer to a permanent silicon support substrate. Thereafter, the oxide layer and sacrificial layer are removed by chemical etching to expose the backside of the thin device layer.

Method of making backside illuminated image sensors

A process for supporting an image sensor wafer includes providing a support oxide layer on one surface of a support wafer and an etch resistant layer on the opposite surface. The support oxide layer is bonded to the image sensor oxide layer.

Thinning of imaging device processed wafers

A process for making a backside illuminated image sensor fabricated upon a thinned silicon layer bonded to a quartz wafer is described. A borosilicate glass (BSG) layer interposed between the thinned silicon device layer and quartz support serves as a doping source for the back-surface accumulating electrostatic potential and serves to minimize stress associated with the thermal expansion differences associated with quartz and silicon.

Process for making backside illuminated image sensors

A method for cleaning metallic impurities from a silicon surface of a semiconductor device is described. The first method includes, in sequence, the steps of:

Gaseous cleaning method for silicon devices

A method for cleaning the surface of a silicon semiconductor device comprising the steps of: (a) exposing, for a first time, said device for a predetermined time period to an anhydrous cleaning gas mixture containing nitric oxide and hydrogen chloride together with an inert carrier gas; and (b) exposing, for a second time, said device for a predetermined second time period to a gaseous plasma formed of CF.sub.4, H.sub.2 and N.sub.2 at RF power.

A procedure for cleaning a semiconductor material of impurities which reside on the surface of the material is disclosed. The procedure is indicated for use prior to one or more thermal processing steps for the material, and involves the exposure of the material to a cleaning gas comprised of nitric oxide and, in a presently preferred form, of anhydrous hydrochloric acid as well.

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Rochester, NY, United States of America

Ronald M Gluck