Design and implementation of a novel conical electrode for fast anodic bonding

Anodic bonding is a frequently used nonintermediate wafer-bonding technique for use in MEMS. However, it has a minimum bonding time for a 4 in silicon/glass wafer that is generally limited to the order of several minutes because of the gas-trapping problem that occurs in the bonded interface when a conventional bonding electrode is used. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a novel conical bonding electrode, which shortens the bonding time and solves the gas-trapping problem of the bonded interface. The 4 in silicon/glass wafers fitted with the proposed electrode exhibited a bonding ratio of 99.89% and an average bonding strength of around 15 MPa, which was attained within 15 s, at a bonding voltage of 900 V and a bonding temperature of 400°C. A comprehensive series of experiments was performed to validate the excellent bonding performance of the proposed conical electrode.