Surface treatment for molecular bonding

1. A method of bonding a first substrate to a second substrate by molecular bonding by forming an insulating layer on the bonding face of the first substrate, applying chemical-mechanical polishing to an exposed surface of the insulating layer, etching the polished surface of the insulating layer to reduce or eliminate polishing defects, depositing an oxide layer on the etched surface of the insulating layer, activating a bonding surface of the second substrate by plasma treatment, and bonding together the two substrates together by molecular bonding of the oxide layer of the first substrate to the activated bonding surface of the second substrate, wherein the etching is conducted after the chemical-mechanical polishing and before the depositing of the oxide layer and the bonding to thus reduce or eliminate edge void defects that are generated due to polishing defects.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the activation of the second substrate bonding surface is achieved with a plasma treatment.

3. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises activating the etched surface of the insulating layer with a plasma treatment prior to bonding.

4. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises activating the exposed surface of the oxide layer with a plasma treatment prior to bonding.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, during the etching, a thickness of at least 20 Å of the insulating layer is removed.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein during the etching, a thickness of 100 Å to 300 Å of the insulating layer is removed.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the etching is performed with a solution of SC1 at a temperature of 70° C. for a duration of at least 5 minutes.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the etching is performed with a 1% solution of hydrofluoric acid at room temperature for a duration of less than 1 minute.

9. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises forming an oxide layer on the second substrate prior to activating and bonding.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first substrate includes components on at least a portion of its surface, and the insulating layer is formed by deposition.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the components include image sensors.

12. The method according to claim 10 , which further comprises conducting an annealing after bonding for strengthening the molecular bond between the substrates, wherein the annealing is performed at a temperature of less than 500° C.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first substrate comprises a silicon on insulator structure.

14. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises performing an edge roll-off step after bonding.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the oxide layer has a thickness of 500 Å to 1000 Å.