A silicon germanium alloy is formed on sidewall surfaces of a silicon fin. An oxidation process or a thermal anneal is employed to convert a portion of the silicon fin into a silicon germanium alloy fin. In some embodiments, the silicon germanium alloy fin has a wide upper portion and a narrower lower portion. In such an embodiment, the wide upper portion has a greater germanium content than the narrower lower portion. In other embodiments, the silicon germanium alloy fin has a narrow upper portion and a wider lower portion. In this embodiment, the narrow upper portion of the silicon germanium alloy fin has a greater germanium content than the wider lower portion of the silicon germanium alloy fin.

The power on wafer assembly can include: a compliant connector, an integrated circuit, a printed circuit board (PCB), a power component, and a set of compliant connectors. The power on wafer assembly can optionally include: a compression element, a cooling system, a set of mechanical clamping components, and a power source. However, the power on wafer assembly can additionally or alternately include any other suitable components.

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe techniques for reducing in-plane distortion from wafer to wafer bonding using a dummy wafer. One embodiment is an apparatus formed using a dummy wafer, the apparatus comprising: a device layer fusion bonded to a first side of a carrier wafer, wherein the dummy wafer comprises a first wafer and the carrier wafer comprises a second wafer that is different than the first wafer; wherein the device layer comprise a portion of a third wafer that is different than the second wafer; and wherein a second opposite side of the carrier wafer includes: a removal process artifact, wherein a distortion signature present in the portion of the second wafer is indicative of the use of the dummy wafer fusion bonded to the second side of the carrier wafer, or a remainder of the dummy wafer. Other embodiments may be disclosed and/or claimed.

In one aspect, a method of forming a silicon-insulator layer is provided. The method includes arranging a silicon structure in a plasma etch process chamber and applying a plasma to the silicon structure in the plasma etch process chamber at a temperature of the silicon structure equal to or below 100° C. The plasma includes a component and a halogen derivate, thereby forming the silicon-insulator layer. The silicon-insulator layer includes silicon and the component. In another aspect, a semiconductor device is provided having a silicon-insulator layer formed by the method.

A device includes an interconnect structure over a substrate, multiple first conductive pads over and connected to the interconnect structure, a planarization stop layer extending over the sidewalls and top surfaces of the first conductive pads of the multiple first conductive pads, a surface dielectric layer extending over the planarization stop layer, and multiple first bonding pads within the surface dielectric layer and connected to the multiple first conductive pads.

Representative techniques provide process steps for forming a microelectronic assembly, including preparing microelectronic components such as dies, wafers, substrates, and the like, for bonding. One or more surfaces of the microelectronic components are formed and prepared as bonding surfaces. The microelectronic components are stacked and bonded without adhesive at the prepared bonding surfaces.

A manufacturing method for a bonded substrate that includes preparing a first substrate having a surface with a projected portion in a central region of the surface, preparing a second substrate, and bonding the first substrate and the second substrate using the projected portion as a bonding surface to be bonded to the second substrate.

The present disclosure describes a method that includes forming a first two-dimensional (2D) layer on a first substrate and attaching a second 2D layer to a carrier film. The method also includes bonding the second 2D layer to the first 2D layer to form a heterostack including the first and second 2D layers. The method further includes separating the first 2D layer of the heterostack from the first substrate and attaching the heterostack to a second substrate. The method further includes removing the carrier film from the second 2D layer.

A manufacturing method for manufacturing a stacked substrate by bonding two substrates includes: acquiring information about crystal structures of a plurality of substrates; and determining a combination of two substrates to be bonded to each other, based on the information about the crystal structures. In the manufacturing method described above, the information about the crystal structures may include at least one of plane orientations of bonding surfaces and crystal orientations in a direction in parallel with the bonding surfaces. In the manufacturing methods described above, the determining may include determining a combination of the two substrates with a misalignment amount after bonding being equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold.

An apparatus for wafer bonding includes a transfer module and a plasma module. The transfer module is configured to transfer a semiconductor wafer. The plasma module is configured to apply a first type of plasma to perform a reduction operation upon a surface of the semiconductor wafer at a temperature within a predetermined temperature range to convert metal oxides on the surface of the semiconductor wafer to metal, and apply a second type of plasma to perform a plasma operation upon the surface of the semiconductor wafer at a room temperature outside the predetermined temperature range to activate a surface of the semiconductor wafer.