A multi-level semiconductor device, the device including: a first level including integrated circuits; a second level including a structure designed to conduct electromagnetic waves, where the second level is disposed above the first level, where the first level includes crystalline silicon, where the second level includes crystalline silicon; an oxide layer disposed between the first level and the second level; and a plurality of electromagnetic modulators, where the second level is bonded to the oxide layer, and where the bonded includes oxide to oxide bonds.

A method for producing a 3D memory device, the method comprising: providing a first level comprising a first single crystal layer; forming first alignment marks and control circuits comprising first single crystal transistors, wherein said control circuits comprise at least two metal layers; forming at least one second level above said control circuits; performing a first etch step within said second level; forming at least one third level above said at least one second level; performing a second etch step within said third level; and performing additional processing steps to form a plurality of first memory cells within said second level and a plurality of second memory cells within said third level, wherein said first etch step comprises performing a lithography step aligned to said first alignment marks.

Examples described herein provide a method for reducing warpage when stacking semiconductor substrates. In an example, a first substrate is bonded with a second substrate to form a stack. The first substrate comprises a first semiconductor substrate, and the second substrate comprises a second semiconductor substrate. The second semiconductor substrate is thinned, and a first trench is etched into a backside of the thinned second semiconductor substrate. A first stressed material is deposited into the first trench.

A method for bonding a first substrate to a second substrate, the first substrate including, prior to bonding, a support layer, the method including removing the support layer to free a first surface substrate, thereby forming an elastic nanotopology on the first surface; stripping the first surface with rare gas atoms or depositing a thin film of metal or semiconductor onto the first surface; thermocompression bonding the first substrate to the second substrate, the contact between the first substrate and the second substrate being made at the first surface and a second surface of the second substrate, this bonding being carried out using an atomic diffusion bonding technique or a surface activation bonding technique. The stripping or deposition and the bonding step are performed under ultra-high vacuum. The pressure is between 1 and 100 kN and the temperature is between 200° C. and 600° C. in the thermocompression bonding.

A method for bonding a contact surface of a first substrate to a contact surface of a second substrate comprising of the steps of: positioning the first substrate on a first receiving surface of a first receiving apparatus and positioning the second substrate on a second receiving surface of a second receiving apparatus; establishing contact of the contact surfaces at a bond initiation site; and bonding the first substrate to the second substrate along a bonding wave which is travelling from the bond initiation site to the side edges of the substrates, wherein the first substrate and/or the second substrate is/are deformed for alignment of the contact surfaces.

A method for surface treatment of an at least primarily crystalline substrate surface of a substrate such that by amorphization of the substrate surface, an amorphous layer is formed at the substrate surface with a thickness d>0 nm of the amorphous layer. This invention also relates to a corresponding device for surface treatment of substrates.

The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor device, a manufacturing method, an imaging element, and an electronic device capable of reducing manufacturing steps in a stacked structure obtained by stacking two or more semiconductor substrates. The semiconductor device has a stacked structure obtained by stacking at least a first semiconductor substrate in which a first wiring layer is stacked on a first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor substrate in which a second wiring layer is stacked on a second semiconductor layer. Then, a through via which electrically connects the first semiconductor substrate and the second semiconductor substrate to each other and penetrates at least the first semiconductor layer is formed in an embedded oxide film formed when element isolation of a semiconductor element formed in the first semiconductor layer is performed. The present technology is applicable to, for example, a stacked semiconductor device.

Embodiments of semiconductor devices and fabrication methods thereof are disclosed. In an example, a method for forming a semiconductor device is disclosed. First semiconductor structures are formed on a first wafer. At least one of the first semiconductor structures includes a processor and a first bonding layer including first bonding contacts. Second semiconductor structures are formed on a second wafer. At least one of the second semiconductor structures includes an array of SRAM cells and a second bonding layer including second bonding contacts. The first wafer and the second wafer are bonded in a face-to-face manner, such that the at least one of the first semiconductor structures is bonded to the at least one of the second semiconductor structures. The first bonding contacts of the first semiconductor structure are in contact with the second bonding contacts of the second semiconductor structure at a bonding interface. The bonded first and second wafers are diced into dies. At least one of the dies includes the bonded first and second semiconductor structures.

A bonding apparatus configured to bond substrates includes a first holder configured to vacuum-exhaust a first substrate to attract and hold the first substrate on a bottom surface thereof; a second holder disposed under the first holder, and configured to vacuum-exhaust a second substrate to attract and hold the second substrate on a top surface thereof; a mover configured to move the first holder and the second holder relatively in a horizontal direction; a laser interferometer system configured to measure a position of the first holder or the second holder which is moved by the mover; a linear scale configured to measure a position of the mover; and a controller configured to control the mover based on a measurement result of the laser interferometer system and a measurement result of the liner scale.

A method for bonding a first substrate with a second substrate at respective contact faces of the substrates with the following steps: holding the first substrate to a first sample holder surface of a first sample holder with a holding force F.sub.H1 and holding the second substrate to a second sample holder surface of a second sample holder with a holding force F.sub.H2; contacting the contact faces at a bond initiation point and heating at least the second sample holder surface to a heating temperature T.sub.H; bonding of the first substrate with the second substrate along a bonding wave running from the bond initiation point to the side edges of the substrates, wherein the heating temperature T.sub.H is reduced at the second sample holder surface during the bonding.