Disclosed herein are methods for direct bonding. In some embodiments, a direct bonding method comprises preparing a first bonding surface of a first element for direct bonding to a second bonding surface of a second element; and after the preparing, providing a protective layer over the prepared first bonding surface of the first element, the protective layer having a thickness less than 3 microns.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a cell chip including a first substrate, a source layer on the first substrate, a stacked structure on the source layer, and a channel layer passing through the stacked structure and coupled to the source layer, flipping the cell chip, exposing a rear surface of the source layer by removing the first substrate from the cell chip, performing surface treatment on the rear surface of the source layer to reduce a resistance of the source layer, forming a peripheral circuit chip including a second substrate and a circuit on the second substrate, and bonding the cell chip including the source layer with a reduced resistance to the peripheral circuit chip.

A method for forming a direct hybrid bond and a device resulting from a direct hybrid bond including a first substrate having a first set of metallic bonding pads, preferably connected to a device or circuit, capped by a conductive barrier, and having a first non-metallic region adjacent to the metallic bonding pads on the first substrate, a second substrate having a second set of metallic bonding pads capped by a second conductive barrier, aligned with the first set of metallic bonding pads, preferably connected to a device or circuit, and having a second non-metallic region adjacent to the metallic bonding pads on the second substrate, and a contact-bonded interface between the first and second set of metallic bonding pads capped by conductive barriers formed by contact bonding of the first non-metallic region to the second non-metallic region.

According to embodiments of the present invention, there are provided a polishing pad and a process for preparing a semiconductor device using the polishing pad. The polishing pad comprises a polishing layer having a polishing selectivity within a predetermined range depending on the coefficient of thermal expansion of an object to be polished. The dishing of the semiconductor substrate is controlled during the polishing process, whereby surface defects and bonding failures of semiconductor devices can be reduced.

Disclosed herein are methods for direct bonding. In some embodiments, the direct bonding method includes providing a first element having a first bonding surface, providing a second element having a second bonding surface, slightly etching the first bonding surface, treating the first bonding surface with a terminating liquid treatment to terminate the first bonding surface with a terminating species, and directly bonding the first bonding surface to the second bonding surface without the use of an intervening adhesive and without exposing the first bonding surface to plasma.