Surface tension-driven chip self-assembly with load-free hydrogen fluoride-assisted direct bonding at room temperature for three-dimensional integrated circuits

We have demonstrated fluidic chip self-assembly on Si wafers for fabricating three-dimensional integrated circuits. In this self-assembly technique, small droplets of hydrofluoric acid were employed to simultaneously align many millimeter-scale chips and directly bond them to the hydrophilic bonding areas formed on the host wafers by oxide-oxide bonding. The liquid surface tension enables many Si chips to be self-assembled with the highest alignment accuracy of 50 nm. In addition, many chips were tightly bonded to the hydrophilic bonding areas without applying a mechanical force after the liquid was evaporated at room temperature.