METHODS FOR BONDING SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURES INVOLVING ANNEALING PROCESSES, AND BONDED SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURES AND INTERMEDIATE STRUCTURES FORMED USING SUCH METHODS

摘要

Methods of bonding together semiconductor structures include annealing metal of a feature on a semiconductor structure prior to directly bonding the feature to a metal feature of another semiconductor structure to form a bonded metal structure, and annealing the bonded metal structure after the bonding process. The thermal budget of the first annealing process may be at least as high as a thermal budget of a later annealing process. Additional methods involve forming a void in a metal feature, and annealing the metal feature to expand the metal of the feature into the void. Bonded semiconductor structures and intermediate structures are formed using such methods.