Hydrophobic direct bonding of silicon reconstructed surfaces

The bonding of hydrophobic, reconstructed (001) Si surfaces obtained with high temperature H2 processes has been studied with atomic force microscopy, low energy electron diffraction spectroscopy, X-ray reflectivity and bonding energy measurements. Surface reconstruction is shown to strongly affect bonding mechanisms. As a consequence, bonding energies of such surfaces are significantly higher, in the room temperature −500 °C range, than those of “HF-last” surfaces.