Room-Temperature Gold-Gold Bonding Method Based on Argon and Hydrogen Gas Mixture Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma Treatment for Optoelectronic Device Integration

Low-temperature bonding methods of optoelectronic chips, such as laser diodes (LD) and photodiode (PD) chips, have been the focus of much interest to develop highly functional and compact optoelectronic devices, such as microsensors and communication modules. In this paper, room-temperature bonding of the optoelectronic chips with Au thin film to coined Au stud bumps with smooth surfaces (R-a: 1.3 nm) using argon and hydrogen gas mixture atmospheric-pressure plasma was demonstrated in ambient air. The die-shear strength was high enough to exceed the strength requirement of MIL-STD-883F, method 2019 (x2). The measured results of the light-current-voltage characteristics of the LD chips and the dark current-voltage characteristics of the PD chips indicated no degradation after bonding.