Mask and Bond Aligner

虽然用于固态照明的LED是最先进的，但人们对新型微型LED的兴趣与日俱增。半导体技术研究所是这一研究领域的领先大学机构之一。在这里，微LED模块是为纳米计量学和光子学中的应用而开发的，这是SMILE模块(SMILE=结构化微照明光引擎)的基础。潜在的应用领域包括基于芯片的超分辨显微镜、光遗传学、光学传感等许多领域。对于这项研究，横向图案化是一个基本的技术过程，必须以尽可能高的重复性每天重复进行。除了掩模对准器的曝光外，晶片键合变得越来越重要。只有通过混合键合不同的晶片，才能将不同的功能组合在一个模块中。这种混合键合工艺对microLED的研究至关重要，因为与cmos电子芯片的结合是实现大像素数的microLED阵列的唯一可行方法。为此，GaN微LED芯片和硅CMOS芯片必须通过混合键合技术进行连接。对于键合对准，两个晶片在压力和温度下对准和连接。新系统将同时包含掩模对准和焊接对准能力。此外，各种LED灯可以用来动态调节曝光强度，这样就可以避开超过120分钟的超长曝光时间，就像今天的情况一样。在这里，我们申请了一种掩模和键合对准的组合系统，这将是我们未来研究的核心技术步骤。该系统将把我们的光刻质量提升到一个新的水平，实现混合键合(目前还不存在)，并使我们能够与商业LED晶片保持兼容，这些晶片通常用作制造大像素microLED模块的基础材料。

While LEDs for Solid State Lighting are state-of-the-art, there evolves an enormous interest in novel microLEDs. The Institute of Semiconductor Technology is one of the leading university based institutes in this area of research. Here, microLED modules are developed for applications in nanometrology and photonics in general, which are the basis for SMILE modules (SMILE = structured micro illuminatoin light engines). Potential applications are in fields like chip-based superresoultion microscopy, optogenetics, optosensing and many other applications. For this research, lateral patterning is a fundamental technological process, which has to be repeated every day with highest possible reproducibility. Besides exposure by a Mask Aligner, the wafer bonding becomes more and more important. Only by hybrid bonding of different wafers, different fucntionality can be combined in one module. Such hybrid bonding processes are of utmost importance for microLED research, since the combination with CMOS electronic chips is the only viable realisation of microLED arrays with large pixel numbers. For that, GaN microLED chips and Silicon CMOS chips have to be connected by hybrid bonding technology. For the bond alignment, two wafers are aligned and connected under pressure and temperature. The new system will contain both mask alignment and bond alignment capability. In addition, various LED lamps can be used to dynamically tune the exposure intensity, in this way circumventing ultra-long exposure times of more than 120 min., as is the case today. Here, we apply for a combined system of mask and bond aligner, which will be a central technology step for our future reserach. The system will put our lithography quality onto a new level, enable hybrid bonding (not existing today), and give us the capability to stay compatible with commercial LED wafers, which are often used as a base material for the fabrication of microLED modules with large pixel numbers.