A novel wafer -level test method to measure the bond strength in microelectronic materials

The bond strength between different layers is of great importance in microelectronics, in order to assess the robustness of the structures. Yet, this quantity is difficult to measure reliably and quickly; standard characterization methods for macroscopic structures have been adapted to the sizes and thicknesses typical of microelectronics, but the results are very sensitive to inaccuracies in the experimental set-up and to pre-existing defects. Starting from the established tests, we derived a test method suitable for routine measurements in production, for which no dedicated equipment is needed.