Development of a unidirectional magnetic field-applied fast atom beam source for surface activated bonding

Abstract In surface activated bonding (SAB), the surfaces of the materials to be bonded are activated by fast atom beam (FAB) irradiation in a vacuum, and then brought into contact with each other to achieve room-temperature and low-pressure bonding. The conventional FAB source used for SAB, can be used for only a short time due to bonding failures caused by carbon particle adhesion to the bonding surface. Additionally, there has been a growing need in recent years for a FAB source that can irradiate a larger area. In this study, we developed a unidirectional magnetic field-applied FAB source that can solve these problems simultaneously. The motion of charged particles in the plasma is controlled by applying magnetic fields in a unidirectional manner to the FAB source, resulting in highly efficient Ar-FAB irradiation and a reduction in the wear of the inner carbon walls caused by Ar+ ion sputtering.