9529616 Farmer This proposal describes research and the need for specialized equipment in the area of bonding ultra-thin silicon wafers (as thin as 2 micrometers) to virgin and oxidized silicon substrates. The integrity of the bonded interface is of paramount importance in understanding the fundamental issues of reliability and failure mechanisms. The quality of the interface will be examined with an IR microscope to determine the effects of annealing temperature and surface roughness. The fields of application for this technology include Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), Silicon on Insulator (SOI) and Silicon (SOS). ***
