Through-silicon via (TSV) filling is indispensable for three-dimensional semiconductor packaging. Conventional processes rely on PVD (physical vapor deposition) or ALD (atomic layer deposition) seed layer deposition followed by copper electroplating, but these approaches face limitations in productivity and conformality. ALD and ELD (electroless deposition) have been investigated as seed-based approaches to overcome poor step coverage, while seedless strategies have also been proposed including additive-assisted electroplating, electroless alloy layers, metallic nanowires, and conductive pastes. These methods have demonstrated void-free or seam-free fills under specific conditions, yet challenges remain in achieving uniform superconformal filling across dense arrays, suppressing copper oxidation and interfacial contamination during rinsing/drying, and guaranteeing long-term reliability under thermomechanical cycling, electromigration, and humidity bias. In parallel, hybrid bonding has emerged as an alternative to thermo-compression bonding, where TSV filling performance, CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) planarization, and interface activation are crucial to reliable bonding. An integrated research approach incorporating both seed- and seedless-based TSV filling together with hybrid bonding provides a credible pathway to reliable three-dimensional stacking for high-bandwidth memory and artificial intelligence applications.
As increasing markets for Lithium‒ion battery (LiB), several environmental issues have attained great attention. Especially, the organic solvent N‒Methyl‒2‒Pyrrolidone (NMP), commonly used in the traditional slurry casting process for fabricating LiB electrodes, will be about to be regulated due to its toxicity and the environmental concerns. Therefore, the production of LiB electrodes by a dry process without using NMP organic solvents is of special interest nowadays. In the dry process, it is generally accepted that 1‒dimensional carbon materials like carbon nanotubes (CNT) are beneficial than conventional carbon conductor such as carbon blacks (CB). However, CB is inevitably included during the CNT production, simultaneously as an impurity. Refining CNT from CNT/CB mixture can cause another cost obviously. On the other hand, there have been limited information to study dispersion of carbon materials in electrode with respect to dispersion method and types of carbon conductor. Here, we systematically test the effect of dispersibility of carbon conductor in electrode according to dispersion method and type of carbon conductors. In addition, effect of CB amount in carbon conductor are also elucidated on manufacturing procedure, properties of electrode and their electrochemical performances.