Silane coupling agent for semiconductor manufacturing

Silane coupling agents (SCAs) have evolved from conventional adhesion promoters into multifunctional interfacial materials essential for semiconductor packaging reliability. As device miniaturization, heterogeneous integration, and advanced packaging technologies intensify interfacial challenges, SCAs increasingly contribute to moisture resistance, stress mitigation, electrical performance, and thermal stability. This review examines six decades of SCA development, from composite reinforcement to applications in 2.5D/3D integration, fan‐out packaging, and high‐frequency electronics. Interfacial bonding mechanisms, deposition methods, characterization techniques, and reliability considerations are systematically discussed within front‐end‐of‐line (FEOL) and back‐end‐of‐line (BEOL) processes. Conventional organosilanes, including APTES and GLYMO, are compared with emerging alternatives such as dipodal silanes, cyclic azasilanes, phosphonic acids, imidazole‐based primers, and self‐healing and bio‐derived silanes. Key scientific debates concerning interphase architecture, molecular chain length, hydrolytic stability, and amine orientation are critically evaluated. Advances in vapor‐phase deposition, molecular layer deposition, molecular dynamics simulations, and machine learning are highlighted, particularly emerging relationships between amine protonation states and highly accelerated stress test (HAST) reliability. Remaining challenges include high‐frequency dielectric compatibility and discrepancies between laboratory measurements and actual packaging conditions. Future advances will require precise molecular‐level engineering of interfacial architectures rather than developing generic coupling agents to satisfy increasingly demanding semiconductor reliability requirements.