Patent ID: 8387674

Claim:
A bonding apparatus, comprising: a cleaning module designed for cleaning chips, the cleaning module providing a cleaning gas without utilizing plasma for cleaning the chips by removing oxide from the chips and providing a protective gas without utilizing plasma for protecting the chips from oxidation occurring on the chips, the cleaning gas being different than the protective gas, the cleaning module including: a conveyor belt structurally configured to transport the chips through the cleaning module from a proximal end of the conveyor belt to a distal end of the conveyor belt; and a chemical supply structure structurally configured to provide the protective gas at the proximal end and the distal end of the conveyor belt and structurally configured to provide the cleaning gas adjacent the conveyor belt between the proximal and distal ends of the conveyor belt; and a chip-to-wafer bonding chamber configured to receive the chips from the cleaning module and designed for bonding the chips to a wafer.