Strong and nearly void free bonding was achieved using direct bonding followed by microwave annealing. Silicon wafers were cleaned, O-2 plasma surface activated, and bonded at room temperature. After microwave annealing at 400 degrees C, the bond strength of hydrophilic wafers was found to be in the range between 0.2 and 1.6 J/m(2). Additional heating of bonded wafers was done at elevated temperatures and for prolonged times using either rapid thermal annealing or microwave annealing. In either case, additional annealing showed no impact on wafer separation area, void, or bond strength. Thus, the initial microwave anneal dictated the ultimate bond strength regardless of subsequent annealing method. The mechanism for wafers bonded in this work involved dipole-dipole bonding and, hydrogen bonding. The initial microwave anneals typically required times less than 60 min. As a result, microwave annealing was shown to be a promising low temperature alternative for wafer bonding when compared to the currently used mechanical furnace anneals. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.