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A steady-state wedge-opening test has been developed in order to measure the work ofseparation of bonded silicon wafers. Non-steady-state and steady-state measurements arecompared. Significant influence of i) the surface treatment, ii) the annealing time andtemperature and iii) the crack velocity on the toughness is observed and related to theinterface chemistry. A methodology based on the insertion of a thin plastically deforminglayer near the interface is proposed in order to extract the critical strength of the interface aswell as to increase the fracture toughness.