Effect of Al-Trace Width on the Electromigration Failure Time of Flip-Chip Solder Joints

The effect of Al-trace width on electromigration (EM) in flip-chip solder joints was investigated experimentally. EM tests were performed on eutectic Sn-Ag solders with 40-μm- and 100-μm-wide Al traces. Under the same stressing conditions (0.5 A at 165°C), the failure time was 44.1 h for solder joints with 40-μm-wide traces and 250.1 h for solder joints with 100-μm-wide traces. The Al-trace width influenced both the current crowding and the Joule heating effects. Thus, both effects are responsible for the significant difference in failure time. Finite-element analysis was used to examine the current crowding effect in solder bumps with Al traces of the two different widths. The results showed that the current crowding effect was slightly higher in joints with 40-μm-wide traces. In addition, the temperature coefficient was used to measure the real temperatures in the solder bumps during EM. The results indicated that the width of the Al traces had a substantial influence on the Joule heating effect. The measured temperature in the solder bump was 218.2°C and 172.2°C for the bump with 40-μm- and 100-μm-wide Al traces, respectively. This difference in the Joule heating effect plays a crucial role in causing the difference in the failure time of solder joints with the two different widths.     

Microstructure,shear strength,and nanoindentation property of electroplated Sn–Bi micro-bumps

In order to investigate the microstructure and mechanical properties of small sized Sn–Bi bump, the eutectic Sn–Bi bumps with a diameter of 25 μm and a height of less than 20 μm after reflow were fabricated by electroplating and reflow. The reflow temperature of the Sn–Bi bumps was 170 °C, and the reflow times were varied from 5 to 20 min. The experimental results showed that a eutectic Sn–Bi composition was obtained by plating at a current density of 30 mA/cm² for 15 min. The average height and diameter of the bumps reflowed for 5 min were 16.1 ± 0.7 μm and 25.2 ± 0.7 μm, respectively. The microstructure of the reflowed bumps consisted of Sn- and Bi-rich phases. The thickness of the IMC of Cu₆Sn₅ increased from 1.17 to 2.25 μm with increasing reflow time from 5 to 20 min. The shear strength of the reflowed Sn–Bi bump increased with increasing reflow time, and reached approximately 11 gf at 15 and 20 min. The elastic modulus and hardness of eutectic Sn–Bi bump by nanoindentation were 53.5 and 0.43 GPa. Those of Cu₆Sn₅ were found to be 121.1 and 6.67 GPa.     

Relieving Hot-Spot Temperature and Current Crowding Effects During Electromigration in Solder Bumps by Using Cu Columns

Solder joints with Cu columns appear to be one of the best structures to resist electromigration. Three-dimensional thermoelectrical analysis was employed to simulate the current density and temperature distributions for eutectic SnPb solder bumps with 0.5, 5, 25, 50, and 100 μm Cu under bump metallization (UBM). It was found that the hot spots and current crowding effects in the solder were reduced significantly when the Cu thickness was over 50 μm, whereas the overall Joule heating effect remained almost unchanged. The mechanism by which the Cu column is effective in relieving the hot spot and current crowding effects is to keep the solder away from the heat source and crowding region. Simulated at a current of 0.6 A and 70°C, the estimated mean time to failure of the joints with a 50-μm-thick Cu column was 6.7 times longer than that of joints with a 0.5-μm-thick Cu UBM.     

Electrothermal coupling analysis of current crowding and Joule heating in flip-chip packages

Solder bumps serve as electrical paths as well as structural support in a flip-chip package assembly. Owing to the differences of feature sizes and electric resistivities between a solder bump and its adjacent traces, current densities around the regions where traces connect the solder bump increase in a significant amount. This current crowding effect along with the induced Joule heating would accelerate fatigue failure due to electromigration. In this paper we apply the three-dimensional electrothermal coupling analysis to investigate current crowding and Joule heating in a flip-chip package assembly carrying different constant electric currents under different ambient temperatures. Experiments are conducted to calibrate temperature-dependent electric resistivities of solder alloy, Al trace, and Cu trace, and to verify the numerical model by comparing calculated and measured maximum temperatures on the die surface. Through the electrothermal coupling analysis, effects of current crowding and Joule heating induced by different solder bump structures are examined and compared.     

Golden bump for 20 micron diameter wire bond enhancement at reduced process temperature

With the rapid development of advanced microelectronic packaging technologies, research on fine-pitch wire bonding with improved reliability is driven by demands for smaller form factors and higher performance. In this study, thermosonic wire bonding process with a 20 μm wire for fine-pitch interconnection is described. To strengthen stitch bonds made in a gold-silver bonding system when the bonding temperature is as low as 150 °C, ball bumps (security bump) are placed on top of the stitch bonds. The ball-stitch bond and bump forming parameters are optimized using a design of experiment (DOE) method. A comparison of pull test results for stitch bonds with and without security bumps shows a substantial increase of the stitch pull force (PF) due to the use of security bonds. By varying the relative position of the security bumps to the stitch bonds via wedge shift offset (WSO), a WSO window ranging from 15 to 27 μm results in stitch PF higher than 7 gf, which is equivalent to an increase in average stitch PF of 118%.     

Temperature and current-density distributions in flip-chip solder joints with Cu traces

Three-dimensional simulation was performed to investigate the temperature and current density distribution in flip-chip solder joints with Cu traces during current stressing. It was found that the Cu traces can reduce the Joule heating effect significantly at high stressing currents. When the solder joints were stressed by 0.6 A, the average temperature increases in solder bumps with the Al traces was 26.7°C, and it was deceased to 18.7°C for the solder joint with the Cu traces. Hot spots exist in the solder near the entrance points of the Al or Cu traces. The temperature increases in the hot spot were 29.3°C and 20.6°C, for solder joints with the Al traces and Cu traces, respectively. As for current density distribution, the maximum current density inside the solder decreased slightly from 1.66×10⁵ A/cm² to 1.46×10⁵ A/cm² when the Al traces were replaced by the Cu traces. The solder joints with the Cu traces exhibited lower Joule heating and current crowding effects than those with the Al traces, which was mainly attributed to the lower electrical conductivity of the Cu traces. Therefore, the solder joints with the Cu traces are expected to have better electromigration resistance.     

A study in flip-chip UBM/bump reliability with effects of SnPb solder composition

This paper aims to investigate the electromigration phenomenon of under-bump-metallization (UBM) and solder bumps of a flip-chip package under high temperature operation life test (HTOL). UBM is a thin film Al/Ni(V)/Cu metal stack of 1.5 μm; while bump material consists of Sn/37Pb, Sn/90Pb, and Sn/95Pb solder. Current densities of 2500 and 5000 A/cm² and ambient temperatures of 150–160 °C are applied to study their impact on electromigration. It is observed that bump temperature has more significant influence than current density does to bump failures. Owing to its higher melting point characteristics and less content of Sn phase, Sn/95Pb solder bumps are observed to have 13-fold improvement in Mean-Time-To-Failure (MTTF) than that of eutectic Sn/37Pb. Individual bump resistance history is calculated to evaluate UBM/bump degradation. The measured resistance increase is from bumps with electrical current flowing upward into UBM/bump interface (cathode), while bumps having opposite current polarity cause only minor resistance change. The identified failure sites and modes from aforementioned high resistance bumps reveal structural damages at the region of UBM and UBM/bump interface in forms of solder cracking or delamination. Effects of current polarity and crowding are key factors to observed electromigration behavior of flip-chip packages.     

Calibration of electromigration reliability of flip-chip packages by electrothermal coupling analysis

Electromigration reliability of solder interconnects is dominated by current density and temperature inside the interconnects. For flip-chip packages, current densities around the regions where the traces connect a solder bump increase significantly due to the differences in feature sizes and electric resistivities between the solder bump and its adjacent traces. This current-crowding effect along with induced Joule heating accelerates electromigration failures. In this paper, the effects of current crowding and Joule heating in a flip-chip package are examined and quantified by three-dimensional electrothermal coupling analysis. We apply a volumetric averaging technique to cope with the current-crowding singularity. The volumetrically averaged current density and the maximum temperature in a solder bump are integrated into Black’s equation to calibrate the experimental electromigration fatigue lives. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Highly reliable, fine pitch chip on glass (COG) joints fabricated using Sn/Cu bumps and non-conductive adhesives

We have developed a reliable and ultra-fine pitch chip on glass (COG) bonding technique using Sn/Cu bumps and non-conductive adhesive (NCA). Sn/Cu bumps were formed by electroplating and reflowed, forming dome shaped Sn bumps on Cu columns. COG bonding was performed between the reflowed Sn/Cu bumps on the oxidized Si wafer and ITO/Au/Cu/Ti/glass substrate using a thermo-compression bonder. Three different NCAs were applied during bonding. Bonding temperature was 150 °C for NCA-A and NCA-B, and 110 °C for NCA-C. The electrical properties of COG joints were evaluated by measuring the contact resistance of each joint through the four-point probe method. All joints were successfully bonded and the electrical measurement showed that the average contact resistance of each joint was approximately 30 mΩ, regardless of NCA types. The COG joints were subjected to a series of reliability tests: high temperature storage test (85 °C, 160 h); thermal cycling test (−40 °C/+85 °C, 20 cycle); and a temperature and humidity test (50 °C/90%, 160 h) were sequentially performed to evaluate the reliability of the COG joints. The contact resistance measurement showed that there were no failed bumps in all specimens and all joints passed the criterion after reliability test.     

High density of electrodeposited Sn/Ag bumps for flip chip connection

As peripheral pads in commercial chips have a pitch in the neighbourhood of 40-50 μm, a technique that could deposit solder paste directly in such pitch would be of great interest to reduce the overall cost of flip chip.This paper describes a new technique that can considerably reduce the final pitch. The main new feature of this process is that the bump pads can be built directly onto the peripheral ones. An electroplating process allows solder bump formation with a final pitch goal of 40-50 μm and after an accurate reflow process, eutectic Sn-3.5 wt%Ag solder bumps are obtained. In fact, the typical re-routing process can be eliminated and the process cost considerably reduced.     

Effects of pre-bump probing and bumping processes on eutectic solder bump electromigration

This paper investigates the electromigration reliability of flip chip packages with and without pre-bump wafer probing via high temperature operation life test (HTOL) using printed and electroplated bumps. Under bump metallization (UBM) of printed and electroplated bumps is a thin film of Al/Ni(V)/Cu and Ti/Cu/Ni, respectively, while the bump material consists of eutectic Sn/Pb solder. Current densities from 7380 to 20 100 A/cm² and ambient temperatures at 100, 125 and 150 °C are applied in order to study their impact on electromigration. The results reveal that the bump temperature has a higher influence than the current density when it comes to bump failures. The observed interconnect damage is from bumps with electrical current flowing upward into the UBM/bump interface (cathode). Identified failure sites and modes reveal structural damage at the region of the UBM and UBM/bump interface, in the form of solder voiding and cracking. The effects of current polarity, current crowding, and operation temperature are key factors to electromigration failures of flip chip packaging. The maximum allowable current density of the electroplated bumps is superior to the printed bumps by a factor of 3.0–3.7 times. Besides, the median time to failure (MTTF) of without-underfill packaging is preferred to that of with-underfill packaging by 1.5–2.2 times. Furthermore, the differences in MTTF between pre-bump and without pre-bump probing procedures are 2.0–19.4% and 1.6–10.3% for printed and electroplated bumps, respectively.     

Joule Heating Enhanced Phase Coarsening in Sn37Pb and Sn3.5Ag0.5Cu Solder Joints during Current Stressing

This paper investigated the effect of Joule heating on the phase coarsening in Sn37Pb and Sn3.5Ag0.5Cu ball grid array (BGA) solder joints stressed at −5°C and 125°C with a 6.0 × 10² A/cm² electric current. The phase growth under current stressing was also compared with those under aging at 125°C. It was found that the current stressing produced a substantial Joule heating in the solder joints and conductive traces. Hence, the solder joints underwent a considerable temperature rise by 30–35°C when stressed at −5°C and 125°C in this study. Coarsening of Pb-rich and Ag-rich phases was confirmed to be accelerated by the current stressing as a result of enhanced diffusion at elevated temperature and atomic stimulation due to numerous collisions between electrons and atoms. Different controlling kinetics were suggested for the cases stressed or aged at different temperatures.     

Influence of crystallographic orientation of Sn-Ag-Cu on electromigration in flip-chip joint

The influence of the crystallographic orientation of Sn-3.0 wt%Ag-0.5 wt%Cu flip-chip joints and underfill on electromigration was investigated. The current density applied in our tests was 15 kA/cm² at 160 °C. Various times to failure of the test samples show a clear dependence of the electromigration behavior on the Sn grain orientations. Different microstructural evolutions were observed in all solder bumps in correlation with the crystallographic orientations of the Sn grains after an electromigration test. The primary failure of the solder joints was caused by dissolution of the Cu electrode at the cathode interface. Rapid dissolution of the Cu electrode occurred when the c-axis of the Sn grains was parallel to the direction of electron flow. On the other hand, slight dissolution of the Cu electrode was observed when the c-axis of the Sn grains was perpendicular to the direction of electron flow. Some grain boundaries interrupt the migration of Cu and the trapped Cu atoms form new grains of intermetallic compounds at the grain boundaries. In addition, underfill inhibits serious deformation of solder bumps during current stressing.     

Three-Dimensional Thermoelectrical Simulation in Flip-Chip Solder Joints with Thick Underbump Metallizations during Accelerated Electromigration Testing

In flip-chip solder joints, thick Cu and Ni films have been used as under bump metallization (UBM) for Pb-free solders. In addition, electromigration has become a crucial reliability concern for fine-pitch flip-chip solder joints. In this paper, the three-dimensional (3-D) finite element method was employed to simulate the current-density and temperature distributions for the eutectic SnPb solder joints with 5-μm Cu, 10-μm Cu, 25-μm Cu, and 25-μm Ni UBMs. It was found that the thicker the UBM is the lower the maximum current density inside the solder. The maximum current density is 4.37 × 10⁴ A/cm², 1.69 × 10⁴ A/cm², 7.54 × 10³ A/cm², and 1.34 × 10⁴ A/cm², respectively, when the solder joints with the above four UBMs are stressed by 0.567 A. The solder joints with thick UBMs can effectively relieve the current crowding effect inside the solder. In addition, the joint with the thicker Cu UBM has a lower Joule heating effect in the solder. The joint with the 25-μm Ni UBM has the highest Joule heating effect among the four models.     

Design of Solder Joint Structure for Flip Chip Package with an Optimized Shear Test Method

The structure of flip chip solder bumps was optimized in terms of shear height and shear speed using a shear test method with both experimental investigation and nonlinear, three-dimensional, finite element analysis being conducted. A representative, Pb-free solder composition, Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu, was used to optimize the shear test of the flip chip solder joints. Increasing the shear height, at a fixed shear speed, decreased the shear force, as did decreasing the shear speed, at a fixed shear height. These experimental and computational results supported the recommendation of low shear height and low shear speed condition for the shear testing of flip chip solder bumps. This optimized shear test method was applied to investigate the effect of various heights of mini bumps on the shear force of the solder joints. The shear force increased with increasing Ni-P mini bump height.     

Fabrication on uniform plating-based flip chip solder bumps after reflow process using a polishing mechanism

This paper presents an innovative polishing process aimed at leveling rough surface of plating-based flip chip solder bumps so as to get uniform coplanarity across the whole substrate after both electroplating and reflow processes. This polishing mechanism is characteristic of combining mechanical-dominated polishing force with slight chemical reaction together. A large number of extremely but inevitably rugged mushroom-like structures after electroplating are drastically smoothed down with the help of this newly-developed polishing process. Nearly 70 μm solder bumps in height with two different profiles as square and circle on the substrates reach as flatly as ±3 μm between different substrates after reflow process; ±2.5 μm in single substrate; and even ±1 μm in die, respectively. Besides, surface roughness among the solder bumps is simultaneously narrowed down from Ra 0.6 to Ra 0.03 along with the coplanarity improvement. Excellent uniformity and smooth surface roughness in solder bumps are absolutely beneficial to pile up and deposit in the following steps in MEMS and semiconductor fields.     

Electromigration in the Flip Chip Solder Joint of Sn-8Zn-3Bi on Copper Pads

Electromigration in Sn-8Zn-3Bi flip chip solder bumps on Cu pads has been studied at 120°C with an average current density of 4 × 10³ A/cm² and 4.5 × 10⁴ A/cm². Due to the polarity effect, the thickness of the intermetallic compound Cu-Zn (γ-phase) formed at the anode is much greater than that at the cathode. The solder joint fails after 117 h of stressing at 4.5 × 10⁴ A/cm², and void formation at the cathode can clearly be seen after polishing. However, it is the melting at the edge of the bump that causes the solder joint to fail. A simulation of the current density distribution indicates that the current density is not distributed uniformly, and current crowding occurs inside the bump. The results indicate that the increase of current density associated with Joule heating has affected melting and enhanced damage in the solder joint during electromigration.     

Electromigration on void formation of Sn3Ag1.5Cu FCBGA solder joints

The electromigration on void formation and failure mechanism of FCBGA packages under a current density of 1 × 10⁴ A/cm² and an environmental temperature of 150 °C was investigated. Two solder/substrate combinations of Sn3Ag1.5Cu with Cu-OSP and Cu/Ni/Au were examined. A conservative failure criterion was adopted to predict the failure of package, and SEM was used to observe in situ microstructural change and failure modes.Failure was mainly attributed to void occupation along UBM/solder interfaces by the side of cathode chip of bumps with downward electron flow. The current crowding was the cause for void initiation from the entrance corner of electron flow. Two specific void locations were identified at IMC/solder and UBM/IMC interfaces, and both can co-exist in the same specimen but in different bumps. No coupling mode of void was found. Since there is a discrepancy of diffusion rate between solder and IMC layers, current density results in more voids between them. A current density of 1 × 10⁴ A/cm² was found as a dominant factor that was high enough for void pattern at IMC/solder interface. However, the void formation at the UBM/IMC interface was generally induced by the UBM consumption due to the high temperature of 150 °C that dominates the void morphology crucially at UBM/IMC interface.     

Isothermal aging effects on the microstructure and solder bump shear strength of eutectic Sn37Pb and Sn3.5Ag solders

The reliability of the eutectic Sn37Pb (63%Sn37%Pb) and Sn3.5Ag (96.5%Sn3.5%Ag) solder bumps with an under bump metallization (UBM) consisting of an electroless Ni(P) plus a thin layer of Au was evaluated following isothermal aging at 150 °C. All the solder bumps remained intact after 1500 h aging at 150 °C. Solder bump microstructure evolution and interface structure change during isothermal aging were observed and correlated with the solder bump shear strength and failure modes. Cohesive solder failure was the only failure mode for the eutectic Sn37Pb solder bump, while partial cohesive solder failure and partial Ni(P) UBM/Al metallization interfacial delamination was the main failure mode for eutectic Sn3.5Ag solder bump.     

Interfacial reaction and joint reliability of fine-pitch flip-chip solder bump using stencil printing method

This study was focused on the formation and reliability evaluation of solder joints with different diameters and pitches for flip chip applications. We investigated the interfacial reaction and shear strength between two different solders (Sn-37Pb and Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu, in wt.%) and ENIG (Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold) UBM (Under Bump Metallurgy) during multiple reflow. Firstly, we formed the flip chip solder bumps on the Ti/Cu/ENIG metallized Si wafer using a stencil printing method. After reflow, the average solder bump diameters were about 130, 160 and 190 μm, respectively. After multiple reflows, Ni₃Sn₄ intermetallic compound (IMC) layer formed at the Sn-37Pb solder/ENIG UBM interface. On the other hand, in the case of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder, (Cu,Ni)₆Sn₅ and (Ni,Cu)₃Sn₄ IMCs were formed at the interface. The shear force of the Pb-free Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu flip chip solder bump was higher than that of the conventional Sn-37Pb flip chip solder bump.