Copper Wire Bonding Concerns and Best Practices

Copper wire bonding of microelectronic parts has developed as a means to cut the costs of using the more mature technology of gold wire bonding. However, with this new technology, changes in the bonding processes as well as bonding metallurgy can affect product reliability. This paper discusses the challenges associated with copper wire bonding and the solutions that the industry has been implementing. The paper also provides information to enable customers to conduct qualification and reliability tests on microelectronic packages to facilitate adoption in their target applications.     

浅谈镀钯铜线的特性

随着金线价格一路上涨并创下历史新高,大型封装厂正在加大对铜线制程的投入。通过封装厂多年的摸索,发现镀钯铜线是金线很好的替代品。文章分析了镀钯铜线作为键合线材料本身的基本性质,镀钯铜线引线键合的特征和镀钯铜线PCT实验的可靠性。通过分析发现镀钯铜线材料本身有优良的导电和导热特性,同时还有很好的抗氧化性。镀钯铜线在键合过程中需要保护气体的保护,通过硬度实验发现镀钯铜线的硬度较大,因此需要在键合过程中防止弹坑的出现。通过PCT实验证实镀钯铜线具有较好的可靠性。     

Challenges and developments of copper wire bonding technology

Copper wire bonding has been studied for more than two decades. While copper wire bonding has many advantages over gold wire bonding, many challenges have to be solved to meet its application requirements. This paper presents the measures to overcome Cu oxidation, the optimization of bonding parameters and the improvement in capillary design. The reliability mechanism of copper wire bonding is described from the standpoints of IMC growth, pad Al squeeze and the ability of wire looping. The challenges of copper wire bonding on low-k wafers and some solutions are also briefly introduced.     

Nickel-palladium bond pads for copper wire bonding

The semiconductor packaging industry is undergoing a step-change transition from gold to copper wire bonding brought on by a quadrupling of gold cost over the last 8 years. The transition has been exceptionally rapid over the last 3 years and virtually all companies in the industry now have significant copper wire bonding production. Among the challenges to copper wire bonding is the damage to bond pads that had been engineered for wire bonding with the softer gold wire. This paper presents an extensive evaluation of electroless NiPd and NiPdAu bond pads that offer a much more robust alternative to the standard Al pad finish. These NiPd(Au) bond are shown to outperform Al in virtually all respects: bond strength, bond parameter window, lack of pad damage and reliability.     

微电子器件封装铜线键合可行性分析

虽然在集成电路封装工艺中金导线键合是主流制程,但是目前采用铜导线替代金导线键合已经在半导体封装领域形成重要研究趋势。文章对微电子封装中铜导线键合可行性进行了分析,主要包括铜导线与金导线的性能比较(包括电学性能、物理参数、机械参数等),铜导线制备和微组织结构分析,铜导线焊合中的工艺研发及铜导线焊合可靠性分析等。当今半导体生产商关注铜导线不仅是因为其价格成本优势,更由于铜导线具有良好的电学和机械特性,同时文中也介绍了铜导线键合工艺存在的诸多问题和挑战,对将来铜导线在集成电路封装中的大规模应用和发展具有一定的参考意义。     

铜引线键合中影响焊球硬度因素的研究

铜丝球焊由于其经济优势和优越的电气性能近来得到了普及,然而,在引线键合工艺中用铜丝取代金丝面临着一些技术上的挑战。多年来,IC芯片焊盘结构已经逐步适应了金丝球焊。铜在本质上比金硬度高,因此以铜线取代金线便引出了有关硬度的问题。研究了用25．4μm铜丝球焊中与键合机参数有关的铜焊球硬度特性。采用电子打火系统不同的电流和打火时间设置,用5％氢气和95％氮气组成的惰性保护气体形成了一个典型的25．4μm大小的铜焊球,研究了维氏硬度的焊球。用实验设计建立了第一和第二键合参数,进行了无空气焊球基本数据调整。通过改变电子打火系统参数。对硬度特性进行了进一步的测试。典型的键合球的大小和厚度的第一键合响应证实铜键合球的生产实力与电子打火系统的电流和打火时间有关．     

Thermosonic bonding of gold wire onto silver bonding layer on the bond pads of chips with copper interconnects

A copper pad oxidizes easily at elevated temperatures during thermosonic wire bonding for chips with copper interconnects. The bondability and bonding strength of a gold wire onto a bare copper pad are seriously degraded by the formation of a copper oxide film. A new bonding approach is proposed to overcome this intrinsic drawback of the copper pad. A silver layer is deposited as a bonding layer on the surface of copper pads. Both the ball-shear force and the wire-pull force of a gold wire bonded onto copper pads with silver bonding layers far exceed the minimum values stated in the JEDEC standard and MIL specifications. The silver bonding layer improves bonding between the gold ball and copper pads. The reliability of gold ball bonds on a bond pad is verified in a high-temperature storage (HTS) test. The bonding strength increases with the storage time and far exceeds that required by the relevant industrial codes. The superior bondability and high strength after the HTS test were interpreted with reference to the results of electron probe x-ray microanalyzer (EPMA) analysis. This use of a silver bonding layer may make the fabrication of copper chips simpler than by other protective schemes.     

铜丝球焊工艺的理论与实践

阐述了铜丝替代金丝的理论可行性与在实际应用中所需注意的要点,如防氧化装置、防弹坑键合参数、铜丝劈刀的参数要点等,最后对铜丝球焊的可靠性及几种重要的失效模式进行了探讨分析。     

Comparison of the copper and gold wire bonding processes for LED packaging

Wire bonding is one of the main processes of the LED packaging which provides electrical interconnection between the LED chip and lead frame. The gold wire bonding process has been widely used in LED packaging industry currently. However, due to the high cost of gold wire, copper wire bonding is a good substitute for the gold wire bonding which can lead to significant cost saving. In this paper, the copper and gold wire bonding processes on the high power LED chip are compared and analyzed with finite element simulation. This modeling work may provide guidelines for the parameter optimization of copper wire bonding process on the high power LED packaging.     

Comparison of the copper and gold wire bonding processes for LED packaging

Wire bonding is one of the main processes of the LED packaging which provides electrical interconnection between the LED chip and lead frame.The gold wire bonding process has been widely used in LED packaging industry currently.However,due to the high cost of gold wire,copper wire bonding is a good substitute for the gold wire bonding which can lead to significant cost saving.In this paper,the copper and gold wire bonding processes on the high power LED chip are compared and analyzed with finite element simulation.This modeling work may provide guidelines for the parameter optimization of copper wire bonding process on the high power LED packaging.     

Wire bonding characteristics of gold conductors for low temperature co-fired ceramic applications

Low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) with gold conductors has been used for high reliability applications, such as satellite communications. When the gold metallization is co-fired with the LTCC tape, inorganic adhesion additives in the gold conductor interact with the LTCC glass. This interaction is essential to provide adequate adhesion for the gold metallization. However, this interaction can also reduce the softening point of the LTCC glass. The reaction product can migrate to the surface of the gold conductor and affect the wire bondability of the gold conductor.Effort has been made to develop surface gold conductors with optimized interaction with LTCC. The new gold conductor shows significant reduction of inorganic particles on the surface and improvement of wire bondability. A systematic wire bonding study has been performed on gold conductors under various wire bonding conditions. It is demonstrated that the wire bonding window can be improved significantly by reducing the interaction between LTCC and gold metallization. This paper reports the results of the wire bonding study.     

铜丝球键合工艺及可靠性机理

文章针对铜丝键合工艺在高密度及大电流集成电路封装应用中出现的一系列可靠性问题,对该领域目前相关的理论和研究成果进行了综述,介绍了铜丝球键合工艺、键合点组织结构及力学性能、IMC生长情况、可靠性机理及失效模式。针对铜丝球键合工艺中易氧化、硬度高等难点,对特定工艺进行了阐述,同时也从金属间化合物形成机理的角度重点阐述了铜丝球键合点可靠性优于金丝球键合点的原因。并对铜丝球键合及铜丝楔键合工艺前景进行了展望。     

Effect of the direct current on microstructure,tensile property and bonding strength of pure silver wires

In the microelectronics assembly and packaging industry, the wire bonding has become an important process to connect lead frames and pads. In the past, gold and copper were the main materials of wire bonding. However, the cost of gold wires is getting higher nowadays and yet wire bonding cannot be wholly replaced by copper wire; thus silver wires become a novel bonding material in recent years. The reliability test of wires was a static method; this study leads electrical current into the wires to estimate the structural changing and interface properties of Al pads (positive and negative pad). After leading 90% critical fusing current density (CFCD) into a 23 μm silver wire, some grains of silver wire had grown up and formed into equal-diameter grains (EDG). After the current test, the fracture position of bonded wires moved from heat affect zone (HAZ) of electric flame-off (EFO) to the neck of HAZ. Otherwise, the current test would reduce the tensile strength of wire. The bonding strength of the positive pad was lower than that of the negative pad. The intermetallic compound (IMC) of bonding interface was AgAl₂.     

Modular sensor chip design for package stress evaluation and reliability characterisation

A modular test chip comprising an array of 2 mm square modules has been designed and fabricated. The maximum chip size can be up to 10 mm square, i.e. a 5 × 5 array of modules. The motivation behind the test chip is primarily the need to address reliability concerns in the use of copper wire bonding. It is known that the move to replace gold wire bonding with copper, driven primarily by the escalating price of gold, leads to reliability challenges at the interfaces between the wire bonds, the bond pads and the mould compound. Its function is to address. The chip comprises daisy chain structures to monitor changes of wire bond resistance and leakage current, large and small area stress sensors to measure stress on the chip associated with die attach and moulding, and comb and triple track sensors to study corrosion and moisture penetration related to mould compound.     

Cu丝超声球焊及楔焊焊点可靠性及失效机理研究

Cu丝由于具有优良的导热性能、机械性能以及低成本等优点使得用铜丝替代传统的Au丝和Al丝已经成为半导体工艺发展的必然方向.综述了Cu丝超声球焊以及楔焊焊点可靠性问题,对焊点的各种失效模式与机理进行探讨.     

Direct gold and copper wires bonding on copper

The key to bonding to copper die is to ensure bond pad cleanliness and minimum oxidation during wire bonding process. This has been achieved by applying a organic coating layer to protect the copper bond pad from oxidation. During the wire bonding process, the organic coating layer is removed and a metal to metal weld is formed. This organic layer is a self-assembled monolayer. Both gold and copper wires have been wire-bonded successfully to the copper die even without prior plasma cleaning. The ball diameter for both wires are 60 μm on a 100 μm fine pitch bond pad. The effectiveness of the protection of the organic coating layer starts from the wafer dicing process up to the wire bonding process and is able to protect the bond pad for an extended period after the first round of wire bond process. In this study, oxidization of copper bond pad at different packaging processing stages, dicing and die attach curing, have been explored. The ball shear strength for both gold and copper ball bonds achieved are 5 and 6 g/mil² respectively. When subjected to high temperature storage test at 150 °C, the ball bonds formed by both gold and copper wire bond on the organic coated copper bondpad are thermally stable in ball shear strength up to a period of 1440 h. The encapsulated daisy chain test vehicle with both gold and copper wires bonding have passed 1000 cycles of thermal cycling test (−65 to 150 °C). It has been demonstrated that orientation imaging microscopy technique is able to detect early levels of oxidation on the copper bond pad. This is extremely important in characterization of the bondability of the copper bond pad surface.     

金、铜丝球键合焊点的可靠性对比研究

金丝球焊是电子工业中应用最广泛的引线键合技术,但随着高密度封装的发展,铜丝球焊日益引起人们的关注。采用热压超声键合的方法,分别实现Au引线和Cu引线键合到Al-1%Si-0.5%Cu金属化焊盘。对焊点进行200℃老化实验的结果表明:铜丝球焊焊点的金属间化合物生长速率比金丝球焊焊点慢的多;铜丝球焊焊点具有比金丝球焊焊点更稳定的剪切断裂载荷,并且在一定的老化时间内铜丝球焊焊点表现出更好的力学性能;铜丝球焊焊点和金丝球焊焊点在老化后的失效模式不同。     

金丝楔形键合强度的影响规律分析

金丝楔形键合是一种通过超声振动和键合力协同作用来实现芯片与电路引出互连的技术。现今,此引线键合技术是微电子封装领域最重要、应用最广泛的技术之一。引线键合互连的质量是影响红外探测器组件可靠性和可信性的重要因素。基于红外探测器组件,对金丝楔形键合强度的多维影响因素进行探究。从键合焊盘质量和金丝楔焊焊点形貌对键合强度的影响入手,开展了超声功率、键合压力及键合时间对金丝楔形键合强度的影响研究。根据金丝楔焊原理及工艺过程,选取红外探测器组件进行强度影响规律试验及分析,指导实际金丝楔焊工艺,并对最佳工艺参数下的金丝键合拉力均匀性进行探究,验证了金丝楔形键合强度工艺一致性。     

Room temperature wedge-wedge ultrasonic bonding using aluminum coated copper wire

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the feasibility of room temperature wedge-wedge bonding using commercially available copper wires, coated with aluminum. Bonding quality, reliability and aging resistance of the wire bonds have been investigated using standard wire pull tests immediately after bonding and after accelerated life tests, including temperature storage at 125 °C, 150 °C, and 200 °C for up to 2000 h. Using focused ion beam (FIB-) preparation and high resolution electron microscopy (SEM, TEM combined with EDX X-ray analysis), results of microstructure investigations of the Al-coating/Cu wire interface as well as of the bonding interconnect formed between the coated wire and the metallization on ceramic substrate will be presented. These investigations provide background information regarding the binding mechanisms and material interactions, and contribute to assess and to avoid potential reliability risks. Due to the found advantageous bond processing behavior and increased reliability properties, our results indicate that room temperature wedge-wedge bonding of coated copper wires has a remarkable application potential, for instance in medical and other high reliability as well as high power applications. It combines all known advantages of usual copper bonding like excellent contacting behavior, high reliability and favorable material price with the possibility of processing temperature damageable components and considerable improved storage capability. Therefore, room temperature bonding using coated copper wire can also reduce cycle time, manufacturing and material costs.     

封装用抗腐蚀高可靠性银合金丝

介绍一种在封装工艺中可用于替代昂贵金丝的抗腐蚀高可靠性银合金丝。利用表面钝化和固溶合金、二次中频合金熔炼和定向连续拉铸工艺,分别从成分和工艺方面提高了银合金丝的机械性能、抗腐蚀性、可靠性等一系列键合性能,解决了普通银丝在使用过程中存在的电子迁移问题,推动了键合银合金丝的广泛使用。