Increasing the bonding strength of chips on flex substrates using thermosonic flip-chip bonding process with nonconductive paste

Thermosonic flip-chip bonding process with a nonconductive paste (NCP) was employed to improve the processability and bonding strength of the flip-chip onto flex substrates (FCOF). A non-conductive paste was deposited on the surface of the copper electrodes over the flex substrate, and a chip with eight gold bumps bonded onto the copper electrodes by the thermosonic flip-chip bonding process.For the chips and flex substrates assembly, ultrasonic power is important in the removal of some of the non-conductive paste on the surface of copper electrodes during thermosonic bonding. Accordingly, gold stud bumps in this study were directly bonded onto copper electrodes to form successful electrical paths between chips and the flex substrate. A particular ultrasonic power resulted in some metallurgical bonding between the gold bumps and the copper electrodes, increasing the bonding strength. The ultrasonic power was not only to remove the NCP from the copper electrodes, but also formed metallurgical bonds during the thermosonic flip-chip bonding process with NCP.In this study, the parameters of the bonding of chips onto flex substrates using thermosonic flip-chip bonding process with NCP were a bonding force of 4.9 N, a curing time of 40 s, a curing temperature of 140 °C and an ultrasonic power of 14.46 W. The processability and bonding strength of flip-chips on flex substrates using thermosonic bonding process with NCP was verified in this study. This process has great potential to be applied to the packaging of consumed electronic products.