Reliability of copper wire bonds on a novel over-pad metallization

Wire bonding technology is used in most semiconductor products. Recently, high gold prices have forced semiconductor manufacturers to replace Au wires with Cu wires. Because Cu wire bonds are vulnerable to high temperature and humidity, they remain unpopular in automotive and industrial applications...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 2015-05, Vol.54 (5S), p.5
Main Authors: Kawashiro, Fumiyoshi, Itoh, Satoshi, Maeda, Takehiko, Hirose, Tetsuya, Yajima, Akira, Etoh, Takaki, Nishikawa, Hiroshi
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Wire bonding technology is used in most semiconductor products. Recently, high gold prices have forced semiconductor manufacturers to replace Au wires with Cu wires. Because Cu wire bonds are vulnerable to high temperature and humidity, they remain unpopular in automotive and industrial applications with narrow-bond-pad pitches and small deformed ball diameters. To avoid forming the corrosive Cu-rich intermetallic compound Cu9Al4, the use of a Ni/Pd(/Au) over-pad metallization (OPM) structure produced by electroless plating on the Al metallization has been proposed. However, certain technical issues must be overcome, such as variations in the purity and thickness of the plating. To tackle these issues, a novel OPM structure produced by physical vapor deposition is proposed and evaluated in this study.
ISSN:0021-4922
1347-4065
DOI:10.7567/JJAP.54.05EC01