Reliability of Coated and Alloyed Copper/Silver Ball Bonds

Abstract

Abstract The paper discusses on the reliability of coated and alloyed copper/silver ball bonds on both epoxy molded and unmolded conditions:Moisture resistance test using unmolded device at 130°C 85%RH (humidity chamber) revealed no ball lift failure until 96hours for the ball size of 1.65 times the diameter of wireCorrosion resistance test using unmolded device at room temperature by dripping (or soaking) dilute chlorine (Cl) solution revealed no ball lift failure for gold wires. Copper base wire bonds failed after 6min of storage while silver (Ag) base wire bonds showed a few bond lifts within 2min. This shows that Ag base wires are more sensitive to Cl environment than copper (Cu) base wiresA case study of epoxy molded device using green mold compound and four types of Cu and Ag base ball bonds passed on thermal ageing (HTS) at 175°C for 4000h and on +5V bHAST for 500h. The test response is by measuring electrical resistance in order not to reduce below 10% of contact resistance measured during time zero bonding○ Cross-section analysis of the samples showed intact bonding of Cu and Ag base ball bonds after 4000h of HTS○ The result shows when Cu and Ag base wire bonds molded with a good compatible green mold epoxy compound satisfy the automotive electronic council (AEC – Q006 & Q100 Rev-H, for Cu) requirements of 2X stress test with respect to electrical resistance measurementAnother case study of epoxy molded device revealed Cu and Ag base wire bonds pass 3000cycles of thermal cycling (−55°C to +150°C) without any neck/heel cracks and stitch lifts In addition, fine wires are baked at elevated temperature under vacuum or by purging nitrogen to find the quality of wire surface. As expected, Au, Cu and Ag base wires show clean surface. For palladium (Pd) coated Cu wire, a good Pd adhesion to Cu core surface without blisters is evident.