Microstructural Indicators for Prognostication of Copper–Aluminum Wire Bond Reliability Under High-Temperature Storage and Temperature Humidity

Gold wire bonding has been widely used as the first-level interconnect in semiconductor packaging. The increase in the gold price has motivated the industry search for an alternative to the gold wire used in wire bonding and the transition to a copper wire bonding technology. Potential advantages of transition to a Cu-Al wire bond system include low cost of copper wire, lower thermal resistivity, lower electrical resistivity, higher deformation strength, damage during ultrasonic squeeze, and stability compared with gold wire. However, the transition to the copper wire brings along some tradeoffs, including poor corrosion resistance, narrow process window, higher hardness, and potential for cratering. Formation of excessive Cu-Al intermetallics may increase the electrical resistance and reduce the mechanical bonding strength. Current state of the art for studying the Cu-Al system focuses on the accumulation of statistically significant number of failures under accelerated testing. In this paper, a new approach has been developed to identify the occurrence of impending apparently random defect fall-outs and premature failures observed in the Cu-Al wire bond system. The use of intermetallic thickness, composition, and corrosion as a leading indicator of failure for the assessment of the remaining useful life for Cu-Al wire bond interconnects has been studied under exposure to high temperature. Damage in the wire bonds has been studied using an X-ray micro-Computed Tomography (CT). Microstructure evolution was studied under the isothermal aging conditions of 150 °C, 175 °C, and 200 °C until failure. Activation energy was calculated using the growth rate of intermetallic at different temperatures. An effect of temperature and humidity on a Cu-Al wire bond system was studied using the Parr bomb technique at different elevated temperature and humidity conditions (110 °C/100%RH, 120 °C/100%RH, and 130 °C/100%RH), and a failure mechanism was developed. The present methodology uses the evolution of the intermetallic compound thickness and composition in conjunction with the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm to identify accrued damage in wire bond subjected to thermal aging. The proposed method can be used for a quick assessment of Cu-Al parts to ensure manufactured part consistency through sampling.