European Microelectronics September 2015, Friedrichshafen, Germany

Packaging Conference www.empc2015.org

Wire bonding of Au-coated Ag wire: bondwire properties, bondability and

IMCs formation
Yi-Wei Tseng*1 , Fei-Yi Hung 1 , Truan-Sheng Lui1
1
Depart ment of Materials Science and Engineering, Nat ional Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, TAIWAN.

* Corresponding Author: n58011251@mail.ncku.edu.tw, +886-6-2757575-31391

Abstract
We recently developed cost effective and highly stable bond wire and more corrosion-resistant than that of
conventional Ag base wire. An efficient and environmental-friendly method, featuring a non-cyanide Au plating
process was made for Au-coated Ag wire. Therefore, it can serve as feasible Au or PCC wires alternatives for the
next generation. ACA wire has several advantages including excellent conductivity. This new Ag wire can meet
reliability standards of wire bonding. The proposed ACA wire was studied to ensure compatibility with electrical
properties; characterization of IMCs. The results show that electrical properties at high temperature manifest that
the ACA wire maintains superior electrical resistance. Interfacial IMC grew Ag2 Al and AuAl2 from Ag-Au ball and Al
pad after aging for 500h at 175 degrees C. ACA wire formed by the non-cyanide plating method has wide application
prospects in IC packaging processes.

Table 1: Bonding wire comparison: Ag, Ag-4Pd, and

1 Introduction
Price of Au has increased steeply in recent years and
therefore many packaging industries are transfer fro m
utilizing Au to Cu. Cu wire bonding has numerous
advantages over Au wire bonding [1-2], such as better
thermal and electrical properties. Thus, Cu wire cannot
completely replace Au wire. Many reliability and
durability p roblems was due to mechanical propert ies of
Cu [3-4].
Silver-based bonding wire is part of the much
emphasized issues in the IC package industry [5-6].
Silver has better electrical and thermal properties
opposed to traditional materials such as gold or copper.
However, a bonding surface of the pure silver wire and
an aluminu m pad are most probably corroded under
humid ity environment, and its bonding strength
decreased significantly. We have just described the
preparation of Au-coated Ag (ACA) wire. Co mpared
with other conventional wire; an A CA wire has several
benefits including excellent conductivity. Table 1
display the comparison of Ag, Ag-4Pd and ACA wire.
Therefore, Au-plated Ag wire is a new method to
overcome these above difficulties . For LED package,
considering the correlation at the Ag wire reliab ility and
factor of temperature and electrical. This study deeply
investigate the electrical properties at high temperature
and IMC behaviour between ACA and Al metallization
under thermal aged. Our consequence of ACA wire is
adapted for the transmission of a high-speed signal in a
semiconductor chip package.
ACA
2 Experimental details
2N silver wire of 20 ȝP LQ G LDPHWHU ZDV XVHG LQ WKH
present study, and a 100 n m Au film was deposited on
the wire surface by a non-cyanide gold bath, as shown
in Fig 1. The Au-coated Ag wire is referred to as ACA
wire in our study. The bath pH and temperature were
maintained at 7.8-8.0, 55°C, respectively. Au electro-
deposition was conducted at a constant current density
of 0.8-1 A/d m2 for 30-60 sec. Ag and A CA wires
morphology analyses were conducted with the FIB-
SEM.
The wire bonder used an electronic flame-off (EFO)
process to create an FAB, for wh ich the shielding gas
was not used in the ACA wire. The first and second
bonding of free air ball (FA B) was conducted on 800
nm Al pads for the current test. An effective wire length
was determined to be 10 mm, and for which the DC
voltage was increased 0.01 V per 2.5 sec fro m 0 V until
the wire fusing. The test temperatures were 25°C (room
temperature) and 85°C (high temperature). A micro -
hardness test (Hv) was used to determine the hardness
before and after the EFO process. The first test point
was at the center of the FAB while second point was on
the right of the neck, away the ball. After the second test
SRLQW RQH SRLQW ZDV PHDVXUHG HYHU\  ȝP DORQJ WKH
wire until a hardness similar to the wire before the EFO

ISBN 978-0-9568086-2-2 © IMAPS / EMPC 2015 1

 European Microelectronics September 2015, Friedrichshafen, Germany
Packaging Conference www.empc2015.org

process was found. Heat aging tests were carried out at

175°C for 0 and 500h in vacuum.

Figure 1: Schematic of ACA bonding wire

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Characteristics of wire and FAB structure
The surface morphology of the Ag wire was shown in
Fig. 2a. Fig. 2b d isplays the surface performance of
ACA wire. In Fig. 2c showed the Au layer and Ag wire.
It was positive bonded with the Ag wire, the thickness
which was concerning 100 n m. M icrostructure Figure 3: (a) FAB image of ACA wire. (b) The HAZ
observations of the ACA were being presented in Fig. image of ACA wire
2d. The center area of this wire is composed of equiaxed
grains with a size about 0.5 ȝP IXUWKHU PDQ\ VPDOOHU 3.2 Electrical Properties of Ag and ACA wires
JUDLQVȝPDUHORFDWHGDURXQGWKHHTXLD[HGJUDLQV at high temperature
For fusing currents of both Ag and ACA wires are
indicated at roo m temperature, as shown in Fig. 4. I-V
curves indicate that the fusing current for the Ag and
ACA wires are almost equal; the former was 0.48A and
the latter was 0.49A, wh ich demonstrates that the Au
coated process has no affect on the resistivity of the fine
wire.

Figure 2: SEM images showed the (a) Surface of Ag

wire, (b) Surface of ACA wire, (c) Cross -section of
ACA wire, (d) Microstructure of ACA wire .
The cross-section microstructures of the ACA wire after
the EFO process is illustrated in Fig. 3. As can be seen,
the FAB structure was comp rised of colu mnar grains, as
shown in Fig. 3a. In addit ion to the grains of balls, the
necks of Ag balls showed some larger grains and
annealing twins. In Fig. 3b, the length of the HAZ was Figure 4: Fusing currents of Ag and ACA wires at room
150 ȝP temperature

ISBN 978-0-9568086-2-2 © IMAPS / EMPC 2015 2

 European Microelectronics September 2015, Friedrichshafen, Germany
Packaging Conference www.empc2015.org

Fig. 5 displays the I-V curves of Ag and ACA wires at

room temperature and high temperature. In room
temperature, Ag and ACA wire had the some fusing
current as 0.48A; nevertheless, it's important to note that
the ACA wire had a higher fusing current (0.49A) than
the Ag wire was 0.41A at high temperature. Application
voltage of Ag wire increased because Ag easily oxidizes.
The ACA wire had a lower application voltage than Ag
wire at high temperature, which indicates that the ACA
wire still demonstrated promising electrical performance.

Figure 5: Electrical properties of ACA and Ag wire at

high temperature

3.3 Growth behavior of Ag/Au/Al i ntermetallic

compounds in ACA ball bonds during aging Figure 6: M icrographs and EDS results for interface of
ACA wire-Al pad: (a) 0h, (b ) 500h.
Fig 6 d isplays IMCs formed Ag-Au ball and Al pad after
aging at different t ime. Ag-Au/Al interface was not
observed in IM C gro wn, as shown in Fig 6a. As
increasing aging time to 500h, this research found that 4 Conclusions
the morphology of IMC layers formed after interfacial
reaction in Ag 2 Al and AuAl2 systems and the thickness (a) The bias test at high temperature (85°C) shows the
corresponding to the two kinds of IMC were 1.25 and outstanding electrical properties of A CA .
ȝP)LJEUHVSHFWLYHO\7KHH[SHULPHQWDOUHVXOWV
demonstrated that the interfacial Ag/Au/Al IM C layer
which was identified by Ag 2Al and AuAl2 in Al pad
after aging a layer preventing an excessive diffusion of
the Al atoms towards the Ag-Au matrix wh ich
enhancing bonding reliability.
ISBN 978-0-9568086-2-2
(b) A CA wire is contained stable microstructure and
excellent mechanical properties. It should be noted
that the Ag2 Al and AuAl2 intermetallic co mpounds
appeared between the Ag/Au/Al pad in ACA ball
bonds.
© IMAPS / EMPC 2015 3
 European Microelectronics September 2015, Friedrichshafen, Germany
Packaging Conference www.empc2015.org

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Ministry of Science and

Technology of Taiwan (NSC 103-2221-E-006-066) for
their financial support.

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ISBN 978-0-9568086-2-2 © IMAPS / EMPC 2015 4