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Novel interconnection technology for flex-on-glass (FOG) applications

Conference Paper · January 2013

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EMPC 2013, September 9 - 12, Grenoble; France

Novel Interconnection Technology for Flex-on-Glass (FOG)

Applications
Haksun Lee, Yong-Sung Eom, Hyun-Cheol Bae, and Kwang-Seong Choi
IT Convergence Components Technology Research Section, IT Materials and Components Laboratory,
Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute,

138 Gajeongno, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-700, Republic of Korea

Phone: +82-42-860-1893, Fax: +82-42-860-6495, Email: hlee435@etri.re.kr

Abstract

Interconnections using anisotropic conductive films (ACF) were dominant in applications for flat-panel displays.
However, a novel bonding mechanism for flex-on-glass interconnection is presented. Using SBM (Solder Bump
Maker) technology, SnAgCu solder bumps were created on a glass substrate with a uniform height. Then, the
glass substrate is thermo-compression bonded with a flexible PCB using a multifunctional bonding material
called “Fluxing underfill”. The interconnection using solder and underfill method was analyzed through cross-
sectional SEM image. Contact resistance values in the order of 10-4 Ω, which is about two times lower than that
of the conventional ACFs, were obtained. Preliminary results on cross-section analysis and contact resistance
measurement indicate the novel bonding mechanism using the Fluxing underfill has a potential for applications
in display interconnections.

Key words: Fluxing underfill, FOG, flex-on-glass, display interconnection.

has the intermetallic compound (IMC) layers created

Introduction
between solder and metal pad. Unlike insecure
Thermo-compression bonding using mechanical contact of conducting particles, IMC
anisotropic conductive films (ACF’s) has been layers form a strong bond which would act as a
widely used in numerous packaging technologies reliable joint with mechanical robustness.
such as TCP (Tape Carrier Package), COF (Chip on
Flex), COG (Chip on Glass), and FOG (Flex on
Glass) [1]. Since the process requirements for
applications employing ACFs were demanding,
ACF technology has strived to achieve low
temperature curing and fine pitch capability while
maintaining the process simplicity. Despite the
endeavors to overcome many reliability issues in
thermo-compression bonding using ACFs on
flexible substrates, obtaining a reliable
interconnection is still the industry’s concern [2]. As
the ACF bonding highly depends on dispersive
mechanical contact of conducting particles for
electrical interconnection, its electrical performance
tends to degrade after reliability tests, especially
regarding humidity and temperature cycling [2].
Figure 1(a) shows the thermo-compression bonding
process of conventional ACFs. The lower part of
Figure 1(a) well illustrates the characteristic of ACF
interconnection which relies on the random
distribution of trapped particles
In order to overcome the reliability issues of
ACF interconnections, solder bump and underfill
methods are applied to flex-on-glass Figure1: Schematic diagrams of thermo
interconnections as shown in Figure 1(b). The joint compression bonding mechanisms. (a)
using solder and underfill will be a more durable conventional ACF bonding. (b) novel bonding
structure than the interconnection of ACFs since it mechanism using fluxing underfill.
Schematic diagrams shown in Figure 1(a) and (b)
graphically compares these two bonding
mechanisms.
In this paper, a detailed description on bump
formation process using SoP (Solder-on-pad)
technology as well as thermo-compression bonding
process using fluxing underfill is presented. First of
all, a solder bump array was created on a glass
substrate using SBM (Solder Bump Maker), a stencil
printing solder paste material that is adaptable to
fine pitch arrays in a conventional packaging
environment (printing, reflow, etc.) [3]. After the
bumping process, a novel underfill material called
“Fluxing Underfill” is used in thermo-compression
bonding with FPCBs. Fluxing underfill not only
eliminates oxide layer of solder, but also functions
as a conventional underfill. At the conclusion, the
bump joint characteristics will be examined through
cross-sectional image and contact resistance
measurement.
Solder-on-Pad Technology
For the SoP bumping process, a low cost
stencil printing method is employed [4]. A unique
solder paste material called “SBM (Solder Bump
Maker)” is used in creating an array of solder bumps
on top of metal electrodes. SBM consists of resin,
reductant, and solder powder [4]. By carefully
optimizing the volumetric ratios of those
components, the oxide layer on the solder and metal
pad can be successfully removed during the reflow.
Not only the paste composition but also the amount
of SBM that is deposited on the substrate is critical
to bumping process [5]. Among many factors,
Figure 2 shows the factors that influence the SoP
process the most [5].
Figure 2: Factors that influence the SoP process.
The SoP process can be divided into 4 steps.
Firstly, the solder paste is deposited on a substrate
(glass or FPCB) with an appropriate amount which
is enough to cover the metal pad area. Secondly, an
excess amount of paste is removed by squeegee, and
the thickness of the paste deposition is determined
by this step. Thirdly, the substrate goes through a
reflow process which involves controlling of
conditions such as heating rate, peak temperature,
atmosphere, etc. Finally, the remainder of resin and
solder particles that did not take part in forming a
bump array are cleaned away with solvents.
As a test vehicle to experiment the SoP
process, a glass substrate with Ti/Cu/Ni/Au pads is
selected. The pattern of the test vehicle is designed
as a substrate commonly used in ACF bonding. The
Au metal pattern has a pad width of 80μm with a
pitch of 150μm. The solder material used in the
process was Sn-Ag-Cu (SAC) powder which is
commercially available. The particle size of the SAC
powder ranges from 2 to 11 μm, however, more than
96% of the particles are distributed within the range
of 2~7 μm.
Optimizing the factors mentioned in Figure
2 is critical since it ends up with noticeably different
outcomes. For example, if the content of deoxidizing
agent in the SBM formulation is not properly
adjusted, the SoP process would result in numerous
defects caused by insufficient solderability.
Likewise, other parameters such as stencil printing,
reflow process, and substrate conditions should be
appropriately optimized.
Figure 3: Process flow diagram of SoP process
using SBM. (a) SBM paste deposition (b) paste
spreading (c) stencil removal (d) reflow process
(e) completed solder bumps after the cleaning
 As a result of careful optimization of the
SoP process parameters, solder bumps were formed
uniformly throughout two hundred Au pads at an
average height of ~18μm as depicted in Figure 4. If
finer pitch or lower process temperature is required,
it can be achieved by adjusting solder powder
particle size and solder materials respectively.
Figure 4: SEM image of solder bumps created on
Au pads.
Figure 5: Schematic diagram of thermo
compression bonding process using fluxing
underfill. (a) fluxing underfill dispense. (b)
placement and alignment. (c) thermo-
compression bonding.
Bonding Process using Fluxing Underfill
Interconnections relying solely on solder joints
would not endure the harsh stress caused by the CTE
mismatch between glass and organic substrate [6]. In
order to prevent the defects caused by the CTE
mismatch, a newly-developed underfill material is
applied. While conventional underfill materials
require separate process steps for flux cleaning,
capillary flow, and epoxy curing [6], the novel
fluxing underfill has reduced number of process
steps by combining those separate processes into one
[3].
Since Fluxing underfill contains deoxidizing
agents which function as flux, it removes oxide
layers on the surface of solder bumps and metal pads
without creating any void source. Additionally, as its
name indicates, Fluxing underfill also functions as
underfill by successfully relieving the stress created
upon the joints. Figure 5 describes the thermo
compression bonding process using Fluxing
underfill. First of all, Fluxing underfill is deposited
over the Au pattern of the glass substrate and
preheated at 120˚C for 10 seconds. Next, pressure of
1gf per bump is applied onto the joint while the
temperature is set to 250˚C for 30 seconds.
Results and Discussion
After the thermo-compression bonding, a
cross-sectional view of the solder bump joint is
obtained. Figure 6 is a magnified view of a bonded
bump; the upper part is the FPCB and the lower part
is the glass substrate. The SAC solder is wetted on
the metal pad of FPCB, which has a thin Au layer
plated on top of Cu and Ni layers. In addition, the
fluxing underfill can be seen on both sides of the
joint without any void trapped in it. In contrast with
a random mechanical contact of ACF
interconnections, the solder joint using fluxing
underfill will form a reliable interconnection due to
the strong bonding of the IMC layers created
between the solder and metal pads.
Figure 6: An SEM image of a cross-sectional view
of the bonded test vehicle.
The optical images of the test vehicles used
in the SoP and bonding processes are shown in
Figure 7. In order to evaluate the quality of the
solder bump interconnection, the contact resistance
was measured through 4-point probe method [7].
Figure 8 summarizes the measurement results of the
contact resistance when the pad area of the test
vehicle was 2000μm x 80 μm.

Figure 7: Test vehicles used in the experiments.
The average contact resistance of the bonded test
vehicles turned out to be 0.3406mΩ. Considering the
fact that previous ACF interconnections have
contact resistances varying from several 10-3Ω to 10-
2
Ω with respect to their contact area [7][9], the
contact resistance value in the order of 10-4 Ω is
about two times lower than those previous results.
The reason that the contact resistance of the test
vehicles is low is because of the increase in the
contact area. While conventional ACFs have contact
areas limited by the number of trapped particles, the
joint using solder and underfill has the whole pad
area as its contact area. Thus, this novel
interconnection mechanism has advantages in
enhancing both the mechanical and electrical
properties of a joint.
Figure 8: Contact resistance measurement
through 4-point probe method. The slope of I-V
curve indicates the resistance value
Conclusion
A novel concept for bonding flexible
substrates onto glass substrates is suggested. Instead
of using ACFs, solder bump and underfill methods
are used in forming reliable joints. As a result of the
SoP bumping process, 200 bumps with an average
height of ~18μm are created. The bumps formed on
a glass substrate are bonded with thermo-
compression onto a flexible substrate using the
fluxing underfill material. Thanks to the
multifunctional features of the fluxing underfill,
several process steps for the conventional underfill
applications could be omitted. The electrical
properties of the interconnection were measured
using 4-point probe resistance measurements. A
contact resistance which is about two times lower
than that of ACFs is achieved. According to these
preliminary results on the test vehicles, we expect
this novel bonding mechanism to endure severer
reliability conditions in the future.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by the IT
R&D program of MKE/KEIT (Grant No. 10041416,
the core technology development of light and space
adaptable new mode display for energy saving on 7
inch and 2 W) and the R&D program of ISTK
[Development of an image-based, real-time
inspection and isolation system for hyperfine faults].
G
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