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Evolutions of bonding wires used in semiconductor electronics: perspective over 25 years

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Abstract

The objective of this review is to study the evolution and key findings and critical technical challenges, solutions and future trend of bonding wires used in semiconductor electronics. Evolutions of bonding wires from Au to Cu and till the most recent silver (Ag) wire (perspective over 25 years packaging technology) have been discussed in this paper. The reliability performances of Au wire bonding, technical barriers of Cu wire bonding and corrosion mechanisms of Cu ball bonds are analyzed and covered. We focus on the influence of a variety of factors that have been reported recently, including reliability performance, wear out reliability performance that determine the selection of bonding wires to reach for developing high reliability of bonded devices. In the end of this review, the evolutions and future trends of bonding wires are compared and illustrated, which have marked effect based on the materials properties as well as reliability of wire types.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to take this opportunity to thank support from Universiti Malaysia Perlis for the paper publication.

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Correspondence to Chong Leong Gan.

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Gan, C.L., Hashim, U. Evolutions of bonding wires used in semiconductor electronics: perspective over 25 years. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 26, 4412–4424 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-015-2892-8

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