Improving the bond quality of copper wire bonds using a friction model approach

In order to increase mechanical strength, heat dissipation and ampacity and to decrease failure through fatigue fracture, wedge copper wire bonding is being introduced as a standard interconnection method for mass production. To achieve the same process stability when using copper wire instead of aluminum wire a profound understanding of the bonding process is needed. Due to the higher hardness of copper compared to aluminum wire it is more difficult to approach the surfaces of wire and substrate to a level where van der Waals forces are able to arise between atoms. Also, enough friction energy referred to the total contact area has to be generated to activate the surfaces. Therefore, a friction model is used to simulate the joining process. This model calculates the resulting energy of partial areas in the contact surface and provides information about the adhesion process of each area. The focus here is on the arising of micro joints in the contact area depending on the location in the contact and time. To validate the model, different touchdown forces are used to vary the initial contact areas of wire and substrate. Additionally, a piezoelectric tri-axial force sensor is built up to identify the known phases of pre-deforming, cleaning, adhering and diffusing for the real bonding process to map with the model. Test substrates as DBC and copper plate are used to show the different formations of a wedge bond connection due to hardness and reaction propensity. The experiments were done by using 500 μm copper wire and a standard V-groove tool.