Line-spike induced failure mechanism in integrated circuit bond-wires

A novel type of bond wire failure is described. In the present mechanism, the voltage line spikes are of such a short duration that they cannot propagate into the chip core circuits and cause internal failure. However, the induced spike is reflected back into the wire itself. It is shown that multiple spikes can propagate through interconnect lines and can result in constructive interference leading to a concentration of high power and thermal energy. The net effect is instantaneous melting of the associate bond-wire. Such induced spike trains are only observed in lines which are connected to ESD coupled diodes.