Limits of high density, low-force pressure contacts

Author

Beale, John ; Pease, R. Fabian

Author_Institution

Solid State Electron. Lab., Stanford Univ., CA, USA

fYear

1993

fDate

4-6 Oct 1993

Firstpage

136

Lastpage

140

Abstract

The prosaic pressure contact is a source of unreliability not only in completed systems but more seriously in testing of ICs prior to packaging. Using a custom-built apparatus, pressure contacts are characterized with applied forces down to a few nN and contact areas down to 10^-11 cm². Nominally clean gold-gold and iridium-gold contacts in air exhibit resistivities higher than that predicted from a simple model based on the plastic deformation of the gold. Interfacial films appear to be a source of unreliability. The surface film on gold in air appears to disrupt conduction to a similar degree

Keywords

atomic force microscopy; contact resistance; electrical contacts; microscopy; nanotechnology; reliability; surface contamination; surface phenomena; Au; Au-Au; Ir-Au; LB films; constriction resistance; customised AFM; high density; insulating film effects; interfacial films; low-force pressure contacts; microcontacts; nanomechanics; nanoscale electrical contacts; source of unreliability; Atomic force microscopy; Conductive films; Contacts; Electrical resistance measurement; Electronic equipment testing; Electronics packaging; Gold; Plastics; Polymer films; Surface topography;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electronic Manufacturing Technology Symposium, 1993, Fifteenth IEEE/CHMT International

Conference_Location

Santa Clara, CA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1424-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEMT.1993.398210

Filename

398210