Design optimization of wire bonding for high frequency applications

This paper describes a novel controlled impedance design methodology for wire bonding. Adjacent power or ground wires are used to provide return paths in a coplanar configuration, thereby minimizing impedance mismatch. Design space exploration based on full-wave electromagnetic analysis is performed to achieve an optimized topology. A design guideline is also provided for practical wire bonding implementation. With advances in wire bonding technology, particularly fine pitch bonding, a coplanar configuration is highly feasible. In high performance applications, many power and ground pads are typically required to provide adequate power distribution. These can be interleaved between signal pads to accommodate a coplanar bonding configuration. The proposed methodology can be applied to conventional lead frame and advanced BGA packages.