Computational and Experimental Study of Laser Microwelding Processes for Electronic Packaging

Advances in microelectronics depend on reliable packaging. As sizes of components decrease and number of components per package increases, demands on interconnections, or joining, of two parts, e.g., wire to tab, or tab to tab, increase rapidly. Since traditional joining techniques, such as resistance welding, may no longer produce satisfactory microinterconnections, alternative methods are being developed. One of such methods is based on laser microwelding. In this paper, we discuss fundamental processes involved in laser microwelding, outline a computational methodology to simulate thermal effects produced, describe facilities used, present results, and summarize correlations between the experimental and computational data for applications in electronic packaging.