Cu Pillar Bump FCBGA Package Design and Reliability Assessments

Author(s):  
Nicholas Kao ◽  
Yen-Chang Hu ◽  
Yuan-Lin Tseng ◽  
Eason Chen ◽  
Jeng-Yuan Lai ◽  
...  

With the trend of electronic consumer product toward more functionality, high performance and miniaturization, IC chip is required to deliver more Input/Output (I/O) and better electrical characteristics under same package form factor. Flip Chip BGA (FCBGA) package was developed to meet those requirements offering better electrical performance, more I/O pin accommodation and high transmission speed. However, the flip chip technology is encountering its structure limitation as the bump pitch is getting smaller and smaller because the spherical geometry bump shape is to limit the fine bump pitch arrangement and it’s also difficult to fill by underfill between narrow gaps. As this demand, a new fine bump pitch technology is developed as “Cu pillar bump” with the structure of Cu post and solder tip. The Cu pillar bump is plating process manufactured structure and composes with copper cylinder (Cu post) and mushroom shape solder cap (Solder tip). The geometry of Cu pillar bump not only provides a finer bump pitch, but also enhances the thermal performances due to the higher conductivity than conventional solder material. This paper mainly characterized the Cu pillar bump structure stress performances of FCBGA package to prevent reliability failures by finite element models. First, the bump stress and Cu/low-k stress of Cu pillar bump were studied to compare with conventional bump structure. The purpose is to investigate the potential reliability risk of Cu pillar bump structure. Secondly, the bump stress and Cu/low-k stress distribution were evaluated for different Polyimide (PI) layer, Under Bump Metallization (UBM) size and solder mask opening (SMO) size. This study can show the stress contribution of each design factor. Thirdly, a matrix which combination UBM size, Cu post thickness, SMO size, PI opening and PI thickness were studied to observe the stress distribution. Finally, the stress simulation results were experimentally validated by reliability tests.

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 (DPC) ◽  
pp. 002404-002423
Author(s):  
Rajesh Katkar ◽  
Michael Huynh ◽  
Laura Mirkarimi

Manufacturing high performance devices with shrinking form factors require a novel packaging approach. The Cu pillar-on-die interconnect is a widely accepted solution to package high performance flip chip devices due to its fine pitch adaptability, good electrical and thermal characteristics and elongated electromigration lifetime. However, the thick Cu pillar increases the stress on the die pad creating reliability issues due to fracture or de-lamination of low-k and extreme low-k (ELK) inter-layer dielectric layers. μPILR™ technology follows a Cu pillar-on-substrate approach that enables both the decoupling the Cu pillar from the ELK layers and enhanced electro-migration performance. This cost-effective alternative technology employs a subtractive etch process to form Cu pillars on substrates with exceptional intrinsic co-planarity. The 3D nature of the pillars offers advantages of increased vertical wetting for high yield in fine pitch assembly and reduction of crack propagation for good thermal cycle performance. Our preliminary investigations suggest that the electromigration lifetime of μPILR interconnects exceed the published lifetime data on various types of flip chip interconnects. In this work, the electromigration performance of two different interconnects will be investigated within Pb-free fine pitch flip chip packages. Interconnects include etched Cu pillar-on-substrate and conventional thin Cu UBM with solder-on-substrate-pad. The package level test vehicle has a large 18x20x0.75mm die with 10,121 interconnects with a minimum pitch of 150 μm packaged on a 40x40x1.19mm substrate with 10 metal layers in a 3-4-3 build up on a core stack. A comprehensive study of electromigration performance of these interconnects will be presented with the experimental determination of their activation energy and current exponent values. The Black's equation will be solved using mean time to failure data obtained from the experiments. A detailed description of the physical changes during the electro-migration failure process due to inter-diffusion and inter-metallic compound formation will be discussed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 (1) ◽  
pp. 000235-000235
Author(s):  
Zhe Li ◽  
Siow Chek Tan ◽  
Yee Huan Yew ◽  
Pheak Ti Teh ◽  
MJ Lee ◽  
...  

Cu pillar is an emerging interconnect technology which offers many advantages compared to traditional packaging technologies. This paper presents a novel packaging solution with periphery fine pitch Cu pillar bumps for low cost and high performance Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) devices. Wire bonding has traditionally been the choice for low cost implementation of memory interfaces and high speed transceivers. Migration to Cu pillar technology is mainly driven by increasing demand for IO density and package small form factor. Cu pillar bumps also offer significant improvement on electrical performance compared to wire bonds. This paper presents Cu pillar implementation in an 11×11mm flip chip CSP package. Package design is optimized for serial data transport up to 6.114Gbps to meet CPRI_LVII and PCIe Gen2 compliance requirements. Package design strategy includes die and package co-design, SI/PI modeling and physical layout optimization.


Author(s):  
Shengmin Wen ◽  
Jason Goodelle ◽  
VanDee Moua ◽  
Kenny Huang ◽  
Chris Xiao

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (1) ◽  
pp. 000612-000617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shota Miki ◽  
Takaharu Yamano ◽  
Sumihiro Ichikawa ◽  
Masaki Sanada ◽  
Masato Tanaka

In recent years, products such as smart phones, tablets, and wearable devices, are becoming miniaturized and high performance. 3D-type semiconductor structures are advancing as the demand for high-density assembly increases. We studied a fabrication process using a SoC die and a memory die for 3D-SiP (System in Package) with TSV technology. Our fabrication is comprised of two processes. One is called MEOL (Middle End of Line) for exposing and completing the TSV's in the SoC die, and the other is assembling the SoC and memory dice in a 3D stack. The TSV completion in MEOL was achieved by SoC wafer back-side processing. Because its final thickness will be a thin 50μm (typical), the SoC wafer (300 mm diameter) is temporarily attached face-down onto a carrier-wafer. Careful back-side grinding reveals the “blind vias” and fully opens them into TSV's. A passivation layer is then grown on the back of the wafer. With planarization techniques, the via metal is accessed and TSV pads are built by electro-less plating without photolithography. After the carrier-wafer is de-bonded, the thin wafer is sawed into dice. For assembling the 3D die stack, flip-chip technology by thermo-compression bonding was the method chosen. First, the SoC die with copper pillar bumps is assembled to the conventional organic substrate. Next the micro-bumps on the memory die are bonded to the TSV pads of the SoC die. Finally, the finished assembly is encapsulated and solder balls (BGA) are attached. The 3D-SiP has passed both package-level reliability and board-level reliability testing. These results show we achieved fabricating a 3D-SiP with high interconnect reliability.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 (1) ◽  
pp. 000455-000463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasumitsu Orii ◽  
Kazushige Toriyama ◽  
Sayuri Kohara ◽  
Hirokazu Noma ◽  
Keishi Okamoto ◽  
...  

The electromigration behavior of 80 μm pitch solder capped Cu pillar bump interconnection on an organic carrier is studied and discussed. Recently the solder capped Cu pillar bump technology has been widely used in mobile applications as a peripheral ultra fine pitch flip chip interconnection technique. The solder capped Cu pillar bumps are formed on Al pads which are commonly used in wirebonding technique. It allows us an easy control of the space between the die and the substrate simply by varying the Cu pillar height. Since the control of the collapse of the solder bumps is not necessary, the technology is called the “C2 (Chip Connection)”. Solder capped Cu pillar bumps are connected to OSP surface treated Cu substrate pads on an organic substrate by reflow with a no-clean process, hence the C2 is a low cost ultra fine pitch flip chip interconnection technology. It is an ideal technology for the systems requiring fine pitch structures. In 2011, the EM tests were performed on 80 μm pitch solder capped Cu pillar bump interconnections and the effects of Ni barrier layers on the Cu pillars and the preformed intermetallic compound (IMC) layers on the EM tests were studied. The EM test conditions of the test vehicles were 7–10 kA/cm2 at 125–170°C. The Cu pillar height was 45 μm and the solder height was 25 μm. The solder composition was Sn-2.5Ag. Aged condition for pre-formed IMCs was 2,000 hours at 150°C. It was shown that the formation of the pre-formed IMC layers and the insertion of Ni barrier layers are effective in reducing the Cu atoms dissolution. In this report, it is studied that which of the IMC layers, Cu3Sn or Cu6Sn5, is more effective in preventing the Cu atom dissolution. The cross-sectional analyses of the joints after the 2000 hours of the test with 7kA/cm2 at 170°C were performed for this purpose. The relationship between the thickness of Cu3Sn IMC layer and the Cu migration is also studied by performing the current stress tests on the joints with controlled Cu3Sn IMC thicknesses. The samples were thermally aged prior to the tests at a higher temperature (200°C) and in a shorter time (10–50 hours) than the previous experiments. The cross-sectional analyses of the Sn-2.5Ag joints without pre-aging consisting mostly of Cu6Sn5, showed a significant Cu dissolution while the Cu dissolution was not detected for the pre-aged joints with thick Cu3Sn layers. A large number of Kirkendall voids were also observed in the joints without pre-aging. The current stress tests on the controlled Cu3Sn joints showed that Cu3Sn layer thickness of more than 1.5 μm is effective in reducing Cu dissolution in the joints.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 (1) ◽  
pp. 000828-000836
Author(s):  
Yasumitsu Orii ◽  
Kazushige Toriyama ◽  
Sayuri Kohara ◽  
Hirokazu Noma ◽  
Keishi Okamoto ◽  
...  

The electromigration behavior of 80μm bump pitch C2 (Chip Connection) interconnection is studied and discussed. C2 is a peripheral ultra fine pitch flip chip interconnection technique with solder capped Cu pillar bumps formed on Al pads that are commonly used in wirebonding technique. It allows us an easy control of the space between dies and substrates simply by varying the Cu pillar height. Since the control of the collapse of the solder bumps is not necessary, the technology is called the “C2 (Chip Connection)”. C2 bumps are connected to OSP surface treated Cu substrate pads on an organic substrate by reflow with no-clean process, hence the C2 is a low cost ultra fine pitch flip chip interconnection technology. The reliability tests on the C2 interconnection including thermal cycle tests and thermal humidity bias tests have been performed previously. However the reliability against electromigration for such small flip chip interconnections is yet more to investigate. The electromigration tests were performed on 80μm bump pitch C2 flip chip interconnections. The interconnections with two different solder materials were tested: Sn-2.5Ag and Sn100%. The effect of Ni layers electroplated onto the Cu pillar bumps on electromigration phenomena is also studied. From the cross-sectional analyses of the C2 joints after the tests, it was found that the presence of intermetallic compound (IMC) layers reduces the atomic migration of Cu atoms into Sn solder. The analyses also showed that the Ni layers are effective in reducing the migration of Cu atoms into solder. In the C2 joints, the under bump metals (UBMs) are formed by sputtered Ti/Cu layers. The electro-plated Cu pillar height is 45μm and the solder height is 25μm for 80μm bump pitch. The die size is 7.3-mm-square and the organic substrate is 20-mm-square with a 4 layer-laminated prepreg with thickness of 310μm. The electromigration test conditions ranged from 7 to 10 kA/cm2 with temperature ranging from 125 to 170°C. Intermetallic compounds (IMCs) were formed prior to the test by aging process of 2,000hours at 150°C. We have studied the effect of IMC layers on electromigration induced phenomena in C2 flip chip interconnections on organic substrates. The study showed that the IMC layers in the C2 joints formed by aging process can act as barrier layers to prevent Cu atoms from diffusing into Sn solder. Our results showed potential for achieving electromigration resistant joints by IMC layer formation. The FEM simulation results show that the current densities in the Cu pillar and the solder decrease with increasing Cu pillar height. However an increase in Cu pillar height also leads to an increase in low-k stress. It is important to design the Cu pillar structure considering both the electromigration performance and the low-k stress reduction.


Author(s):  
Vishal Nagaraj ◽  
Saket Karajgikar ◽  
Dereje Agonafer ◽  
Senol Pekin

As there is continuous demand for miniaturization of electronic devices, flip chip technology is predominantly used for high density packaging. The technology offers several advantages like excellent electrical performance and better heat dissipation ability. Original invention of flip chip packaging utilized ceramic substrates and high lead bumps. Low cost commercialization of this packaging technology, however, required organic laminate substrates coupled with SnPb eutectic bumped interconnects on the die side. While organic laminate flip chip packaging may be a good option for many low power applications, current carrying capability of the eutectic bumped interconnect causes a catastrophic failure mechanism called electromigration. Previously, researchers have identified and addressed few issues regarding electromigration. Electomigration leads to the formation of metal voids in the conductors which eventually increases the resistance drop across the conductor causing electrical opens. Electromigration is very significant at high current densities. Temperature is the other parameter of concern for electromigration. High current density causes temperature to rise due to Joule heating, there by reducing the life of package. In order to determine the factors responsible for high current densities, we formed a full factorial design of experiments (DOE) that contained parameters such as passivation opening, UBM size, UBM thickness and trace width. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was performed in order to study the effect of above parameters on current crowding and temperature in the bumped interconnects. Based on the results, hierarchy of the most important parameters to be considered while selecting the appropriate flip chip technology is proposed.


2007 ◽  
Vol 129 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karan Kacker ◽  
Thomas Sokol ◽  
Wansuk Yun ◽  
Madhavan Swaminathan ◽  
Suresh K. Sitaraman

Demand for off-chip bandwidth has continued to increase. It is projected by the Semiconductor Industry Association in their International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors that by the year 2015, the chip-to-substrate area-array input-output interconnects will require a pitch of 80 μm. Compliant off-chip interconnects show great potential to address these needs. G-Helix is a lithography-based electroplated compliant interconnect that can be fabricated at the wafer level. G-Helix interconnects exhibit excellent compliance in all three orthogonal directions, and can accommodate the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between the silicon die and the organic substrate without requiring an underfill. Also, these compliant interconnects are less likely to crack or delaminate the low-k dielectric material in current and future integrated circuits. The interconnects are potentially cost effective because they can be fabricated in batch at the wafer level and using conventional wafer fabrication infrastructure. In this paper, we present an integrative approach, which uses interconnects with varying compliance and thus varying electrical performance from the center to the edge of the die. Using such a varying geometry from the center to the edge of the die, the system performance can be tailored by balancing electrical requirements against thermomechanical reliability concerns. The test vehicle design to assess the reliability and electrical performance of the interconnects is also presented. Preliminary fabrication results for the integrative approach are presented and show the viability of the fabrication procedure. The results from reliability experiments of helix interconnects assembled on an organic substrate are also presented. Initial results from the thermal cycling experiments are promising. Results from mechanical characterization experiments are also presented and show that the out-of-plane compliance exceeds target values recommended by industry experts. Finally, through finite element analysis simulations, it is demonstrated that the die stresses induced by the compliant interconnects are an order of magnitude lower than the die stresses in flip chip on board (FCOB) assemblies, and hence the compliant interconnects are not likely to crack or delaminate low-k dielectric material.


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