Ensuring Suitability of Cu Wire Bonded ICs for Automotive Applications

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (1) ◽  
pp. 000751-000756
Author(s):  
James McLeish ◽  
Randy Schueller
Keyword(s):  
High Reliability ◽  
Gold Wire ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Harsh Environment ◽  
Automotive Electronics ◽  
Package Design ◽  
Automotive Market ◽  
Wire Bonds ◽  
Bond Wires ◽  
Validation Tests

The transition to replace gold with copper bond wires in semiconductor components, primarily driven by the ever increasing price of gold wire, has been under way for several years. Cu wire bonds (Cu-WBs) are technically more challenging than gold to produce, requiring improved designs, processes and equipment. After introduction in consumer products, their use is now migrating to automotive electronics where product integrity for quality, reliability and durability (QRD) and safety over 10–15 years in a demanding harsh environment is paramount, in addition to managing cost in the highly competitive global automotive market. Reliability issues with some Cu wire bonded components detected during the rigorous product validation durability–reliability tests of automotive electronics, however, are starting to appear. The indications are that only optimized package design with well-controlled assembly processes are suitable for high reliability (hi-rel) harsh environment applications such as automotive, military and aerospace. A concern is that non-optimized Cu-WBs and package materials issues are being detected in module-level durability validation tests in parts that were qualified as automotive grade per AEC Q-100 or AEC-Q101. This article will explore the issues and discuss potential solutions as the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC) – the organization that defines requirements for automotive grade electronic components – works to update qualification procedures for evolving Cu-wire bond technology.

Reliability of Cu Wirebonded ICs for Automotive Applications

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (DPC) ◽  
pp. 001721-001752
Author(s):  
Jim McLeish ◽  
Greg Caswell ◽  
Randy Schueller
Keyword(s):  
High Reliability ◽  
Gold Wire ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Harsh Environment ◽  
Automotive Electronics ◽  
Package Design ◽  
Automotive Market ◽  
Wire Bonds ◽  
Bond Wires ◽  
Validation Tests

The transition to replace gold with copper bond wires in semiconductor components, primarily driven by the ever increasing price of gold wire, has been under way for several years. Cu wire bonds (Cu-WBs) are technically more challenging than gold to produce, requiring improved designs, processes and equipment. After introduction in consumer products, their use is now migrating to automotive electronics where product integrity for quality, reliability and durability (QRD) and safety over 10–15 years in a demanding harsh environment is paramount, in addition to managing cost in the highly competitive global automotive market. Reliability issues with some Cu wire bonded components detected during the rigorous product validation durability–reliability tests of automotive electronics, however, are starting to appear. The indications are that only optimized package design with well-controlled assembly processes are suitable for high reliability (hi-rel) harsh environment applications such as automotive, military and aerospace. A concern is that non-optimized Cu-WBs and package materials issues are being detected in module-level durability validation tests in parts that were qualified as automotive grade per AEC Q-100 or AEC-Q101. This paper will explore the issues and discuss potential solutions as the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC) – the organization that defines requirements for automotive grade electronic components – works to update qualification procedures for evolving Cu-wire bond technology.

Reliability Evaluation of Cu-Al WB in High Temperature and High Current Applications

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pradeep Lall ◽  
Sungmo Jung
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Copper Wire ◽  
Planck Equation ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Polarization Curves ◽  
Automotive Electronics ◽  
Wire Bonds ◽  
Chlorine Ions ◽  
Copper Aluminum

Abstract High reliability harsh environment applications necessitate a better understanding of the acceleration factors under operating stresses. Automotive electronics has transitioned to the use of copper wire for first level interconnects. A number of copper wire formulations have emerged including palladium coated copper and gold-flash palladium coated copper. The corrosion reliability of copper wire bonds in high temperature conditions is not yet fully understood. The EMC used to encapsulate chips and interconnects can vary widely in formulation, including pH, porosity, diffusion rate, composition of contaminants and contaminant concentration. To realistically represent the expected wirebond reliability, there is need for a predictive model that can account for environmental conditions, operating conditions, and exposure to EMCs. In this paper, different EMCs were studied in a high-temperature-current environment with temperature range of 60°C–100°C under current of 0.2A–1A. The diffusion kinetics based on the Nernst-Planck Equation for migration of the chlorine ions has been coupled with the Butler-Volmer equation for corrosion kinetics to create a Multiphysics model. Polarization curves have been measured for copper, aluminum and intermetallics under a number of pH values, and chlorine-ion concentrations. Tafel parameters have been extracted through measurements of the polarization curves.

scholarly journals Thermoelectric Cooling to Survive Commodity DRAMs in Harsh Environment Automotive Electronics

IEEE Access ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
Deepak M. Mathew ◽  
Hammam Kattan ◽  
Christian Weis ◽  
Jorg Henkel ◽  
Norbert Wehn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Harsh Environment ◽  
Automotive Electronics ◽  
Thermoelectric Cooling

scholarly journals Augmented Leadframe Design for Stable Multi-Wire Ground Bonding

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Frederick Ray I. Gomez ◽  
Alyssa Grace S. Gablan ◽  
Anthony R. Moreno ◽  
Nerie R. Gomez
Keyword(s):  
Failure Modes ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Semiconductor Industry ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Design Solution ◽  
Package Design ◽  
Strict Compliance ◽  
Bridge Type ◽  
Major Application ◽  
Augmented Design

Technological change has brought the global market into broad industrialization and modernization. One major application in the semiconductor industry demands safety and high reliability with strict compliance requirement. This technical paper focuses on the package design solution of quad-flat no leads (QFN) to mitigate the leadframe bouncing and its consequent effect of lifted wire and/or non-stick on leads (NSOL) defects on multi-wire ground connection. Multi-wire on single lead ground (or simply Gnd) connection plays critical attribute in the test coverage risk assessment. Cases of missing wire and/or NSOL on the multi-wire Gnd connection cannot be detected at test resulting to Bin1 (good) instead of Bin5 (open) failure. To ease the failure modes mechanism, a new design of QFN leadframe package with lead-to-diepad bridge-type connection was conceptualized for device with extended leads and with multiple Gnd wires connection. The augmented design would provide better stability than the existing leadframe configurations during wirebonding. Ultimately, the design would help eliminate potential escapees at test of lifted Gnd wire not detected.

POL and LDO for Harsh Environment Applications

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 (HITEN) ◽  
pp. 000075-000081
Author(s):  
Ramesh Khanna ◽  
Srinivasan Venkataraman
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Low Noise ◽  
Harsh Environment ◽  
Buck Converters ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Component Selection

Harsh Environment approved components/ designs require high reliability as well as availability of power to meet their system needs. The paper will explore the various design constrains imposed on the high temperature designs. Down hole oil and gas industry requires high reliability components that can withstand high temperature. Discrete component selection, packaging and constrains imposed by various specification requirements to meet harsh environment approval are critical aspect of high-temp designs. High temperature PCB material, PCB layout techniques, trace characteristics are an important aspect of high-temperature PCB design and will be explored in the article. Buck Converters are the basic building blocks, but in order to meet system requirements to power FPGA's where low output voltage and high currents are required. Converter must be able to provide wider step down ratios with high transient response so buck converters are used. The paper with explore the various features of a buck-based POL converter design. Low noise forces the need for Low-dropout (LDO) Regulators that can operate at high Temperatures up to 210°C. This paper will address the power requirements to meet system needs.

Increased High-Temperature IC Packaging Reliability Using Die Extraction and Additive Manufacturing Assembly

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (HiTEC) ◽  
pp. 000018-000022
Author(s):  
Erick M. Spory
Keyword(s):  
Additive Manufacturing ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Functional Performance ◽  
Operating Temperature ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Electroless Nickel ◽  
Gold Wire ◽  
Silver Deposition ◽  
Oil And Gas Exploration ◽  
Temperature Range

Abstract Semiconductor parts are most often specified for use in the “commercial” 0 to 70°C and, to a lesser extent, in the “industrial” −40 to 85°C operating temperature range. These operating temperature ratings generally satisfy the demands of the dominant semiconductor customers in the computer, telecommunications, and consumer electronic industries. There is also a demand for parts rated beyond the “industrial” temperature range, primarily from the aerospace, military, oil and gas exploration, and automotive industries (−55 to +125C, and even higher). However, the demand has not been large enough to attract or retain the interest of major semiconductor part manufacturers to make these parts. In fact, wide temperature range parts are becoming obsolete and functionally equivalent parts are not replacing them. Today, for some applications, it is difficult to procure parts that meet engineering, economic, logistical, and technical integration requirements of product manufacturers, and that are rated for an extended temperature range (typically beyond 0 to 70°C). In some applications, the product is available only in the “commercial” temperature range, with commercial packaging. If the product application environment is outside the commercial range, steps must be taken to address this apparent incompatibility. For example, oil exploration and drilling applications require small, advanced communication electronics to work underground at high temperatures where cooling is not possible. This is where uprating comes into play. Despite the fact that a part can be uprated relative to functional performance at higher than specified temperatures, the original packaging and connectivity may not be reliable with long term exposure to greater than 150C due to Kirkendall voiding and general plastic degradation. However, if the original die with gold wire and aluminum pad bond is extracted from the original plastic commercial package and reassembled into a new ceramic package body, excellent reliability at temperatures exceeding 200C can be achieved. The original gold/aluminum bond interface can be removed and replaced with an electroless nickel, electroless palladium, immersion gold (ENEPIG) process, or a much more economical, automated process can be used. This process is discussed in the accompanying paper and utilizes additive manufacturing to place an aerosol jet silver deposition over the existing gold ball, interfacing with the remaining exposed aluminum. In this manner, a high-reliability connection system can be achieved which is immune to Kirkendall voiding for the temperature range of interest.

Process and Evaluation of High Reliability Reworkable Edge Bond Adhesives for Large Area BGA Applications

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (DPC) ◽  
pp. 002018-002053
Author(s):  
Swapan Bhattacharya ◽  
Fei Xie ◽  
Daniel F. Baldwin ◽  
Han Wu ◽  
Kelley Hodge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Process Development ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Optimum Process ◽  
Process Conditions ◽  
Harsh Environment ◽  
Mechanical Shock ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Reliability Performance

Reworkable underfills and edge bond adhesives are finding increasing utility in high reliability and harsh environment applications. The ASICs and FPGAs often used in these systems typically require designs incorporating large BGAs and ceramic BGAs. For these high reliability and harsh environment applications, these packages typically require underfill or edge bond materials to achieve the needed thermal cycle, mechanical shock and vibration reliability. Moreover, these applications often incorporate high dollar value printed circuit boards (on the order of thousands or tens of thousands of dollars per PCB) hence the need to rework these assemblies and maintain the integrity of the PCB and high dollar value BGAs. This further complicates the underfill requirements with a reworkability component. Reworkable underfills introduce a number of process issues that can result in significant variability in reliability performance. In contrast, edge bond adhesives provide a high reliability solution with substantial benefits over underfills. One interesting question for the large area BGA applications of reworkable underfills and edge bond materials is the comparison of their reliability performance. This paper presents a study of reliability comparison between two robust selected reworkable underfill and edge bond adhesive in a test vehicle including 11mm, 13mm, and 27mm large area BGAs. Process development for those large area BGA applications was also conducted on the underfill process and edge bond process to determine optimum process conditions. For underfill processing, establishing an underfill process that minimizing/eliminates underfill voids is critical. For edge bond processing, establishing an edge bond that maximizes bond area without encapsulating the solder balls is key to achieving high reliability. In addition, this paper also presents a study of new high performance reworkable edge bond materials designed to improve the reliability of large area BGAs and ceramic BGAs assemblies while maintaining good reworkablity. Four edge bond materials (commercially available) were studied and compared for a test vehicles with 12mm BGAs. The reliability testing protocol included board level thermal cycling (−40 to 125°C), mechanical drop testing (2900 G), and random vibration testing (3 G, 10 – 1000 Hz).

Critical Barriers Associated with Copper Wire

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (1) ◽  
pp. 000394-000398
Author(s):  
William G. Crockett
Keyword(s):  
High Reliability ◽  
Copper Wire ◽  
Automotive Electronics ◽  
Bonding Wire ◽  
Cu Alloy ◽  
Bonding Wires ◽  
Reducing Costs ◽  
Cu Bonding ◽  
Bonding Characteristics ◽  
Bare Copper

Since around 2008, the shift from Gold (Au) bonding wire to Copper (Cu) bonding wire has been taking place, full scale, with the aim of reducing costs. When compared with Au, Cu wire presents challenges in reliability and repeatable bonding characteristics in terms of chemical stability, which is required in high reliability applications. Therefore Cu wire adoption in automotive and industrial semiconductors has been limited. Conventionally the market for Cu bonding wires has been divided into two types: bare Cu wires (high purity) and Palladium coated copper (PCC) bonding wires. These wires have yet to satisfy the required characteristics for high reliability products such as industrial and automotive electronics. A new breed of alternative bonding wires has been developed to offer performance advantages for high reliability applications compared to bare copper wire and PCC wire. Cu alloy wire and Ag alloy wires continue their market introduction for advanced bonding applications, where bare Cu and PCC wires have known limitations.

A STUDY OF SURFACE FINISHES FOR IC SUBSTRATES AND WIRE BOND APPLICATIONS

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 (1) ◽  
pp. 000516-000520 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Ganjei ◽  
Ernest Long ◽  
Lenora Toscano
Keyword(s):  
Surface Finish ◽  
Printed Circuit Boards ◽  
Performance Enhancement ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Electroless Nickel ◽  
Gold Wire ◽  
Electronics Industry ◽  
Surface Finishes ◽  
And Performance

The continuing drive for ever increasing performance enhancement in the electronics industry, in combination with the recent, very significant increase in precious metal costs have left fabricators and OEMs questioning what the best, most cost effective, surface finish is for high reliability applications. Currently, the IC substrate market relies heavily on electrolytic nickel and gold as a solderable and superior wire bondable surface. The use of this finish has allowed manufacturers to avoid the reliability concerns However, this choice also results in significant design restraints being imposed. Many in the industry are now investigating the use of electroless nickel/electroless palladium/immersion gold (ENEPIG) to achieve both high reliability and performance, without the negative design restraints imparted by the use of electrolytic processes. However, over the last year alone, the industry has watched the price of gold increase by 50% and that of palladium double [1]. With this in mind, and considering the historic precedent set in the mid 1990’s when ENEPIG was also evaluated as a surface finish for printed circuit boards, when coincidentally, the cost of palladium also reached an all time high, it should be remembered that the electronics industry quickly moved to evaluate alternate, more cost sustainable, surface finishes. This paper details the use of lower cost, alternate surface finishes for IC substrate applications, with particular experimental focus on gold wire bonding capabilities and BGA solderability of the finishes described. The paper also discusses related process cycle advantages and the significantly reduced operating costs associated with these new finishes.

scholarly journals SENIOR FRIENDLY PACKAGING AND PRODUCT TESTING: FEEDBACK FROM OLDER CONSUMERS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S639-S640
Author(s):  
Lisa A Hollis-Sawyer ◽  
Alison O’Neil
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Evaluation Study ◽  
The United States ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Color Contrast ◽  
Product Testing ◽  
Package Design ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract By 2050, older adults ages 65 or older will account for 83.7 million people in the U.S. population (An Aging Nation: The Older Population in the United States, 2014). It is imperative that products and technologies are designed to accommodate age-related changes that older adults are likely to experience. Given this population surge of older adults, there is a growing interest in identifying consumer products that are usable for older adults or “senior friendly.” Senior-friendly product testing (e.g., Senior Select®) focuses on the usability of various health and consumer products targeted to people with diminishment of any of the following: hearing, vision, taste, touch, smell, mobility & dexterity and /or mental acuity. A usability evaluation study was conducted in three senior living communities located in the Atlanta area. Twenty-nine participants ranged in age from 66 years old to 102 years old. Participants were shown a snack bar product and then asked to use the product themselves to perform a series of prepared tasks. After interacting with the product, participants were asked to share any comments that they had concerning the product. Issues of color contrast between the main packaging and the pull tab, easy of gripping and tearing the wrapper, the labeling of the nutrition information, and the package labeling (should refer to “adult” snack) were reported. Many respondents suggested that senior-friendly package design relates to their health and well-being. Implications toward a wide range of products for older adults of varying ability levels will be discussed.

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