Optimizing wire bonding processes for maximum factory portability

In today's market of finer pitch high-end semiconductor devices, wire bonder set-up time could become too long and expensive without factory specific tools and processes. Reducing set-up time reduces cost and increases efficiency by allowing higher machine utilization. One of the keys to improving machine set-up time is bonder-to-bonder portability. To meet this challenge, wire-bonding equipment is designed and tested for factory interface and process portability. This paper discusses the critical areas of wire bonder equipment and process recipe development that lead to better utilization of factory resources by creating more portable processes. The use of so-called machine "personality" parameters and the effect of capillary and wire dimensional tolerances are also discussed.