Accelerating Root Cause Identification of Subtle Bonding Failures Using Microwave Induced Plasma

Bonding failures are a common source of abnormal electrical signals in failing devices. While major defects are easily identifiable, detecting subtle wire bond failures remains challenging. Identifying these minor defects often requires a tedious investigation. This work demonstrates using JIACO Microwave Induced Plasma (MIP) to reveal subtle bonding failures that go undetected in curve trace analysis. By correlating discolored bond wires with lifted ball bonds through optical imaging, all lifted ball bonds can be identified more efficiently, thereby accelerating root cause investigation. A postdecapsulation analysis of a case study is presented, along with a theoretical explanation of the detecting method.