Shape-Dependent Transmittable Tangential Force of Wire Bond Tools

Wire bonding has been an established packaging technology for decades. When introducing copper as wire material for high power applications, adaptations to the bonding process and to machines became necessary. Here, challenges occur due to the stiffer wire material and changing oxide layers on the contact partners. To achieve sufficient process stability, a clean bond area is required, which can only be achieved with high shear stresses in the contact partners' surfaces. These necessitate high normal forces to plastically deform the wire and substrate. To achieve such high stresses in the contact area, the bonding tool needs to be able to transmit the needed tangential forces to the top side of the wire. The wire itself performs a shear movement and transmits the force into the contact area to clean the contaminant and oxide layers and to level the desired bond surfaces. The main function of the tool is to transmit these forces. If the bond tool can only transmit low forces in the direction of excitation, the parameter space for a stable bond process is severely restricted. Here, a modeling approach to estimate how well different tool shapes meet the demand of transmitting high tangential forces is presented. The model depends on wire deformation and thus on the ultrasonic softening effect.