Micro wear modeling in copper wire wedge bonding

Ultrasonic wire bonding is a common technology for connecting electrodes of electronic components like power modules. Nowadays, bond connections are often made of copper instead of aluminum due to its thermal and mechanical assets. One of the main cost factors in the wire bonding process is the acquisition cost of consumables such as bonding tools. For copper wire bonding tool lifetime is much lower than for aluminium bonding. This paper presents a micro wear model for wedge/wedge bonding tools that was validated by observing wear patterns with a scanning electron microscope. The wear coefficient is determined in long-term bonding tests. The application of Fleischer's wear approach incorporating frictional power to a finite element simulation of the bonding processes is used to shift element nodes depending on the rising frictional power for finite element modeling. The presented simulation method can be used to take tool wear into consideration for creating tools with increased lifetime. This enables the production of reliable bond connections using heavy as well as thin wire of any material. The paper discusses the predominant influences of wear on the main tool functions and their changes over tool life. Furthermore, the influence of the tool groove angle on the tool wear was investigated. One of the main results is that the wear is largest during the last phase of each bonding process, when the contact area between tool and wire is largest.