Piezo-FET stress-sensor arrays for wire-bonding characterization

This paper reports the design, fabrication, and characterization of a two-dimensional stress-sensor array based on a stress-sensor element exploiting the transverse pseudo-Hall effect in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) field effect transistors (FET). P-channel MOS (PMOS) devices were integrated in a 4/spl times/4 stress sensor array with a total area of 120/spl times/120 /spl mu/m/sup 2/. The individual elements of the array are sensitive to the local shear stress in the chip plane. They are selected using a CMOS integrated digital decoder and transmission gates. The new array was characterized using a commercial ball-wedge wire bonding tool and was used for the in situ monitoring of the bonding process. The spatially resolved measurement of the stress distribution underneath and close to a bond pad during the bond wire touch-down is demonstrated. The array is able to resolve variations in the touch-down position of 10 /spl mu/m. The time of 1.6 ms for acquisition of a full frame is currently limited by the experimental setup. To monitor the stress distribution during the bonding process, an aluminum covered stress sensor array similar to a standard bond pad was used. The successful bond formation between a gold ball and the metal bond pad was observed. The bond formation becomes evident as a characteristic, concentrated stress profile with large peak value appearing within 20 ms. The maximum stresses underneath the successfully bonded area exceeds stress levels in unbonded sensor locations by a factor of up to 60.