Effect of Process Parameters on Free Air Ball Integrity in Copper and Palladium-coated Copper Bonding Wires

The Free Air Ball (FAB) formation processes of fine diameter Cu wires were observed, and the effects of process parameters were studied on the basis of high-speed camera observation. It was revealed that the FAB formation process is characterized by preheating before melting, melting that accompanies ball rising, and solidification periods. The relationships between the electronic flame-off (EFO) condition and the FAB formation were summarized for both bare Cu and palladium-coated Cu wires. Further study was performed on the changes in FAB shape with different EFO conditions, wire types, and FAB sizes. Off-centered FABs were observed in the bare Cu wire whereas they were rarely observed in the Pd-coated Cu wire. The off-center tended to be affected by shielding gas condition, EFO torch gap, and FAB size. The mechanisms of the off-centered FAB formation were proposed through the high speed camera observations. The optimization of process parameters to achieve defect-free, consistent FAB is discussed based on these findings, which is useful for the next generation high density packaging.