Institute of Micro Production Technology Research Current Projects
Fundamental investigation of the mechanisms of ultrasonic wedge-wedge bonding using varying topographies

Fundamental investigation of the mechanisms of ultrasonic wedge-wedge bonding using varying topographies

Year:  2017
Date:  05-05-17
Funding:  Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Duration:  2017 - 2019

Ultrasonic wire bonding has been used in microelectronics for more than half a century. However, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood, which prevents further improvement of this technique. This project’s aim is to find unknown mechanisms and investigate their influence on the bonding process.

 

In particular, the research is focused on friction and material softening during ultrasonic bonding. These two aspects play an important role in the removal of metal oxides and the development of micro-weldings. It is imperative to understand their speed of formation and stability.

 

The project includes a comprehensive design of experiments to determine the influence of different process parameters as well as the creation of an empirical model to predict the changes in metal oxide and the roughness of the contact points as a function of the bonding time. Ideally, this should allow an a priori evaluation of the expected local and global bond quality. Furthermore, based on the parameter study, new substrate and wire topographies will be used and evaluated in order to achieve an improvement in binding speed and quality.

 

All results will provide a fundamental insight into the binding mechanisms and thus close the gap to a complete understanding of the process.