6 Conclusions and Outlook

Conclusions
A novel triaxial force sensor has been developed for measuring the forces acting on
the electro-mechanical contacts of wire bonding and flip-chip packaging processes.
The sensing principle is based on the piezoresistivity of the source/drain implanta-
tion of a commercially available 0.8 m, double metal, single polysilicon CMOS
process. The sensor design makes use of the symmetry properties of the Wheatstone
bridge and the stress field to achieve uniaxial force sensing. The sensitivity and
cross-talk between the different axes has been described by a tensor formalism.
These xyz-force sensors are the core of a packaging test chip family for wire
bonding and flip-chip process investigations. Up to 48 xyz-force sensors connected
to a multiplexer bus enable the recording of large measurement series with minimal
set-up times. The packaging test chip is embedded in a real-time, high speed mea-
surement system that is able to record up to 20 measurement recurrences (wires) per
second. During each measurement the complete set of microsensor signals and wire
bonding reference signals are recorded. The large frequency range of the sensor
allows for the recording of low-frequency signals, as e.g. machine vibrations, as
well as the individual oscillations of the ultrasound vibrations during the ther-
mosonic bonding process. This in situ, real-time inspection method is used for wire
bond machine and process research and development.
Based on the developed force sensors, machine parameters including ultrasound
amplitude and applied normal force have been related to physical quantities at the
bonding zone. Until now, the inaccessibility to the bonding zone prevented inspec-
tion of the process window in terms of physical quantities acting at the bond zone
itself. Furthermore, off-line inspection methods only qualified the final stage of
bonding. The xyz-force sensor gives the opportunity to resolve the time evolution of
the bond process. The bond process can be divided into different stages according to
the various dominating processes. Physical processes, as e.g. friction at contact
zone, friction between ball and capillary, have been identified by changes in the
ultrasound wave form of the microsensor signal. The friction between ball and cap-
illary limits the maximum attainable shear force for small bond forces. In addition,
the starting point of ultrasound enhanced deformation has been described by an
elliptical line in the parameter space of the normal and tangential force. Over the
160 6 Conclusions and Outlook

whole process window, the maximal tangential force measured by the microsensors
correlates well with the off-line measured shear force for bonds using the Au-Al
contact system.
In contrast to the Au-Al contact system, friction at the contact zone is absent for
both the first (ball) and the second bond (wedge) using Au-Au contacts. The force
that is needed for tail formation can be measured with the z-force sensor. An expla-
nation of the direction dependence of the bond strength during the second bond are
low-frequency forces that are present during the deformation process.
The xyz-force sensor has also been used to measure the force acting on the indi-
vidual solder balls of a flip-chip during thermal cycling and substrate bending.

Outlook
To further develop the wire bonding process towards finer pitches, more reliable
contacts, higher yields, and lower cost, an improved understanding of the physics of
the process will be helpful. To assess the quality of the required physical process
models, the experimental knowledge of the physical quantities at the bonding zone
is a prerequisite. The force measurements of the microsensor are thus a good start-
ing point for modelling the bond growth mechanism. The bonding parameter depen-
dence of the offset and slope of the demarcating line of friction between ball /
capillary in the ultrasound / normal force parameter plane has to be examined fur-
ther. The bond parameters close to that line are a promising starting point for bond
process optimization focused on decreasing process sensitivity to ultrasound varia-
tion (e.g. caused by a capillary exchange). The point of coinciding lines of deforma-
tion and friction between ball / capillary is of peculiar interest as it offers small
deformation in combination with high shear force and process stability.
This work concentrated on bond growth effects that take place at low substrate
temperatures, e.g. during bonding of BGA-substrates. At high substrate tempera-
tures, intermetallic phase growth due to diffusion processes influences the bond
strength. To extend a friction based bond growth model to higher temperatures,
thermal effects need to be included. It has been shown that gross friction processes
at the contact zone are absent for Au-Au contact systems. Further process investiga-
tions are needed to understand the influence of the ultrasound on the bond strength.
For future bonding processes, the tangential forces acting on the wedge bond
during the impact and ultrasound bonding time could be controlled with appropriate
bond head movement, resulting in a further reduction in the direction dependence.
This work concentrated on the investigation of Au-Al and Au-Au contact systems.
The deposition of a Ag metallization would extend the selection of important con-
tact systems for wedge bond investigations. Further optimizations of the wedge
bond sensors should concentrate on reduction of detrimental cross-coupling of the
bond force in the x- and y-forces.
The sensor system is optimized for the wire bonding application. Thus a design
with decreased sensitivity to thermal stresses in the CMOS layers could signifi-
cantly improve the temperature range for low-frequency force measurement as is
needed for the flip-chip applications.