Daizo Oda

High-Performance Silver Alloy Bonding Wire for Memory Devices

For memory devices, focus has been on Ag alloybonding wire as a low-cost alternative to Au bonding wire. However, Ag bonding wire has lower long-term bond reliabilitythan Au bonding wire under high temperature and humidityconditions. Past research has mainly been concerned withenhancing the bond reliability by Pd doping into the Agbonding wire. On the other hand, Ag-Pd alloy bonding wire haspractical issues such as high electrical resistance and high freeair-ball (FAB) hardness. A new type of Ag alloy wire (2N Agalloy) was developed to achieve enhanced bond reliability, lowelectrical resistance and low FAB hardness compared toconventional one. Moreover, the 2N Ag alloy wire has goodFAB formability and bond properties. This new Ag alloy wire isconsidered to be preferable for advanced memory devices.