Failures of Ag Wire Bonding ICs in Real-world Applications

The semiconductor assembly industry has migrated from Au wire to Cu wire, and has recently started with Ag alloy wire, due to the advantages of higher conductivity, lower price and hardness. With this paper, we reviewed several failure mechanisms of commercial silver wire bonding ICs operating in real life applications. The analyzed failure mechanisms are mainly due to: (1) pad cratering, (2) electrochemical migration, (3) chemical corrosion, (4) wire bridge. The results give a guidance on the improvement of the reliability and robustness of plastic encapsulated ICs using Ag wire.