Wire bond metallurgy for high temperature electronics

Wire-bond failure mechanisms in plastic encapsulated microcircuits and ceramic hybrids at high temperatures

“…Gold thick film conductors with palladium added was in the 1970s reported to slow down the intermetallic formation rate and improve the hightemperature reliability [6,8,9]. A similar effect has been obtained by introducing a nickel barrier layer at the aluminium-gold interface [10,11]. For both of these solutions, the amount of published data is very limited.…”

“…Al wire bonding to nickel is another alternative that has been reported as more promising for high temperatures [10,11]. Fig.…”

Failure models in power device interconnects

“…Wire flexure fatigue occurs because of the thermal bending stresses induced at the ends of the wirebond when the wire and module expand and contract at different rates during temperature or power cycling [10]. Fig.…”

Power Modulation Investigation for High Temperature (175-200 degrees Celcius) Automotive Application

“…There can be a concern between the Al wires and the Au plating on the DBC or the copper on the DBC. However, the use of nickel plated DBC will eliminate this concern, as Al wires on Ni plated DBC have not been seen to exhibit intermetallic formation at 1000 hours at temperatures up to 350°C [92].…”