The book provides technical insights into copper wire bonding technology. It discusses the advantages of copper bonding over gold bonding, and describes the adoption of copper in the semiconductor industry. The book covers topics such as bonding metallurgy, reliability testing, failure analysis, and recommendations for the copper bonding process. It serves as both an educational tool and technical reference for academics and industry practitioners.

1. Book review
Copper Wire Bonding, Preeti S., Chauhan, Anupam Choubey,
ZhaoWei Zhong, Michael G. Pecht, Springer (2014). XXVI, pp. 235,
ISBN: 978-1-4614-5760-2 (Print), 978-1-4614-5761-9 (Online)
Copper Wire Bonding by Preeti S. Chauhan, Anupam Choubey,
ZhaoWei Zhong and Michael G. Pecht presents good technical in-
sights of copper wirebonding technology, suitable for both indus-
try and academic practitioners. The authors provide insights on
the broad values and technical applications of copper wire bonding
in this book. While the book is written as a standard classroom
textbook, it contains enough real-world references to highlight
the book’s practicality, including real-world examples on copper
wirebonding concerns and solutions at the end of the book. The
book’s opening chapter presents a good business case and under-
scores the advantages of copper wirebonding, supporting it with
documented examples of success. The advantages of copper over
gold, such as lower cost, higher mechanical strength, and higher
electrical and thermal conductivity, are discussed in this chapter.
Also contained in this chapter is a description of the adoption of
copper wire bonding in the semiconductor industry, as well as
future projections for its usage.
The authors reviewed the fundamental concepts of wire bond-
ing process, including the influence of process parameters on the
wire bonds and bond process optimization, in Chapter 2. The
potential defects and failures that can arise during the bonding
process and bonding damage induced by tools are explained. Chap-
ter 3 presents various wire bonding metallurgies for Cu and PdCu
wires. The most common variations are bare Cu wires, PdCu wires
with Al bond pads, and Ni/Au bond pads. It also discusses interme-
tallic growth rates and electrical, mechanical, and thermal proper-
ties of the intermetallics in copper wirebonding, including
bondpad interfaces for Ni-based finishes, such as Au–AuNi,
Au–AuPdNi, Cu–AuNi, and Cu–AlPdNi.
In Chapter 4, the authors discuss the evaluation of wire bonding
performance. The industry standards and best practices for wire
bonding quality assurance and testing methods, and common reli-
ability tests for wire bonds are also explained. Chapter 5 covers the
thermal reliability tests conducted on Cu wire bonds. High temper-
ature storage test on Cu and PdCu wires on Al-, Au-, and Ni-based
bond pads are discussed, and reliability test data are provided.
Effects of high humidity and high temperature, as well as high cur-
rent densities, on the reliability of Cu wire bonds are covered in
Chapter 6.
Beyond these reliability evaluations on copper wirebonding and
other real-world examples that supplement sections throughout
the book, are Chapters 7 (Examination on different pad surface fin-
ishes) and 8 (Overview of the concerns with Cu wire bonding and
the industry’s solutions). Chapter 8 is focused on concerns with
copper wirebonding implementation in industry based on real-
world failures, and provides with technical solutions to the key
concerns well-known failure modes (such as pad cratering and
copper ball bond corrosion under humid environment). Chapter
9 reviews recommendations for the wire bonding process, includ-
ing the use of oxidation prevention technology and bonding pro-
cess parameter optimization. Recommendations for the usage of
PdCu wire and bond pad surface treatments, including organic
coating and plasma treatments, are given. The microstructural
characterization conducted on bond–pad interfacial intermetallics,
including interfacial IMC thickness, mechanical and electrical
properties of IMCs, and recommended aging temperatures for
IMC characterization, is explained. Recommendations are provided
for wire bond inspection and strength evaluations, reliability, qual-
ification, and failure analysis. A very useful and informative last
chapter (Chapter 9) of the book was the ‘‘Concerns, Solutions and
Recommendations’’ which were a set of comprehensive technical
case studies that covered in the book.
In summary, the book gives a wide perspective on the technical
insights of copper wire bonding deployment in industry while add-
ing very valuable industry insights. It is a good resource to demon-
strate the many facets of copper wire bonding, and can serve as a
very informative technical reference. Valuable as a learning tool for
copper wire bonding, its clear relevance to real world industry
practices make it useful for both academics and semiconductor
industry practitioners.
Chong Leong Gan a,b,⇑
Classe Francis a
Bak Lee Chan a
Hashim Uda b
a
Spansion (Penang) Sdn. Bhd., Penang, Malaysia
b
Institute of Nano Electronic Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis,
Malaysia
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 124406518.
E-mail address: clgan_pgg@yahoo.com (C.L. Ga).
Available online 21 November 2013
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.microrel.2013.10.024
Microelectronics Reliability 54 (2014) 490
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Microelectronics Reliability
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/microrel