Gold: The High Reliability Choice in Semiconductor Packaging

摘要

The reliability of gold in microelectronic packaging makes it the standard, by which all otherrnmaterials must be judged. Even though the price of gold has risen significantly in this decade the usage ofrngold in microelectronic packaging has continued to grow and as consumer demand for high-endrnelectronics continues to increase this trend looks set to continue.rnEfforts to make the most cost-effective usage of gold through spot plating, plating thicknessrnreduction and the usage of thinner bonding wire have been successful. Gold wire remains the main wirernmaterial for ball bonding in microelectronics assembly and has proven reliable in billions of devices overrnmany years. However, high gold prices are increasingly forcing a shift towards cheaper copper wire,rndespite concerns over reliability. As a result there is a need to obtain higher quality reliability data withrngold and copper wires supported by state of the art analytical methods. This will help quantify and validaternthe relative merits of the two metals in this critical application.rnDesign-for-recycling should also be an important consideration in material selection. Thernprecious metals (mainly gold) constitute a very substantial proportion of the material value of wasternelectronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) and gold can be considered as a key component of therneconomic viability of WEEE recycling.