Modeling and simulation of the ultrasonic wire bonding process

Abstract

Ultrasonic wire bonding is an indispensable process in the manufacturing of semiconductor components. It is used for interconnecting the silicon die to e.g. connectors in the housing or to other semiconductors in complex components. In high power applications, such as wind turbines, locomotives or electric vehicles, the thermal and mechanical limits of interconnects made from aluminum are nearing. The limits could be overcome using copper wire bonds, but their manufacturing poses challenges due to the harder material, which leads to increased wear of the bond tools and to less reliable production. To overcome these drawbacks, adaptation of process parameters at runtime is employed. However, the range of parameter values for which a stable process can be maintained is very small, making it necessary to compute suitable parameters beforehand. To this end, and to gain insights into the process itself, the ultrasonic bonding process is modeled. The full model is composed of several partial models, some of which were introduced before. This paper focuses on the modularization of the full model and on the interaction of partial models. All partial models are presented, their interaction is shown and the general outline of the simulation process is given.