ABSTRACT
Wire bonding technology is one of the most widespread and reliable interconnection techniques in microelectronics. Gold, aluminum, and copper and their alloys can all be used as wire materials. High purity gold bonding wire has been widely used in semiconductor devices since the assembly of semiconductor packages began approximately 40 years ago. Gold is used because of its ductility, low electrical resistance and resistance to oxidation. Recently, as the applications for semiconductor devices have expanded, the requirements for gold bonding wire have become more diverse and many different kinds of gold bonding wire are now produced for wiring the electrodes of an integrated circuit (IC) and the inner leads of semiconductor packages. In addition, the ongoing trend in miniaturization of electronics products in turn requires semiconductor packages to become smaller, thinner and lighter, and gold bonding wire products able to meet these challenges are continually being developed. This chapter provides an overview of the use of gold bonding wire in the electronics industry (Figure 13.1).
