(July 5, 2006) CONCORD, CA and TORONTO, ON — March Plasma Systems and Microbonds Inc. announced a co-development project to align the technology roadmaps of Microbonds' insulated wire-bonding technology with March Plasma's line of automated and batch-plasma-treatment systems. The technology enables bonding wires connecting the die and substrate to touch without causing an electrical short — facilitating the adoption of fine-diameter bonding wire, longer wires, area-array bonding, higher-density stacked die, multi-tier and other 3-D packages, as well as new designs. The technology applies a nanoscale coating to bare bonding wires then re-spools them, creating insulation without extensive changes to interconnect parameters.
Microbonds sees the collaborative effort as one angle to a 360° approach to ensure product compatibility. "The interaction of materials and processes in finer and denser packages creates this inevitable trend towards collaboration," said John Scott, CEO of Microbonds, adding that thorough testing before market was a natural interest for both companies. He said they have reached out to every technology or process that their technology touches, and cited collaborations with Cookson Electronics, Small Precision Tools, ASM, Kulicke and Soffa, and a licensing agreement with Tanaka Denshi Group intended to connect the Canadian company with Asian markets.
March's plasma processing technology focuses on wafer-level and advanced packaging applications. They design and manufacture advanced plasma-treatment systems with a team of plasma scientists and engineers. "Because some plasma processes that work for regular non-insulated wires may not be suitable for insulated wires, it is necessary to qualify insulated wire plasma processes one by one to ensure that they give good results for a particular application," said Scott D. Szymanski, semiconductor market manager, March Plasma.
Insulated wire technology addresses interconnect packaging and yield challenges, says Peter Bierhuis, president, March Plasma. The insulated wires use z-space on the package, which allows for the use of denser, smaller packages. "The plasma process is needed to help prevent wire breaks and delamination during encapsulation," said Szymanski. Plasma treatment improves bond strength and increases device yield and reliability; however, the cleaning processes are capable of cracking or degrading wire insulation. Szymanski describes the plasma treatment collaboration as a way to reach a "happy medium," reducing damage and improving packaging. Microbonds plans to use the processing capabilities of March Plasma to develop insulated wires compatible with the entire assembly process, expanding commercialization of the technology.
