Introduction to Wire Bonding (online)

You may be eligible for a fully funded place on this course. For further details please see 'funding' section.

Gain theoretical and practical understanding of the wire bonding process as a key microelectronic interconnection technique.

This will help you understand how wire bonding equipment works and will also inform better decision making when implementing the wire bonding process.

Service Design video

Who it’s for

Anyone exposed to or developing the wire bonding process.

This course has been designed for employees of the compound semiconductor cluster in South Wales (known as CSconnected), and specifically those working in the packaging of semiconductor modules and devices.

The training could also be relevant for those working in the semiconductor sector globally, as well as for their supply chain partners and anyone else interested in a knowledge of wire bonding.

Funding

You can qualify for a fully funded place on this course if you are 18 or older and either live or work in the UK. For more information and to apply please complete this form.

What you’ll learn

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

• Explain what wire bonding is and its function within the wider semiconductor supply chain (i.e. as a packaging process)
• Understand the performance expected from a good wire bond
• Describe, in simple terms, the generic step-by-step processes involved in wire bonding and how the machinery works
• Explain the similarities and differences between ball bonding, wedge bonding, and ribbon bonding techniques, including their pros and cons
• Know which materials can be used in the wire bonding process and which materials to select according to the outcomes that you need
• Understand the different parameters that affect the ‘recipe’ when wire bonding and how changing the parameters affects the outcome
• Know how to validate the quality of wire bonding through pull tests and shear tests
• Know about the main safety issues to be aware of when wire bonding
• Know the professional standards used for wire bonding

Topics covered

Examples of wire bonding and machinery

Materials used for wire bonding

Steps in the wire bonding process, including:

• Known wire material requirements
• Target sample/product setting
• Pre-recipe searching
• Bonding

Ball and wedge bonding techniques

Parameters affecting the ‘recipe’, including:

• Time
• Ultrasonic Power
• Force
• Temperature
• Wire materials – Gold, Aluminium, Copper
• Ball, wedge, and ribbon bonding
• Wire shape – tail, bridge height, etc

Fundamentals of ultrasonic, thermosonic, and thermocompression bonding

Current carrying capacity and fusing limits

Metallurgical interactions

Troubleshooting – what can go wrong during processing and in service

Advanced wire/ribbon bonding processes – laser and laser/ultrasonic

Equipment manufacturers and the supply chain

Validation of the process – quality and tests

• Wire pull
• Ball shear
• Wire pull and ball shear failure mode interpretation (ball lift, shear, wire break on 1st, 2nd bond)
• Loop height
• Ball diameter

Benefits

This course has been designed in collaboration with industry partners from the CSconnected cluster, the world’s first compound semiconductor cluster based in and around South Wales in the United Kingdom, and using funding provided by UKRI’s Strength in Places Fund.

Teaching and useful information

Delivered by Dr Daniel Wang, Cardiff’s Institute of Compound Semiconductors (ICS)

Steve Riches, iMAPS-UK

Andy Longford, iMAPS-UK

This course is designed for you to complete in your own time and at your own pace. There is no live element but you will have the opportunity to contact the lead tutor.

The course will be delivered via the University's virtual learning platform, Learning Central. Your individual login details will be emailed to you a few days before your course access begins.

You will have access to the course materials for four months.

A CPD Certificate of Completion will be issued to learners who achieve 70% or more in the end of course test.