Note: Contact Amkor for detailed production and development status of specific package families

Free Air Ball (FAB) Hardness (Hv)

A huge increase in the price of gold (Au) has driven the need for lower

cost wire materials. Bare copper, Palladium-Coated Copper (PCC),

Au-coated PCC (Au PCC) and silver (Ag) alloy wires have emerged as

alternatives to gold bond wires. Copper-based wires are low cost and

have excellent electrical resistivity. However, the hardness of copper

makes it difficult to use in many applications such as those with fragile

bond pad structures. For these applications, Ag-Alloy offers properties

similar to those of gold while its cost is similar to that of Au PCC.

Package Families Using Ag-Alloy Wire Devices

CABGA

PSOP

LQFP

SC70

MicroLeadFrame® (QFN)

SCSP

MQFP

SOIC

PBGA

SOT-23

PDIP

SSOP

PLCC

TQFP

fcCSP

TSSOP

Silver Wirebonding

TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

In Production

In Development

Process Nodes

14 nm

<14 nm

Wire Diameter

18 µm

15 µm

Inline Bond Pad Pitch

40 µm

35 µm

Staggered Bond Pad Pitch

25/50 µm

20/40 µm

Standoff Stitch Bonding Pad Pitch

50 µm

40 µm

Ag-Alloy Wire Readiness

AMKOR OVERVIEW

Amkor entered volume manufacturing

in 2013. Five package families

(laminate/leadframe) are in volume

production with >50 other packages

under qualification and evaluation.

KEY FEATURES

f

Ag-Alloy wire is softer than Cu wire

resulting in lower Al-Splash and lower

risk of bond pad damage

f

Ag-Alloy wire has a wide

process window that improves

manufacturability for devices with

fragile bond pad structures

BENEFITS

Ag-Alloy wire is the best low-cost

replacement for applications that

need:

f

Die-to-die bonding, waterfall bonding

and very thin AI pad

f

Ultra-fine bond pad pitch (BPP) and

small bond pad openings (BPO) with

less AI splash

f

Ultra-low loop height

f

Ag alloy has higher resistivity than Au

and PCC