TAIPEI, 23.09.2020 – The semiconductor market still heavily relies on gold bonding wire for memory devices and high-end smartcards. With 5G technologies the need for even more memory is rising. At the same time, manufacturers need cost-efficient material solutions in this highly competitive market. Heraeus AgCoat Prime Gold-Coated Silver Bonding Wire combines the advantages of gold and silver offering an alternative to gold bonding wire for the packaging industry. AgCoat Prime is a silver alloy bonding wire coated with a layer of gold on the exterior.
High gold prices are a difficult challenge for the market. However, directly replacing gold bonding wire with silver is not ideal, because of its shorter floor life limitation and the costs of forming gas to form FAB (Free Air Ball) used during the silver bonding process.
“With AgCoat Prime Heraeus has developed the first viable solution to cutting costs while maintaining the comparable quality to gold wire,” says James Kim, Product Manager at Heraeus Electronics. As a leading supplier of bonding wires, Heraeus again leads in providing a new solution for customers in the memory market.
High gold prices are a difficult challenge for the market. However, directly replacing gold bonding wire with silver is not ideal, because of its shorter floor life limitation and the costs of forming gas to form FAB (Free Air Ball) used during the silver bonding process.
“With AgCoat Prime Heraeus has developed the first viable solution to cutting costs while maintaining the comparable quality to gold wire,” says James Kim, Product Manager at Heraeus Electronics. As a leading supplier of bonding wires, Heraeus again leads in providing a new solution for customers in the memory market.
Fig.1.: Comparison of IMC growth rates
Key Benefits of AgCoat Prime at a glance:
- MTBA (Mean Time Between Assist) is comparable to gold wire
- Gas-free FAB (Free Air Ball) formation in bonding process.
- Longer floor life (60 days) compared to silver alloy wire
- Improves second bond workability
- Improved reliability performance on HTS (High Temperature Storage) and TC (Thermal Cycling) compared to gold wire
- Retain your existing facility infrastructure to avoid any capital investment
- Reuse of existing ball bonders in your production floor
- Slower IMC (Intermetallic Compound) growth rate compared to Au wire
Please visit us at SEMICON Taiwan, booth I2300, 1F (Materials Pavilion) to see a live demonstration. Heraeus is also featuring a TechXPOT presentation on AgCoat Prime.