Delamination owed to environmental stress is a relevant concern in the field of microelectronics packaging. This study is focused on the adhesion of a photosensitive insulator to inorganic passivation layers and metal caps. Peel testing has been combined with confocal laser scanning microscopy to image the bent shape of the peeled layer in situ. Elastic plastic beam theory and finite element analysis have been used to identify a cohesive traction-separation law matching both the work of separation and the peel arm profile. The results indicate that the actual adhesion energy amounts to ~30% of the external work, whereas the rest is dissipated by plasticity. Being the latter related to the curvature of the peel arm during delamination, these results confirm the relevance of in situ imaging in the field of microelectronics reliability.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.