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Thick electroplated Cu bond pads have lately been demonstrated to enable heavy Cu wire-bonding but the Cu oxides necessitate an additional cleaning step after the die-attach. To avoid such cleaning, the use of a thin Al layer is tested for its passivating ability on Cu bond pads and its suitability for the bonding process. Results show a significant improvement of the oxidation resistance and bonding performance

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The next generation of switches for power electronic will be based on white band gap (WBG) semiconductor GaN or SiC. This materials supports higher switching current and high frequency. White band gap semiconductors enables higher application temperature. Certainly, high temperature capability is also to discuss in combination with high number of thermal cycles. For a frame module concept shows these paper a comparison of different joining techniques with the focus on the reliability issue on wire and ribbon bonding. Beside to the 1000 passive thermal cycles from −40°C to +125°C there are active thermals cycles for technology qualification required [3]. Depending on the application and mission profile a high thermal cycling capability is necessary. For this reason, new high temperature joining techniques for die attach, e.g. Silver sintering or diffusion soldering, were developed in the recent past [4]. All of this new joining techniques focusing on higher electrical, thermal and thermo-mechanical performance of power modules. By using an optimized metallization system for the WBG the numbers of thermal cycles can be increased and the maximum operating temperature advanced up to 300°C. In these new temperature regions silicon semiconductors will be substituted by WBG semiconductors. The present work shows an active power cycling capability of different wire and ribbon bonds and the failure mechanism will be discussed. A calculation model explained the reliability for the different wire diameter and the impact of bonding materials. This reliability calculation explain the thermo-mechanical effects and based on materials and geometry data and is not optimized for evidence. Through these physical background understanding more than 1.000.000 thermal cycles with a 150 K temperature swing from +30°C to +180°C are now possible. These is a the basic knowledge for a design for reliability based on current, mission profile and reliability optimization for future high end applications with wire or ribbon bonding technique.