Expanding copper wire usage to high-reliability applications including automotive and industrial sectors

TI Korea (CEO Kent Chon, www.ti.com/ww/kr) October 16, 2014 – TI (CEO Kent Chon) announced that since 2008, products featuring copper wire bonding technology have shipped over 22 billion units from its internal assembly sites, and are currently in mass production for high-reliability applications including automotive and industrial uses. Most of TI's existing analog and CMOS silicon technology nodes have proven their quality through copper usage, and both TI's new technologies and packages are being developed using copper wire bonds. Copper wire offers benefits such as comparable or superior manufacturing performance compared to gold wire in terms of quality, reliability, and cost. Additionally, by providing 40% higher electrical conductivity, customers can enhance overall product performance through the use of multiple TI analog and embedded processing components.

Jan Vardaman, founder and president of TechSearch International, stated that "TI pioneered the development of copper wire bonding for mass production through an extensive product portfolio, manufacturing sites, and technology," and added, "TI was among the first manufacturers to recognize that copper wire technology could provide significant advantages to customers. This technology offers superior thermal stability compared to gold and increases bond strength through superior mechanical properties."

TI is currently shipping approximately 2 billion units of products with copper wire bond technology per quarter. This includes mass production products for key automotive sectors such as safety (anti-lock braking systems, power steering, stability control), infotainment, body and convenience, and powertrain. Applying copper wire bond technology to automotive applications requires substantial development efforts to meet automotive industry standards and stringent production regulations. TI's extensive manufacturing capability and reliability testing meet automotive industry qualification requirements and include rigorous corner development by process, production quality and reliability monitoring, and production control.

TI began shipping copper wire in its products starting in 2008. Currently, all of TI's assembly and test (A/T) sites apply copper wire bonding to all TI package types including BGA, QFN, QFP, TSSOP, SOIC, and PDIP. 71% of TI's total wire usage is copper, and it is being applied to the following mass production:
• Minimum 30/60μ staggered bond pad pitch
• Maximum 1,000 wires in BGA packages
• Multi-chip stacked die for die-to-die wire bonding
• Minimum 0.8mil copper wire diameter

Devan Iyer, director of semiconductor packaging for TI's Technology and Manufacturing Group, stated that "having diverse wire bonding capabilities supporting a broad range of silicon technologies and product applications can provide significant benefits to customers," and added, "TI's flexible manufacturing strategy enhances the performance and supply capability of products using copper wire bonds. TI has clear competitive advantages in manufacturing capability to meet all customer requirements either independently or through excellent partner suppliers."