Meniscus-Confined Three-Dimensional Electrodeposition for Direct Writing of Wire Bonds.

MICROELECTRONICS; NANOWIRES; WIRE bonding (Electronic packaging); TECHNOLOGICAL innovations; INTEGRATED circuit interconnections; NANOELECTRONICS

Continued progress in the electronics industry depends on downsizing, to a few micrometers, the wire bonds required for wiring integrated chips into circuit boards. We developed an electrodeposition method that exploits the thermodynamic stability of a microscale or nanoscale liquid meniscus to "write" pure copper and platinum three-dimensional structures of designed shapes and sizes in an ambient air environment. We demonstrated an automated wire-bonding process that enabled wire diameters of less than 1 micrometer and bond sizes of less than 3 micrometers, with a breakdown current density of more than 1011 amperes per square meter for the wire bonds. The technology was used to fabricate high-density and high-quality interconnects, as well as complex three-dimensional microscale and even nanoscale metallic structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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