A Study on Copper Alloy C194 Lead Frame Grain Size Correlation to the Mechanical Properties Variations in Microelectronic Assembly Line

Abstract

Copper alloy C194 lead frame occasionally has been observed creates non-sticking defect at wire bond process in typical microelectronic assembly line. The effect was significantly assessed as process variation during die attach. In this study, microstructure and mechanical properties of copper alloy lead frames were investigated. The copper alloy lead frames were selected from different batches in the production line that produced sticking (typical performance) and non-sticking defect. The micro structural and structural properties were investigated by means of optical microscopy (OM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The hardness and tensile strength were also determined. The result revealed that non-sticking lead frame has larger grain size of 43.8 nm than typical performance lead frame. Due to lower dislocation density, tensile strength and hardness of typical lead frame with smaller grain size were higher than that of defect lead frame. Elongation of defect lead frame was reached above 10% as compared to typical performance lead frame groups with the value below 4%.