Linear Tech & Microbonds Announce Qualification Of Insulated Wire Bonding Technology
Linear Technology Corp. and Microbonds Inc. (a private Canadian corporation) have announced successful qualification of Microbonds X-Wire™ insulated wire bonding technology to enable design flexibility for Linear Technology’s advanced IC packages.
According to the companies, the increasing global demand for electronics is driving the need for greater performance capabilities of advanced integrated circuits to be squeezed into smaller geometries and shrinking form factors. Microbonds’ X-Wire insulated bonding wire technology is described as a nano-scale material breakthrough that addresses many of the difficult interconnect challenges arising from increasingly complex single and 3D stacked die packaging designs.
Over a period of 2 years, Linear Technology performed a comprehensive set of manufacturability and reliability testing using X-Wire on high voltage applications with a gold-based coated bonding wire. X-Wire passed all test criteria, meeting industry standards including JEDEC J-STD-020C MSL Level 1 and JESD22-A reliability standards. X-Wire™ also successfully achieved Linear Technology’s stringent internal electrical and functional test requirements.
Linear Technology is targeting X-Wire to be used on a number of product lines to increase capability and shorten product and development and package design cycle time, while using the existing low cost assembly infrastructure.
"X-Wire Technology will enable us to pack more chip functionality into standard packages permitting bonding wires to now touch and cross in 3D space, without risk of electrical failure. This allows us the flexibility to connect chips in ways that were not possible before", said Greg Peck, Director of Engineering at Linear Technology.
