A reliable wire bond connection for integrated circuit devices is an important gauge in assuring a high-quality product. In comparison to pure copper wires, which are used for low-cost assembly but have oxidation problems, Palladium Coated Copper (PCC) bond wires were used to increase wire robustness, provide an advantage in applications at high temperatures, and meet criteria for good loop stiffness and hardness. However, decapsulated samples have been rejected by reliability engineering, and rework has been needed because wire discoloration was mistakenly identified as oxidized bond wires creating delays in producing the Failure Analysis (FA) result as well as wasting unnecessary resources in the process. The wrong callout happens 47.8% of the time. Through the investigation of chemical compositions, the topography of materials, and the evaluation of bond strength distribution, with some use of statistical analysis tools, this study explains how the issue was resolved. As a consequence, the wrong callout was effectively eliminated.

Understanding solder joints is very important for failure analysis in semiconductor manufacturing because it is commonly used for mounting semiconductor devices on boards. However, regarding sample preparation for analysis, solder poses challenges in crosssection preparation due to the differences in melting point and hardness of its constituents. Therefore, precision cutting methods such as ion milling are required. On the other hand, ion milling method usually causes thermal damage during cutting. In this paper, we tried to optimize the sample temperature during Ar ion milling using liquid nitrogen cooling [1].