Claims
- 1. An electronic package comprising an uninsulated portion of a copper circuit protected with a coating layer consisting essentially of a ceramic material having a thickness that is suitable for soldering without fluxing and that is sufficiently frangible when being joined to another metal surface to obtain metal-to-metal contact between the surfaces.
- 2. The package of claim 1, wherein said ceramic material is selected from the group consisting of hydrides of rare earth-copper complexes, hydrides of hydride-forming copper-immiscible metals, silicon nitride, silicon carbide, titanium nitride, tantalum nitride, aluminum oxide, magnesium oxide, silicon dioxide, titanium, dioxide, zirconium oxide, tantalum carbide, tungsten carbide, titanium carbide, boron carbide, cubic boron nitride and diamond.
- 3. The package of claim 1, wherein said thickness of said layer of ceramic material provides said layer with a Rockwell Hardness (N-45) value greater than about 38.
- 4. The package of claim 1, wherein said layer has a thickness between about 10 and about 1,000 angstroms.
- 5. The package of claim 1, comprising a semiconductor wafer including at least one device having an uninsulated copper bond pad protected with said coating layer, wherein said coating layer is sufficiently frangible during ball or wedge wire bonding to obtain metal-to-metal contact between each bonding surface and the wire bonded thereto.
- 6. The wafer of claim 5, further comprising at least one wire that is ball or wedge bonded to said bond pad of said wafer device.
- 7. The wafer of claim 5, wherein said device is a flip chip in which at least one wire lead is soldered to said coated bond pad.
- 8. The package of claim 1, wherein said package comprises an organic substrate package, a metal substrate package or a ceramic substrate package
- 9. An electronic package comprising an uninsulated portion of a copper circuit coated with a surface layer of a material selected from the group consisting of copper-rare earth metal complexes and copper-immiscible metals that form metal hydride compounds, said surface layer having a thickness that, upon exposure to a reducing environment containing hydrogen, forms a hydride layer having a thickness that is suitable for soldering without fluxing and that provides the layer with a hardness that is sufficiently frangible when being joined to another metal surface to obtain metal-to-metal contact between the surfaces.
- 10. The package of claim 9, wherein said surface layer comprises a copper-immiscible metal.
- 11. The package of claim 10, wherein said surface layer is formed by co-deposition of said copper-immiscible metal and copper to form said bond pad during wafer fabrication, followed by heating of said wafer so that said copper-immiscible metal migrates to said bond pad surface, thereby forming said surface layer.
- 12. The package of claim 11, wherein said surface layer is formed by vapor, electro-chemical deposition of said copper-immiscible metal onto said bond surface.
- 13. The package of claim 9, wherein said surface layer consists essentially of a copper-rare earth metal complex.
- 14. The package of claim 13, wherein said copper complex is formed by vapor deposition, electrodeposition or chemical deposition of said rare earth metal in a layer onto said bond pad surface.
- 15. The package of claim 14, wherein said copper complex forms by heating said deposited rare earth metal layer.
- 16. The package of claim 13, wherein said rare earth metal is selected from the group consisting of La, Y and Ce.
- 17. The package of claim 9, wherein said copper-immiscible metal is selected from the group consisting of Ta, V and Nb.
- 18. The package of claim 9, wherein said package comprises aan organic substrate package, a metal substrate package or a ceramic substrate package
- 19. The package of claim 9, comprising a semiconductor wafer including at least one device having an uninsulated copper bond pad.
- 20. An electronic package comprising an uninsulated portion of a copper circuit coated with a surface layer of a rare earth metal that forms a copper complex, said surface layer having a thickness that, upon formation of said copper complex and exposure to a reducing environment comprising hydrogen, forms a hydride layer having a thickness that is suitable for soldering without fluxing and that is sufficiently frangible when being joined to another metal surface to obtain metal-to-metal contact between the surfaces.
- 21. The package of claim 20, wherein said surface layer is formed by vapor deposition, electrodeposition or chemical deposition of said rare earth metal in a layer on said bond pad surface.
- 22. The package of claim 20, wherein said rare earth metal is selected from the group consisting of La, Y and Ce.
- 23. The package of claim 20, wherein said package comprises an organic substrate package, a metal substrate package or a ceramic substrate package
- 24. The package of claim 20, comprising a semiconductor wafer including at least one device having an uninsulated copper bond pad.
- 25. An electronic package comprising an uninsulated portion of a copper circuit coated with a surface layer of a metal hydride compound selected from the group consisting of metal hydrides of copper-rare earth metal complexes and metal hydrides of copper-immiscible metals that form metal hydrides, said surface layer having a thickness that is suitable for soldering without fluxing and that is sufficiently frangible when being joined to another metal surface to obtain metal-to-metal contact between the surfaces.
- 26. The package of claim 25, wherein said surface layer comprises a hydride of a copper-immiscible metal.
- 27. The package of claim 26, wherein said copper-immiscible metal is selected from the group consisting of Ta, V and Nb.
- 28. The package of claim 25, wherein said surface layer consists essentially of a hydride of a copper-rare earth metal complex.
- 29. The package of claim 25, wherein said rare earth metal is selected from the group consisting of La, Y and Ce.
- 30. The package of claim 25, wherein said package comprises an organic substrate package, a metal substrate package or a ceramic substrate package 31. The package of claim 25, comprising a semiconductor wafer including at least one device having an uninsulated copper bond pad coated with a surface layer that is sufficiently frangible during ball or wedge wire bonding to obtain metal-to-metal contact between each bonding surface and the wire bonded thereto.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/412,542, now patented, which, in turn, claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 60/103,032 filed Oct. 5, 1998, 60/127,249 filed Mar. 31, 1999, and 60/146,674 filed Aug. 2, 1999. The '542 Application is also a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/330,906 filed Jun. 11, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,352,743. The disclosures of all five applications are incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (3)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60103032 |
Oct 1998 |
US |
|
60127249 |
Mar 1999 |
US |
|
60146674 |
Aug 1999 |
US |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09412542 |
Oct 1999 |
US |
Child |
10153451 |
May 2002 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09330906 |
Jun 1999 |
US |
Child |
09412542 |
Oct 1999 |
US |