Silver Flip-Chip Technology by Solid-State Bonding

Silver flip-chip joints between silicon (Si) chips and copper (Cu) substrates were fabricated using a solid-state bonding process without any solder and without flux. The bonding process was performed at $250°C$⁠, compatible with typical reflow temperature for lead-free solders. During the bonding process, there was no molten phase involved. The Ag joints fabricated consisted of only pure Ag without any intermetallic compound (IMC). Thus, reliability issues associated with IMCs and IMC growth do not exist anymore. Silver has the highest electrical conductivity and highest thermal conductivity among all metals. It is also quite ductile and able to deform to release stresses caused by thermal expansion mismatch. Flip-chip joints of high aspect ratio can be accomplished because the joints stay in a solid state during the bonding process. It looks like that silver is the ultimate joining material for flip-chip as well as through-Si-via interconnect technologies. In this study, the solid-state bonding process was first developed using a pure Ag foil to bond a Si chip to a Cu substrate in one step. The bonding strength on two interfaces, Si/Ag and Ag/Cu, passes the MIL-STD-883G Method 2019.7. To demonstrate Ag flip-chip interconnects, Si chips were electroplated with Ag bumps, followed by the solid-state bonding process on Cu substrates. The flip-chip bumps are well bonded to the Cu substrate. It would take some time for this new technology to be probably accepted and utilized in production. On the other hand, the preliminary results in this study show that Ag flip-chip joints can indeed be fabricated at $250°C$⁠.