Benefits of pure palladium for ENEP and ENEPIG surface finishes

These investigations show that using electroless pure Pd depositions (without co-deposited phosphorus) can enhance the performance of ENEPIG and ENEP surface finishes. In the case of ENEPIG, the use of pure Pd widens the process window for gold wire bonding and, as demonstrated, allows a reduction in the gold thickness, thus enabling an increase in yield on the assembly side as well as a possible cost reduction. With respect to the ENEP surface finish, the elimination of the immersion gold process step clearly results in a simplified process as compared to ENEPIG. In addition to offering the associated cost reduction, the ENEP surface finish enables next generation interconnection techniques, namely copper wire bonding. The presentation at the ESTC International Conference will provide further details, discussion and interpretation of these test results.