scope:

This test provides a means for determining the strength of a ball bond to a die or package bonding surface, and may be performed on pre-encapsulation or post-encapsulation devices. This measure of bond strength is extremely important in determining two features:

1) the integrity of the metallurgical bond which has been formed, and

2) the quality of ball bonds to die or package bonding surfaces.

This test method covers thermosonic (ball) bonds made with small diameter wire from 15 μm to 76 μm (0.6 mil to 3.0 mil).

This test method can only be used when the bonds are large enough to allow for proper contact with the shear test chisel and when there are no adjacent interfering structures that would hinder the movement of the chisel. For consistent shear results the ball height must be at least 4.0 μm (0.16 mils) for ball bonds, which is the current state of the art for bond shear test equipment at the time of this revision.

This test method can also be used on ball bonds that have had their wire removed and on to which a 2nd bond wire (typically a stitch bond) is placed. This may be known as "stitch on ball" and "reverse bonding". See Annex A for additional information.

The wire bond shear test is destructive. It is appropriate for use in process development, process control, and/or quality assurance.

This test method may be used on ultrasonic (wedge) bonds, however its use has not been shown to be a consistent indicator of bond integrity. See Annex B for information on performing shear testing on wedge bonds.