Memory devices in the semiconductor industry rely heavily on gold for wire bonding. However, today’s electronics devices are hungry for ever more memory, with big data storage driving demand. At the same time, the need for cost-efficient production has led manufacturers to seek alternatives to gold bonding wires. Heraeus has now developed the world's first solution to this challenge: AgCoat Prime.
AgCoat Prime is a silver alloy bonding wire coated with a layer of gold. “Bondability and reliability performance are the most important aspects of this development,” says Eric Tan, Director, Product Management at Heraeus Electronics. “Customers can be sure that our new product achieves the same performance as gold wires at significantly lower cost.”
Alternative to gold bonding wire
Because the specifications of AgCoat Prime are closely aligned to gold bonding wire, no inert gas is required, so no investment or changes to production equipment and facilities are necessary. It offers essentially a plug-and-play solution for ball bonding machines – and at every level, Heraeus supports customers in optimizing their AgCoat Prime applications.
In 2018, gold made up 36 percent of the global bonding wire market. For many semiconductor applications, silver, bare copper and copper-palladium wire have become established alternatives. Gold coated silver wire now opens the door to create a similar change within the memory device market.
The solution to change
With AgCoat Prime Heraeus has developed the first viable solution to cutting costs while maintaining the required quality. As a leading supplier of bonding wires, Heraeus again leads in providing a new solution for customers in the memory market.