Fatigue testing method for fine bond wires in an LQFP package

A mechanical testing setup was developed to study the fatigue response of fine thermo-sonic wire bond connection in low profile quad flat packages (LQFP). The testing set-up was designed to induce pre-defined multi-axial stresses in the wire bond loops of non-encapsulated packages in order to mimic their deformation behavior during the thermo-mechanical loading. Lifetime curves were obtained up to 1.0E7 loading cycles with fatigue failure occurring in the heat affected zone of the ball bond. The experimental fatigue data in combination with extended FEA provided the basis for a Coffin Manson lifetime model. The proposed fatigue testing procedure can be applied as a highly efficient method for evaluation of various wire bonded packages by using a limited number of test samples and simultaneous testing of several wire bonds.