Joyce Lee at Surfx has developed an innovative process to remove copper oxidation from lead frames and wafers, which is a major process challenge in semiconductor manufacturing. An atmospheric pressure argon and hydrogen plasma is used to selectively reduce the copper oxide to copper metal without sputtering the surface. The process has been demonstrated to uniformly remove up to a 100-nm-thick copper oxide layer at a rate that is over 200 times faster than hydrogen gas reduction. The atmospheric hydrogen plasma treatment can easily integrate into a wafer bonder for in-line surface preparation prior to thermocompression bonding. No more waiting for vacuum chamber pump-down times and no more harsh chemicals and solvents!
Joyce’s work was featured in the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology (JVSTA).
Download the article here.
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Joyce Lee
Surfx Technologies, LLC
Redondo Beach, CA
