A method of packaging a semiconductor device includes: bonding a ball at an end of a bond wire to a bond pad of a semiconductor device die in an aperture of a shielding layer of the semiconductor device; and sealing the part of the bond pad exposed by the aperture of the shielding layer by deforming the ball of the bond wire to fill the aperture of the shielding layer. The aperture of the shielding layer includes an edge wall, and exposes a part of the bond pad. The shielding layer covers a remaining part of the bond pad. The aperture of the shielding layer is completely filled with the ball of the bond wire, thereby deforming the edge wall of the shielding layer.

Provided is a wire bonding state determination device which determines a bonding state between a pad and a wire after the wire is bonded to the pad. The wire bonding state determination device includes: a waveform detector which makes an incident wave incident to the wire, and detects a transmission waveform of the wire and a reflection waveform from a first bonding surface between the pad and the wire; and a bonding determination unit which determines the bonding state between the pad and the wire based on the transmission waveform and the reflection waveform detected by the waveform detector.

The present invention provides a bonding wire capable of simultaneously satisfying ball bonding reliability and wedge bondability required of bonding wires for memories, the bonding wire including a core material containing one or more of Ga, In, and Sn for a total of 0.1 to 3.0 at % with a balance being made up of Ag and incidental impurities; and a coating layer formed over a surface of the core material, containing one or more of Pd and Pt, or Ag and one or more of Pd and Pt, with a balance being made up of incidental impurities, wherein the coating layer is 0.005 to 0.070 μm in thickness.

The manufacturing method of a semiconductor device can improve the mechanical strength of a pad more than before, and suppress the occurrence of a crack. The manufacturing method of a semiconductor device includes: forming a first pad constituted by a first metal layer; forming an insulating layer on the first pad; providing an opening portion in the insulating layer by removing the insulating layer on at least a partial region of the first pad; forming a second pad constituted by a second metal layer in the opening portion of the insulating layer so as to have a film thickness that is smaller than the film thickness of the insulating layer; and forming a third pad constituted by a third metal layer on the second pad.

A multifaceted capillary that can be used in a wire-bonding machine to create a multi-segment wire-bond is disclosed. The multifaceted capillary is shaped to apply added pressure and thickness to an outer segment of the multi-segment wire-bond that is closest to the wire loop. The added pressure eliminates a gap under a heel portion of the multi-segment wire-bond and the added thickness increases a mechanical strength of the heel portion. As a result, a pull test of the multi-segment wire-bond may be higher than a single-segment wire-bond and the multi-segment wire-bond may resist cracking, lifting, or breaking.

A ball forming device includes a first current control circuit to control discharge current arranged between a leading end of a wire and one electrode of a discharge continuing power source for causing discharge current to flow after dielectric breakdown, a second current control circuit to control shunting of discharge current arranged between a discharge electrode and the other electrode of the discharge continuing power source, and a fixed resistor connected to the second current control circuit in parallel as a shunt and controls current flowing through the second current control circuit, thereby a discharge voltage value is adequately changed.

A method of determining a bonding status between a wire and at least one bonding location of a workpiece is provided. The method includes the steps of: (a) bonding a portion of a wire to a bonding location of a workpiece using a bonding tool of a wire bonding machine; (b) determining a motion profile of the bonding tool for determining if the portion of the wire is bonded to the bonding location, the motion profile being configured to result in the wire being broken during the motion profile if the portion of the wire is not bonded to the bonding location; and (c) moving the bonding tool along the motion profile to determine if the portion of the wire is bonded to the bonding location. Other methods of determining a bonding status between a wire and at least one bonding location of a workpiece are also provided.

A wire bonding method includes steps of: forming a Free Air Ball (FAB) at an end of a metal wire; pressing the FAB onto a flat surface of a workpiece to deform the FAB; contacting the deformed FAB to a metal pad, wherein the metal pad is made of a first material and the metal wire is made of a second material, and a hardness of the first material is smaller than a hardness of the second material; and bonding the deformed FAB on the metal pad.

A methodology and medium for regular and predictable cleaning the support hardware such as capillary tube in semiconductor assembly equipment components, while it is still in manual, semi-automated, and automated assembly are disclosed. The cleaning material may include a cleaning pad layer and one or more intermediate layers that have predetermined characteristics.

A semiconductor device according to the present invention includes a semiconductor chip, an electrode pad made of a metal material containing aluminum and formed on a top surface of the semiconductor chip, an electrode lead disposed at a periphery of the semiconductor chip, a bonding wire having a linearly-extending main body portion and having a pad bond portion and a lead bond portion formed at respective ends of the main body portion and respectively bonded to the electrode pad and the electrode lead, and a resin package sealing the semiconductor chip, the electrode lead, and the bonding wire, the bonding wire is made of copper, and the entire electrode pad and the entire pad bond portion are integrally covered by a water-impermeable film.