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.

A bonding wire for a semiconductor device includes a Cu alloy core material and a Pd coating layer on a surface of the Cu alloy core material, and contains Ga and Ge of 0.011 to 1.2% by mass in total, which is able to increase bonding longevity of the ball bonded part in the high-temperature, high-humidity environment, and thus to improve the bonding reliability. The thickness of the Pd coating layer is preferably 0.015 to 0.150 m. When the bonding wire further contains one or more elements of Ni, Ir, and Pt in an amount, for each element, of 0.011 to 1.2% by mass, it is able to improve the reliability of the ball bonded part in a high-temperature environment at 175 C. or more. When an alloy skin layer containing Au and Pd is further formed on a surface of the Pd coating layer, wedge bondability improves.

A wire bond system. Implementations may include: a bond wire including copper (Cu), a bond pad including aluminum (Al) and a sacrificial anode electrically coupled with the bond pad, where the sacrificial anode includes one or more elements having a standard electrode potential below a standard electrode potential of Al.

A printed circuit board (PCB) is provided as follows. A first connection pad and a second connection pad are disposed on a first surface and a second surface of the base substrate layer, respectively. The first connection pad and the second connection pad each includes a first metal. A first pad cover layer covers a top surface of the first connection pad and includes an insulating metal oxide having a second metal different from the first metal.

A semiconductor device includes a plurality of wire bonds formed on a surface of the semiconductor device by bonding each of a plurality of copper wires onto corresponding ones of a plurality of aluminum pads; a protective material is applied around the plurality of wire bonds, the protective material having a first pH; and at least a portion of the semiconductor device and the protective material are encapsulated with an encapsulating material having a second pH, wherein the first pH of the protective material is for neutralizing the second pH of the encapsulating material around the plurality of wire bonds.

There is provided a Cu bonding wire having a Pd coating layer on a surface thereof, that improves bonding reliability of a ball bonded part in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment and is suitable for on-vehicle devices. The bonding wire for a semiconductor device includes a Cu alloy core material and a Pd coating layer formed on a surface of the Cu alloy core material, and the bonding wire contains In of 0.011 to 1.2% by mass and has the Pd coating layer of a thickness of 0.015 to 0.150 m. With this configuration, it is able to increase the bonding longevity of a ball bonded part in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment, and thus to improve the bonding reliability. When the Cu alloy core material contains one or more elements of Pt, Pd, Rh and Ni in an amount, for each element, of 0.05 to 1.2% by mass, it is able to increase the reliability of a ball bonded part in a high-temperature environment of 175 C. or more. When an Au skin layer is further formed on a surface of the Pd coating layer, wedge bondability improves.

Electrode pads disposed on a first surface of a semiconductor element include a first pad located close to a corner and a second pad located apart from the corner compared with the first pad. A first wire connected to the first pad has a smaller Young's modulus than a second wire connected to the second pad. A thickness of an intermetallic compound layer formed by the first wire and the first pad is larger than a thickness of an intermetallic compound layer formed by the second wire and the second pad.

A bonding wire for a semiconductor device includes a Cu alloy core material and a Pd coating layer on a surface of the Cu alloy core material, and contains Ga and Ge of 0.011 to 1.2% by mass in total, which is able to increase bonding longevity of the ball bonded part in the high-temperature, high-humidity environment, and thus to improve the bonding reliability. The thickness of the Pd coating layer is preferably 0.015 to 0.150 m. When the bonding wire further contains one or more elements of Ni, Ir, and Pt in an amount, for each element, of 0.011 to 1.2% by mass, it is able to improve the reliability of the ball bonded part in a high-temperature environment at 175 C. or more. When an alloy skin layer containing Au and Pd is further formed on a surface of the Pd coating layer, wedge bondability improves.

Devices and methods for forming a device are disclosed. The device includes a contact region disposed over a last interconnect level of the device. The device includes a final passivation layer having at least an opening which at least partially exposes a top surface of the contact region and a buffer layer disposed at least over a first exposed portion of the top surface of the contact region. When an electrically conductive interconnection couples to the contact region, the buffer layer absorbs a portion of a force exerted to form an interconnection between the electrically conductive interconnection and the contact region.

A reliability prediction method includes: calculating a change of each of a plurality of alloy phases at a bonding portion between an electrode pad and a bonding wire; setting a generation of a metal oxide phase caused by a corrosion reaction, based on an initial crack structure of the bonding portion; calculating an elastic strain energy at each of specified portions of the bonding portion; setting a progress of a crack, based on the elastic strain energy at each of the specified portions; and predicting a lifetime of the semiconductor device, based on a length of the crack due to the progress of the crack.