A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes the steps of first forming an aluminum (Al) pad on a substrate, forming a passivation layer on the substrate and an opening exposing the Al pad, forming a cobalt (Co) layer in the opening and on the Al pad, bonding a wire onto the Co layer, and then performing a thermal treatment process to form a Co—Pd alloy on the Al pad.

The bonding wire being a Pd-coated copper bonding wire includes: a copper core material; and a Pd layer and containing a sulfur group element, in which with respect to the total of copper, Pd, and the sulfur group element, a concentration of Pd is 1.0 mass % to 4.0 mass % and a total concentration of the sulfur group element is 50 mass ppm or less, and a concentration of S is 5 mass ppm to 2 mass ppm, a concentration of Se is 5 mass ppm to 20 mass ppm, or a concentration of Te is 15 mass ppm to 50 mass ppm or less. A wire bonding structure includes a Pd-concentrated region with the concentration of Pd being 2.0 mass % or more relative to the total of Al, copper, and Pd near a bonding surface of an Al-containing electrode of a semiconductor chip and a ball bonding portion.

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.

A power semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a wide bandgap semiconductor material and a first surface, an insulation layer above the first surface of the semiconductor substrate, the insulation layer including at least one opening extending through the insulation layer in a vertical direction, a front metallization above the insulation layer with the insulation layer being interposed between the front metallization and the first surface of the semiconductor substrate, and a metal connection arranged in the opening of the insulation layer and electrically conductively connecting the front metallization with the semiconductor substrate; wherein the front metallization includes at least one layer that is a metal or a metal alloy having a higher melting temperature than an intrinsic temperature of the wide bandgap semiconductor material of the semiconductor substrate.

A semiconductor device capable of suppressing propagation of a crack caused by a temperature cycle at a bonding part between a bonding pad and a bonding wire is provided. A semiconductor device according to an embodiment includes a semiconductor chip having bonding pads and bonding wires. The bonding pad includes a barrier layer and a bonding layer formed on the barrier layer and formed of a material containing aluminum. The bonding wire is bonded to the bonding pad and formed of a material containing copper. An intermetallic compound layer formed of an intermetallic compound containing copper and aluminum is formed so as to reach the barrier layer from the bonding wire in at least a part of the bonding part between the bonding pad and the bonding wire.

A bonding tool includes a wedge tool that presses a bonding wire against a principal plane of a structure such as an electrode to which the bonding wire is to be bonded. A groove formed in an end portion of a wedge tool body of the wedge tool is inclined along a longitudinal direction of the bonding wire so that a heel side of the groove is closer to the principal plane of the structure than a toe side of the groove. As a result, the wedge tool is inclined at a tilt angle and the bonding wire fits the groove in the end portion of the wedge tool body along the longitudinal direction of the bonding wire. Thus, a corner portion of the wedge tool does not contact the electrode.

A semiconductor device 10 includes a pair of electrodes 16 and a conductive connection member 21 electrically bonded to the pair of electrodes 16. At least a portion of a perimeter of a bonding surface 24 of at least one of the pair of electrodes 16 and the conductive connection member 21 includes an electromigration reducing area 22.

After a die bonding step, a wire bonding step is performed to electrically connect the plurality of pad electrodes and the plurality of leads of the semiconductor chip via a plurality of copper wires. A plating layer is formed on a surface of the lead, and a copper wire is connected to the plating layer in the wire bonding step. The plating layer is a silver plating layer. After the die bonding step, an oxygen plasma treatment is performed on the lead frame and the semiconductor chip before the wire bonding step, and then the surface of the plating layer is reduced.

It is an object to provide a Cu alloy bonding wire for a semiconductor device that can satisfy required performance in high-density LSI applications. In the Cu alloy bonding wire for a semiconductor device according to the present invention, each of abundance ratios of crystal orientations <100>, <110> and <111> having an angular difference of 15 degrees or less from a direction perpendicular to one plane including a wire center axis out of crystal orientations on a wire surface is 3% or more and less than 27% in average area percentage.

It is an object to provide a Cu alloy bonding wire for a semiconductor device that can satisfy required performance in high-density LSI applications. In the Cu alloy bonding wire for a semiconductor device according to the present invention, each of abundance ratios of crystal orientations <100>, <110> and <111> having an angular difference of 15 degrees or less from a direction perpendicular to one plane including a wire center axis out of crystal orientations on a wire surface is 3% or more and less than 27% in average area percentage.