Compliant bonding

Figure 1. Compliant bonding a gold wire (Click to enlarge view)
Figure 2. Solid-state/wire bonding bonding a gold wire with a hard faced bonding tool.

Compliant bonding is used to connect gold wires to electrical components such as integrated circuit "chips". It was invented by Alexander Coucoulas in the 1960s.[1] The bond is formed well below the melting point of the mating gold surfaces and is therefore referred to as a solid-state type bond. The compliant bond is formed by transmitting heat and pressure to the bond region through a relatively thick indentable or compliant medium, generally an aluminum tape (Figure 1).[2]

  1. ^ Alexander Coucoulas "Bonding With A Compliant Medium". U.S. patent 3,533,155. October 13, 1970. Filed July 6, 1967.
  2. ^ Coucoulas, A. (1970) “Compliant Bonding” Proceedings 1970 IEEE 20th Electronic Components Conference, pp. 380–89. PDF, PDF2