Sacrificial ion beam etching process for seed layer removal of 6 µm pitch CuSn micro bumps

Copper pillar bumps show a wide-ranging application for assembly and packaging according to the "More than Moore" roadmap. For the demand of higher input/output (I/O) densities and consequently smaller bump pitches the requirements on each process step in producing 6 µm pitch Cu-Sn bumps increase. In this case the removal of seed layer with wet etchants is no longer practicable due to high undercut. A sacrifical Ion Beam Etching (IBE) process was developed for removing the TiW/Cu seed layer without any undercut. Due to the high etching rate of the rough Sn surface a sacrificial layer of Ni was used to protect the solder layer. To optimize the layer thicknesses etch rates were characterized. Special attention was directed to the etched material which covered the bumps on the sidewalls after the etching process step. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) measurements and reflow processes revealed the influence of the redepositioned material on the melting behavior and hence on the following bonding process.