Identification of intermetallic compounds in microelectronic

The strength and reliability properties of many interconnects in complex micro systems and microelectronic packaging such as drop test failure behaviour of lead-free soldered interconnects or ball lift off behaviour in Au-Al wire bonded contacts are closely related to the formation and growth of different specific intermetallic compounds (IMC) and their susceptibility to brittle fracture, interface cracking, stress concentration, corrosion and void formation. Thus, a reliable IMC identification as well as quantitative assessment of IMC growth is of considerable interest for reliability investigations and failure analysis in microelectronic interconnects. Currently, IMC characterization is mainly based on SEM/EDS investigations with serious limitations concerning spatial resolution and limited ability to differentiate between IMCs with similar compositions. We show that EBSD is a promising tool for IMC identification due to its higher spatial resolution compared to EDS and due the provided additional information on IMC crystallographic parameters.