Dual Cure B-Stageable Adhesive for Die Attach

US 20030129438A1 (19) United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2003/0129438 A1 Becker et al. (43) Pub. Date: Jul. 10, 2003 (54) DUAL CURE B-STAGEABLE ADHESIVE FOR (22) med; Dec, 14, 2001 DIE ATTACH Publication Classification (76) Inventors: Kevin Harris Becker, Cerritos, CA (US); Harry Richard Kuder, Fullerton, (51) Int. Cl.7 ................................................... .. B32B 31/26 CA (US) (52) U.S. Cl. ....................... .. 428/620; 156/307.1; 525/10 Correspondence Address: Jane E. Gennaro (57) ABSTRACT Assistant General Counsel, I.P. NATIONAL STARCH AND CHEMICAL Curable compositions that comprise two separately curable COMPANY chemistry sets or compositions with curing temperatures 10 Finderne Avenue sufficiently separated so that one chemistry composition can Brjdgewater, NJ 08807-0500 (US) be fully cured during a B-staging process, and the second can be left uncured until a final cure is desired, such as at the (21) Appl. No.: 10/016,844 final attach of a semiconductor chip to a substrate. US 2003/0129438 A1 DUAL CURE B-STAGEABLE ADHESIVE FOR DIE ATTACH FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] This invention relates to B-stageable compositions suitable for use in attaching semiconductor chips to sub- strates. The compositions contain two separately curing chemistries. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] In one type of semiconductor package, a semicon- ductor die or chip is electrically connected, and mechani- cally bonded with an adhesive, to a substrate. The substrate in turn is connected to other electronic devices or an outside power source. The fabrication can take place in a continuous series of steps, or the substrate can be prepared with the adhesive for the mechanical attach, and then held until a later time. [0003] When the fabrication takes place in a continuous series of steps, the adhesive is deposited onto the substrate, the semiconductor chip contacted with the adhesive, and the adhesive cured by the application of heat, or heat and pressure. Suitable adhesives may be either solvent-free liquids and pastes, or solids. If in the form of liquid or paste, the adhesive is both cured and solidified by the application of heat. [0004] If the fabrication process is to be interrupted after the deposition of the adhesive to the substrate and the final assembly held to a later time, the adhesive must be in a solidified form for successful storage. Solid adhesives pro- vide the further advantages of minimal or no bleeding, and better control of bondline thickness and bondline tilt, the bondline being the interface between the chip and the adhesive. [0005] For some semiconductor packaging applications, paste adhesives are preferred over film adhesives for process reasons, yet the bond-line and fillet control of solids are desired. In such a case, an adhesive known as a B-stageable adhesive may be used. If the starting adhesive material is a solid, the solid is dispersed or dissolved in a solvent to form a paste and the paste applied to the substrate. The adhesive is then heated to evaporate the solvent, leaving a solid, but uncured, adhesive on the substrate. If the starting adhesive material is a liquid or paste, the adhesive is dispensed onto the substrate and heated to partially cure the adhesive to a solid state. The application of heat at this stage in fabrication is termed B-staging, and the adhesive, B-stageable. [0006] Although there are the advantages to solid adhe- sives mentioned above, there are also disadvantages. After B-staging and during storage, solid adhesives are prone to absorbing moisture from the air under ambient conditions, or from substrates, especially organic substrates such as BT resins, printed circuit boards or polyimide flexible sub- strates. The adhesives also may contain a level of residual solvent or other volatiles. [0007] At elevated attach temperatures, the absorbed moisture and residual volatile materials will evaporate rap- idly. If this evaporation occurs faster than the vapors can diffuse out of the adhesive, voids or bubbles appear in the adhesive and can be a source of ultimate failure of the Jul. 10, 2003 adhesive. This creates a need for curable compositions that are B-stageable but that do not promote voiding. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008] This invention is an adhesive that comprises two chemical compositions have curing temperatures or curing temperature ranges sufficiently separated to allow the com- position with the lower curing temperature, hereinafter the first composition, to cure without curing the composition with the higher curing temperature, hereinafter the second composition. In practice, the first composition will be cured during a B-staging process, and the second composition will be left uncured until a final cure is desired, such as, at the final attach of a semiconductor chip to a substrate. The fully cured material is cross-linked or polymerized to a suffi- ciently high molecular weight effective to give it structural integrity. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [0009] Each of the first and second composition is one or more monomeric, one or more oligomeric, or one or more polymeric compounds or resins, or combinations of those, that co-react to polymerize or cross-link. Both polymeriza- tion and cross-linking are referred to as curing. The com- positions in general will contain a curing agent or curing initiator in addition to the monomeric, oligomeric, or poly- meric species, and optionally, may contain a solvent. Within this specification and claims, the combination of the first and second compositions will be referred to as the total B-stage- able adhesive. [0010] The first composition will comprise a liquid, or a solid dissolved or dispersed in a solvent. The second com- position will be a solid or semi-solid material at room temperature, dispersible or dissolvable either in the liquid first composition, or in the same or a compatible solvent for the first composition. The choice of first and second com- positions will be determined in part by the temperature at which the final interconnection of the semiconductor chip to its substrate is made. [0011] For example, if the final interconnect is made with tin-lead eutectic solder, the solder fluxing and interconnec- tion occurs at a temperature of 183° C. The final curing of the adhesive should occur rapidly after the solder bump flow and interconnection and may occur at the solder reflow temperature or at a higher temperature. Consequently, in this case, the second composition will be chosen to have a curing temperature near or at 183° C. or slightly higher. If a polymeric interconnect material is used, the second compo- sition will be chosen to have a curing temperature at or near the curing temperature of the polymeric interconnnect. If wire-bonding is the final method of attach, the second composition will be chosen to have a curing temperature at or near the temperature for the wire-bonding. [0012] The first composition is chosen so that it will cure before the curing temperature of the second composition and before the temperature at which the final interconnect of chip to substrate is made. The curing temperatures of the first and second compositions can be separated by any amount effective to provide two distinct curing profiles such that the second composition does not cure at the curing temperature or within the curing temperature range of the first compo- US 2003/0129438 A1 sition. Insignificant curing of the second composition during the B-stage process is tolerable. In a preferred embodiment, the curing temperatures of the first and second compositions will be separated by at least 30° C. [0013] Typically, the B-stage heating, that is, the first composition curing, occurs at a temperature within the range of about 100° C. to about 150° C. Any solvent used should be chosen to evaporate off within the same temperature range as first composition curing. Curing the first composi- tion and evaporating the solvent during the B-stage process will solidify the total adhesive composition and inhibit voiding during the final attachment process because as a solid it will retain a high enough modulus or melt viscosity to constrain the bond-line and prevent the expansion of the vapor phase within the adhesive. After cure, the first com- position must be capable of being tackified or softened at the final attach temperature for the semiconductor chip. The resultant cured material can be a linear, slightly branched, or lightly cross-linked polymer. [0014] When heated to the appropriate attach temperature for the semiconductor die, the total adhesive composition should melt and flow sufficiently to completely wet-out the surface of the substrate. An efficient wet-out results in good adhesion. [0015] The curing processes can be initiated and advanced by irradiation (such as with UV light) for the B-staging first cure, and then by heat for the final cure, or both the B-staging and final cure can be initiated and advanced by heat [0016] The first and second compositions will be present in a molar ratio of 5:95 to 95:5, as can be determined by the practitioner for specific end uses. Combinations of first compositions and second compositions of the total B-stage- able adhesive include: [0017] First: thermally curable acrylic compounds, such as those available from Sartomer, with free radical curing agents. Second: thermally curable epoxy compounds or resins, such as those available from National Starch, CIBA, Sumitomo or Dainippon, with latent amine or imidazole curing agents. [0018] First: radiation curable cycloaliphatic epoxy com- pounds, such as CIBA CY179, with photoinitiators. Second: thermally curable aromatic epoxy compounds, such as bis- phenolAdiepoxide, with phenolic hardeners and phosphine- based curing agents. [0019] First: radiation curable acrylic compounds, such as those available from Sartomer, with photoinitiators. Second: thermally curable epoxy compounds, such as those available from National Starch, CIBA, Sumitomo or Dainippon, with latent amine or imidazole curing agents. [0020] First: thermally initiated, free radical curable bis- maleimide compounds (electron acceptors), such as those available from Ciba Specialty Chemicals or National Starch, with (electron donors) vinyl ethers, vinyl silanes, styrenic compounds, cinnamyl compounds. Second: thermally cur- able epoxy compounds, such as those available from National Starch, CIBA, Sumitomo or Dainippon with latent amine or imidazole curing agents. [0021] In addition to the epoxies mentioned above, further examples of suitable epoxy resins include monofunctional Jul. 10, 2003 and multifunctional glycidyl ethers of Bisphenol-A and Bisphenol-F, aliphatic and aromatic epoxies, saturated and unsaturated epoxies, cycloaliphatic epoxy resins and com- binations of those. Bisphenol-A type resin is commercially available from Resolution Technology as EPON 828. Bisphenol F epoxy resin can be prepared by the reaction of one mole of bisphenol F resin and two moles of epichloro- hydrin. Bisphenol-F type resins also are available commer- cially from CVC Specialty Chemicals, Maple Shade, N.J., under the designation 8230E, and from Resolution Perfor- mance Products LLC under the designation RSL1739. A blend of bisphenol-A and bisphenol-F is available from Nippon Chemical Company under the designation ZX-105 9. [0022] Another suitable epoxy resin is epoxy novolac resin, which is prepared by the reaction of phenolic resin and epichlorohydrin. A preferred epoxy novolac resin is poly(phenyl glycidyl ether)-co-formaldehyde. Other suit- able epoxy resins are biphenyl epoxy resin, commonly prepared by the reaction of biphenyl resin and epichlorohy- drin; dicyclopentadiene-phenol epoxy resin; naphthalene resins; epoxy functional butadiene acrylonitrile copolymers; epoxy functional polydimethyl siloxane; and mixtures of the above. [0023] Non-glycidyl ether epoxides may also be used. Suitable examples include 3,4-epoxycyclohexylmethyl-3,4- epoxycyclohexane carboxylate, which contains two epoxide groups that are part of the ring structures and an ester linkage; vinylcyclohexene dioxide, which contains two epoxide groups and one of which is part of the ring structure; 3,4-epoxy-6-methyl cyclohexyl methyl-3,4-epoxycyclohex- ane carboxylate; and dicyclopentadiene dioxide. [0024] Further examples of suitable epoxies include: |>\/O\fl/C3K([rO\/