Wire

Bond Encapsula1on for the CMS

Forward Pixel Upgrade
Introduc1on

The pixel detectors used in the CMS experiment at

CERN will be replaced by an upgraded detector
system in 2016. Modules consis=ng of a pixel sensor
and 16 readout chips are being assembled at Purdue
with electrical connec=ons to the support circuits
made using aluminum wire bonds. We have
developed a process to encapsulate these wire
bonds in a silicone compound to provide mechanical
protec=on and to prevent electroly=c corrosion.
Presented here are the techniques developed for
deposi=ng this viscous compound with a precision of
100 m.

Module Assembly

Purdue is responsible for delivering at least 500

modules for the phase-1 upgrade of the CMS
detector. These modules consist of an array of silicon
pixels (sensor) that are bump-bonded to silicon read
out chips (ROCs) and glued to a high density
interconnect (HDI) circuit. There are 560 wire bonds
that make electrical connec=ons between the ROCs
and the HDI on each module.

HDI




Sensor




ROCs


Figure 1: Forward pixel detector module stack up.

A Devoltek F&K 6400 ultrasonic wire bonder is used
with 38 m wire to place the wire bonds. Sylgard
186, a silicone based elastomer, is used to
encapsulate the wire bonds. Sylgard is a very viscous
polymer before curing, and aber curing has
exibility, high shear strength, and excellent
dielectric proper=es.

Equipment

To encapsulate at the 100 m precision, Purdue uses

an Aerotech AGS10000 robo=c gantry system which
is capable of 1 m posi=oning precision over large
distances. An Edmund OpAcs machine vision camera
with 2560 x 1920 resolu=on is used to index the wire
bonds to the gantry.









Figure 2: Indexing the last wire bond of a line.

The cameras precision allows the operator to gather
posi=ons of wire bonds in any congura=on in all
three dimensions. To deposit the encapsulant at high
pressure, an EFD UlAmus V pressure control
dispenser with pressure mul=plier is used.

Sam Higginbotham
Prof. MaIhew Jones
Purdue High Energy Physics

Precision Dispensing

Purdue takes advantage of the gantrys precision by

xing a 150 micron inner diameter dispensing =p to
an EFD dispensing pressure mul=plier mounted on
the gantry head. To interface with the hardware, a
LabVIEW program performs the vector algebra to
systema=cally deposit encapsulant with enough
degrees of freedom to account for variance of parts
and posi=ons.












Figure 3: Token bit manager encapsula=on

The Token Bit Manager (TBM) is a custom integrated
circuit on the HDI that is responsible for coordina=ng
readout of data from the ROCs. Wire bonds on the
TBM are placed at Fermilab and are encapsulated at
Purdue. The geometry of the chip poses a challenge
for encapsula=on because of the ne pitch of the
wires. We prefer to encapsulate only the feet of the
wire bonds which achieves the main objec=ves while
avoiding encapsulant encroaching on unwanted
places. For example, encapsulant seeping into the
gap between the sensor and a ROC has been seen to
slightly alter the electrical proper=es of the pixels
that are in contact with the encapsulant.

The mo=on of the dispensing =p is piecewise linear
and the LabVIEW program is used to acquire points
along its path from the absolute coordinate system
of the gantry. With the precise op=cs of the gantry,
a 3D point can be measured with the XY posi=ons
based on the image and the Z posi=on from the
focus of the Camera. In conjunc=on with the
acquired posi=ons of the wire bond feet, a CAD
model of the part is used to deposit encapsulant in 8
sets of 35 bonds in a single opera=on. Movements
such as retrac=ng, shown below, are used to ensure
an even glue deposi=on.




5 mm




0.75mm



6.5 mm


Figure 4: Needle retract movement (not to scale)

Figure 5: ROC to HDI encapsula=on results

Benets of Encapsula1on

For the CMS Forward Pixel detectors, there are three

main reasons for encapsula=on:

Mechanical protec=on
Preven=on of electroly=c corrosion
Resonance damping

The encapsulant provides mechanical protec=on for
the wire bonds, ensuring the longevity of the part
once it has been installed at the center of the CMS
detector, where access is imprac=cal.
The encapsulant also prevents water and other
electroly=c catalysts from accelera=ng the entropic
corrosion process [1].







Figure 6: Wire bond resonance from Lorentz force
and wire bond breaking at the heel.

Forced harmonic oscilla=ons in the wire bonds can
result from currents on some wire bonds in the
presence of the 3.8 Tesla magne=c eld used in CMS
[2]. Periodic currents at a resonant frequency can
result in large amplitude mechanical vibra=ons
which could eventually result in bond failures, as
shown in Figure 6 [3]. The encapsulant damps these
resonances, preven=ng large amplitude vibra=ons
from developing.

Conclusion

We have developed a process for the selec=ve

encapsula=on of wire bonds used in the phase-1
upgrade of the CMS forward pixel detector. Using an
Aerotech robo=c gantry system, Purdue can
encapsulate a module with 100 m precision in
approximately 20 minutes. Encapsula=on provides
mechanical protec=on, prevents electroly=c
corrosion, and damps mechanical vibra=ons. This
process will be used throughout 2015 in the
produc=on of approximately 500 sensor modules.

References
1.
2.
3.

D.R. Sparks, Chemically-accelerated corrosion tests for

aluminum metallized ICs. Thin Solid Films 235 (1993) 108-111.
S. Chatrchyan, et al. (CMS collabora=on.) The CMS experiment
at the CERN LHC, JINST 3 (2008) S08004.
G. Bolla, et al., Wire-bonds failures Induced by resonant
vibraAons in the CDF silicon detector. IEEE NSS 3 (2003)
1641-1645.