*Article* **Improved Anti-Vulcanization and Bonding Performance of a Silver Alloy Bonding Wire by a Cathodic Passivation Treatment with Palladium**

**Guannan Yang 1,2, Zhiqiang Zhou 1, Haide Zhang 1, Yu Zhang 1,2,\*, Zhen Peng 3,\*, Pan Gong 4, Xin Wang <sup>5</sup> and Chengqiang Cui 1,2,\***


**Abstract:** As a traditional interconnect material, silver alloy bonding wires are widely used in electronic packaging, but their propensity to vulcanize quickly has not been sufficiently addressed. The current surface anti-oxidation and anti-sulfidation treatments are often accompanied by a decline in bonding performance, which hinders the use of silver alloy bonding wires in new applications. In the present paper, we develop a new cathodic passivation treatment in a Pd-containing solution for silver bonding wires, which not only significantly improves their vulcanization resistance, but also maintains their bonding performance. The surface of the treated wires remains unaffected after vulcanization in 0.3 μg/m<sup>3</sup> of ammonium sulfide for 60 min. Compared to a Pd-free passivation treatment, the bonding strength of the wire passivated with the Pd-containing solution improves from 0.20 to 0.27 N. XPS analysis confirms the existence of Pd on the surface of the wire. The solder ball formed an obtuse angle instead of a sharp angle on the pad, which is beneficial for bonding strength.

**Keywords:** silver alloy bonding wire; bonding strength; vulcanization resistance; cathodic passivation
