Development of a Fluxless Flip Chip Bonding Process for Optical Military Electronics

As military electronics tend to become lighter, smaller, thinner, and lower cost, the use of flip chip technology is becoming more common place to meet system requirements, yet survive environments. This paper explores the development of an optical flip chip application and details the selection/qualification of the substrate. The selected assembly consists of a procured 1x12 Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) die, having 80um diameter eutectic AuSn solder bumps at 250um pitch and flip chip bonded to a .006” thick 99.6% alumina substrate with .006” diameter thru holes and metallized with 500Å WTi, under minimum 2.0-3.0μm (80-120μ”) thin film deposited Au. An 8 run, 3 factor, 2 level Full Factorial Design of Experiments (DOE) was completed on procured detector arrays and procured ceramic substrates using the Suss Microtec FC150. The optimum settings for the peak temperature, peak time and final die z-height were selected using the ANOVA results and interaction plots. Additional studies were completed to qualify in-house produced substrates. An epoxy glob-top encapsulant was selected to dissipate stress on the flip chip solder joints and to enhance thermal shock performance