Fracture toughness of Cu-EMC interfaces under pressure cooker conditions

Delamination of interfaces is known as one of the root causes of failure in microelectronic industry and therefore is getting more and more attention. In order to be able for judging the risk of the interface fracture, the critical fracture properties of the interfaces should be available i.e. Interfacial fracture toughness. Interfacial fracture toughness is highly dependent to temperature, moisture and mode mixity. This work deals with the fracture toughness measurements of an EMC-Cu lead frame interface under pressure cooker conditions ( >;100°C & 100% RH). To deal with it, a chamber with high pressure, i.e. pressure cooker or pressure vessel, is needed. A mixed mode bending setup is installed in the pressure chamber. This will make it possible to have a prescribed opening displacement under combined mode I/II conditions on a bi-material specimen.