𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗧𝗴 𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘅𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰𝘀.

A known challenge is preserving copper bond wires during decapsulation, as conventional acid processes can damage the wires. This becomes even more critical when silver-plated leadframes are used, since acid and conventional plasma etching readily attack silver and make stitch bond exposure difficult.

This work, by Sumitomo Bakelite, presents a decapsulation process based on Microwave Induced Plasma (MIP) etching to handle high Tg plastic packages with copper wire bonds. The process enables controlled mold compound removal while preserving copper wires and silver-plated leadframes, supporting reliable analysis of advanced automotive packages.