SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE

PURPOSE:To make it possible to lower the cost without impairing reliability for a long time, by using a piece of silver wire having the purity of 99.9% as a thin metal wire, and using a thin gold film as an electrode on a semiconductor chip. CONSTITUTION:A piece of silver wire 6 having the purity of 99.9% is used as a thin metal wire. When the wire is bonded to an aluminum electrode, abnormal diffusion occurs between the aluminum electrode and the silver wire 6, and a fragile diffused layer having a high resistance is formed at an early stage. Therefore, gold, which has less diffusing property with the silver, is used as the electrode. Thus the problem of deterioration of reliability for a long period due to the fragile diffused layer having the high electric resistance is solved. When the gold is used as the electrode, the amount of the use of the gold is less in comparison with the case the gold is used for wire.