WIRE BONDING USING IN-SITU PLASMA TREATMENT AND APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME

A bonded assembly may be formed by: providing a substrate and a semiconductor chip in a low-oxygen ambient having an oxygen partial pressure that is lower than 17 kPa; disposing the semiconductor chip on the substrate; performing a plasma treatment process on a copper-containing surface of a chip bonding pad on the semiconductor chip in the low-oxygen ambient by directing a plasma jet to the chip bonding pad; and attaching a bonding wire to the semiconductor chip and to the substrate such that a first end of the bonding wire is attached to the copper-containing surface and a second end of the bonding wire is attached to a substrate bonding pad on the substrate.