Electroless remetallization of aluminum bond pads on CMOS driver chip for flip-chip attachment to vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL's)

A method for remetallizing the bond pads of electronic chips, which are initially metallized with aluminum or aluminum alloy is presented, Application of electroless plating process for the remetallization of aluminum to a solderable gold surface can reduce the cost and complication of the widely accepted flip chip interconnection technology. We have developed a step by step nickel/gold wafer bumping technique (remetallized bump height is 5.0 mu m) for the appropriate solder (15.0 mu m of In:Pb). Variation of roughness of the remetallized surface has been studied carefully. We have completed prototype research studies on test devices and successfully packaged the flip-chip bonded hybrid pair of a CMOS driver chip and a dummy structure of vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) array, Cross section of the hip-chip solder joint is studied. Also, adhesion strength of the metal deposit is investigated.