|
OLOVO, LLC is a
leading supplier of low-alpha lead products to the semiconductor
industry. An essential material for reducing 'soft errors' in
sensitive flip-chip applications, the demand for low-alpha lead solder is
growing. Soft errors are mistakes in logical calculations induced
by positively charged particles colliding with logic components in
embedded memory and high speed integrated circuits. Traditional
solder materials used in flip-chip interconnect are naturally imbued
with alpha emitting particles and thus cause unacceptable error rates in
the circuit devices.
Naturally occurring lead
contains the unstable isotope 210Pb which decays into 206Pb
by way of 210Bi and 210P0 emitting a 5.3MeV
alpha particle. This lead emits 10 to 100
alphas/cm2/hr. OLOVO low-alpha lead
based products are available in three grades
ranging from less than 0.05 to 0.01 alphas/cm2/hr, well
within required radio-purity specifications for semiconductor
applications.
For sensitive
integrated circuit applications, in particular those with small
transistor geometries and high frequencies of operation, high
rates of alpha emission from the interconnect material results in
high failure rates. Relative to the high cost of wafer
fabrication, OLOVO low-alpha lead based products provide an effective
and inexpensive solution to the problem of soft errors. |
