Wire bonding using in-situ plasma treatment and apparatus for effecting the same

A method of forming a bonded assembly, the method comprising:

• disposing a semiconductor chip comprising chip bonding pads on a substrate in a low-oxygen ambient having an oxygen partial pressure that is lower than 17 kPa, wherein the chip bonding pads comprise an electroplated copper material containing copper atoms at an atomic percentage in a range from 95% to 99.9999%;
• performing a plasma treatment process in the low-oxygen ambient by directing a plasma jet to a first chip bonding pad selected from the chip bonding pads;
• bonding a first end of a bonding wire to the first chip bonding pad during the plasma treatment process;
• and
• bonding a second end of the bonding wire to a substrate bonding pad on the substrate.

A method of forming a bonded assembly, the method comprising:

• disposing a semiconductor chip on a substrate in a low-oxygen ambient having an oxygen partial pressure that is lower than 17 kPa, wherein the semiconductor chip comprise a chip bonding pad having a copper-containing surface;
• performing a plasma treatment process by directing a plasma jet to the copper-containing surface in the low-oxygen ambient;
• attaching a first end of a bonding wire to the copper-containing surface of the chip bonding pad through a metal ball having a same material composition as the bonding wire during the plasma treatment process;
• and
• attaching a second end of the bonding wire to a substrate bonding pad of the substrate through a stitch.