ASPECTS OF THE SURFACE-ROUGHNESS OF CERAMIC BONDING TOOLS ON A NANOMETER-SCALE INVESTIGATED WITH ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY

Ceramic bonding capillaries were studied using a stand-alone atomic fo rce microscope (AFM) demonstrating the importance of nanoscale charact erization for industrial quality control. Bonding tools represent an e xample of a nanotribological system in industry as the friction at the bonding wire/capillary interface is responsible for the formation of the contact between the bonding wire and bonding pad. The detailed str ucture and homogeneity of micro- and nanometer scale structures on the surface are crucial for the performance of the capillary during the b onding process. The surface of bonding tools prepared under different conditions could be imaged at the very end, giving information on the formation of a nanoscale roughness. A special roughness analysis based on methods of fractal analysis was used in order to obtain a direct c orrelation between the roughness and lateral length scale of the AFM i mages.