What is Thermo Compression Bonding

Benatav has developed a thermo compression process that allows you to connect ultra-fine wires to other ultra-fine wires, whether they are similar in diameter and material or if one wire is up to 12 times as thick as the other wire and/or made of a different type of metal.

Traditionally, two wires were joined by either welding them together (melting them) or soldering them (using a metal with a lower melting point). Our micro soldering, thermo compression process allows you to join ultra-fine wires as small as 9 microns (5-10 times thinner than a human hair).

In today’s world, there is an increasing demand for miniaturized and microscopic parts for components such as sensors and transducers. Building these components requires the ability to join ultra-fine wires, which introduces constraints that preclude traditional welding and soldering methods. Ultra-fine wires are often used to wind coils for state-of-the-art micro-motion control and positioning systems.

However, joining ultra-fine wires is a non-trivial challenge, especially when the expected size or shape of the final component is constrained by various physical and environmental factors and strict tolerance requirements. Traditional methods cannot be used to join ultra-fine wires anymore.

Examples of Connections

Thermo-pressure bonding can connect:

• Miniature copper thermocouples to ultra-fine wires
• Metal to metal connections of micro-coils to a printed circuit board using thicker intermediate wires
• Micro coils to a support system using metal-plated terminals

The molecular connections formed by thermo pressure bonding provide highly reliable, corrosion-free, and strain-free joins. The process is also more economical than traditional soldering or welding, leading to lower manufacturing costs. Thermo-pressure bonding has been extensively tested in a wide variety of customer environments and successfully implemented in several production processes. It has proven its readiness for integration into mass-production processes, meeting high standards required by medical applications, and suitable for both disposable and long-life products, including permanent implants.

Advantages of Micro Compression Bonding

Advantages of micro compression bonding include:

• Reduced noise levels
• Strain relief at connections
• Safer production process. No risk of damaging sensitive components
• Highly reliable connection—no oxidization
• Lower production costs—using mass production (compared to alternatives)
• Robust, automated manufacturing process—eliminates human error caused by skill levels and worker experience

Traditional Methods

The following are some of the traditional methods for joining wires:

• Soldering by applying an external heat source to the joint along with a filler metal.
• Welding by applying an electric current to melt the metals to be joined.

Traditional methods cannot be used at all due to physics constraints, or they introduce other issues, such as:

• Heat spread that destroys the wires
• Oxidation of the wires and surrounding area
• Physical strain and degradation in the reliability of the connection

The ultimate answer to all these connectivity challenges was found in the form of an innovative  thermo-pressure bonding technology for ultra-fine wires recently developed by Benatav.

Applications

The following is a list of some applications that benefit from micro coil and ultra-fine wire connectivity technology:

• Active implants—monitoring or control of implanted pace-makers, or deep brain stimulation components, for example, pain management devices
• Therapeutic applications—devices in electro-physiology treatments, (cardiac or neural), or electricity-based ablations, (microwave and RF)
• Navigation and orientation sensors—targeted drug delivery, targeted radiation catheters, stent positioning, highly accurate ablations, implanted markers, and endoscopic manipulation
• Orthopedic and dental treatment using pulsed electromagnets
• Diagnostic—wireless communication with miniature sensor implants, whether physiological (blood pressure or heartbeat), or flow (blood or respiration)

The Future of Ultra-Fine Wire Technologies

Using Benatav’s thermo compression bonding technology for ultra-fine wires opens up a limitless range of possibilities for designers of miniaturized medical equipment and other industries.

A miniature coil manufactured by Benatav can serve as a navigation component in a cardiovascular catheter used for cardiac ablation. This component, which is a key element in a disposable catheter, exemplifies the benefits of using Benatav’s thermo-pressure technology to mass-produce high-quality, miniature components at a reasonable cost. As designers become more aware of micro soldering, we foresee that these advanced technologies and their applications will become increasingly widespread.

Call Benatav on +972-3-9345951 or send us an email info@benatav.com, to discuss how our thermo-pressure technology can benefit your business.