Abstract: A wire, preferably a bonding wire for bonding in microelectronics, contains a copper core with a surface and coating layer containing aluminum superimposed over the surface of the copper core. The ratio of the thickness of the coating layer to the diameter of the copper core is from 0.05 to 0.2 ?m. The wire has a diameter in the range of from 100 ?m to 600 ?m and specified standard deviations of the diameter of the copper core and of the thickness of the coating layer. The invention further relates to a process for making a wire, to a wire obtained by the process, to an electric device containing at least two elements and the wire, to a propelled device containing the electric device, and to a process of connecting two elements through the wire by wedge bonding.

Abstract: A ribbon, preferably a bonding ribbon for bonding in microelectronics, contains a first layer containing copper, a coating layer containing aluminum superimposed over the first layer, and an intermediate layer. In a cross-sectional view of the ribbon, the area share of the first layer is from 50 to 96% and the aspect ratio between the width and the height of the ribbon in a cross-sectional view is from 0.03 to less than 0.8. The ribbon has a cross-sectional area of 25,000 ?m2 to 800,000 ?m2. The intermediate layer contains at least one intermetallic phase containing materials of the first and coating layers. The invention further relates to a process for making a wire, to a wire obtained by the process, to an electric device containing the wire, to a propelled device comprising said electric device and to a process of connecting two elements through the wire by wedge-bonding.

Abstract: The invention relates to a wire, preferably a bonding wire for bonding in microelectronics, containing a copper core with a surface and a coating layer containing aluminum superimposed over the surface of the core. In any cross-sectional view of the wire, the area share of the coating layer is from 20 to 50% based on the total area of the cross-section of the wire, and the aspect ratio between longest and shortest paths through the wire is from larger than 0.8 to 1.0. The wire has a diameter of from 100 ?m to 600 ?m. The invention further relates to a process for making a wire, to a wire obtained by the process, to an electric device containing at least two elements and the wire, to a propelled device containing the electric device, and to a process of connecting two elements through the wire by wedge bonding.