Abstract: There is provided a novel Ag alloy bonding wire for semiconductor devices which provides an excellent bonded ball shape during ball bonding, which is required for high-density packaging. The Ag alloy bonding wire for semiconductor devices is made of an Ag alloy that contains one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Te, Bi and Sb and that satisfies at least one of the following conditions (1) to (3): (1) a concentration of Te is 5 to 500 at. ppm; (2) a concentration of Bi is 5 to 500 at. ppm; and (3) a concentration of Sb is 5 to 1,500 at. ppm.

Abstract: There is provided an Ag alloy bonding wire for semiconductor devices which exhibits a favorable bond reliability in a high-temperature environment even when using a mold resin of high S content and can suppress a chip damage at the time of ball bonding. The Ag alloy bonding wire is characterized by containing at least one element selected from the group consisting of Pd and Pt (hereinafter referred to as a “first element”) and at least one element selected from the group consisting of P, Cr, Zr and Mo (hereinafter referred to as a “second element”) so as to satisfy 0.05 ? ? ? ? ? x 1 ? ? ? ? ? 3.0 , ? ? and 15 ? ? ? x 2 ? ? ? 700 where x1 is a total concentration of the first element [at.%] and x2 is a total concentration of the second element [at. ppm], with the balance including Ag.