The effect of the temperature on bondability and bonding process for wire bonding are investigated. Bondability is characterized by shear bonding strength and bonding process is represented by input and output power of ultrasonic transducer. A laser Doppler vibrometer and Labview software were used to record the velocity, voltage and current of transducer at different temperature settings. A K-type thermocouple sensor was used to measure the bonding temperature. Experimental results show that unsuccessful bonding happens at low temperature, and over bonding appears if the temperature is too high. Only when the temperature is at appropriate settings, can a stable and satisfied bondability be attained. The reason for this experimental observation is analyzed. By using a high resolution transmission electron microscope, the atom diffusion depth of Au-Ag bonding interface was measured and the result is about 200 nm. By using joint time-frequency analysis, the instantaneous characteristics of bonding process were observed completely and clearly. It is found that input and output ultrasonic power vs. time-frequency in a bonding process, including resonance frequency, harmonic components and amplitude of ultrasonic energy, vary along with the change of temperature settings.