Plastic encapsulant materials consistency for reliability assurance

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:260517

Lowry, R K; Hanley, K L ^[1]; Hatcher, J; Gu, X; Julien, N; Astrab, D ^[2]

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1. Harris Semiconductor, Melbourne, FL (United States)
2. Brevard Community Coll., Palm Bay, FL (United States)

Most semiconductor devices are sealed in plastic. In some ``high reliability`` applications users hesitate to replace hermetically sealed parts with lower cost plastic encapsulated microcircuits (PEMs) due to reliability concerns. These concerns include susceptibility of PEM materials to water ingress, metal corrosion, and mechanical failures caused by stress from material mismatches. With increasing device complexity, huge PEM production volumes, and reliability expectations approaching {le}1FIT, end-of-line electrical testing is becoming less practical. It is imperative that reliability be ``built-in`` to PEMs, so that, once reliable mold compound material is qualified, the ongoing PEM molding process yields product whose encapsulants are chemically and physically consistent. This paper discusses materials testing to confirm that physical and chemical properties affecting PEM encapsulant reliability are consistent. The tests include glass transition temperature, coefficients of thermal expansion, filler content, and the crucial chemical properties of moisture uptake and extractable ionics. Analysis results are scrutinized by control chart, providing critical nodes for PEM process consistency. This helps to assure on-going reliability in PEM manufacturing processes using qualified materials, and forms a database for helping to reduce end-of-line testing.

• OSTI ID: 260517
• Report Number(s): CONF-951156--; ISBN 0-87170-554-0
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
DATA
ENCAPSULATION
FAILURES
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
MATERIALS TESTING
PACKAGING
PROCESS CONTROL
RELIABILITY
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES