Integrated circuit device encapsulants, silicone

Thermogravinietric Analysis of Silicone Elastomers as Integrated Circuit Device Encapsulants... 

A number of integrated circuit (IC) failure mechanisms are related to the presence of water and impurities at device surfaces. The most catastrophic failures are open or short circuits resulting from electrochemical attack on substrate metallization. Other, more subtle maladies include increased capacitive coupling between conductors (1.), reduced bipolar current gain (2), shifted MOS threshold voltages (3.4), and parasitic MOS devices (5.6). These problems arise from spurious electrical conduction processes in the presence of moisture and ionic contaminants. Polymer encapsulants, such as silicone rubber, provide barriers that prevent the formation of conductive water films on IC surfaces. 

Due to their small feature sizes, microelectronic circuits need protection from environmental hazards such as mechanical damage and adverse chemical influences from moisture and contaminants. Several approaches are currently in use, for example, hermetic encapsulation of the device in sealed metal or ceramic enclosures, application of soft silicone gels as a cover over integrated circuitry, and encapsulation by transfer molding, which is the topic of this report. Both silicone resins and epoxy resins are used for this purpose. As the quality and performance of the epoxy encapsulants improved, the need for the generally more expensive silicone resins diminished. The present work is exclusively devoted to epoxy transfer molding compounds. 

In this paper, the thermal stability of the silicone elastomers, base silicone resins, fillers, and their interactions with each other within the silicone matrix are described. Thermal decomposition volatiles, obtained indirectly through solvent extractables, reaction kinetics of the materials as integrated circuit (IC) devices encapsulants will be discussed. 

RTV silicone elastomer, an organosiloxane, is one of the most effective encapsulants used for temperature cycling and moisture protection of IC devices. Since World War II, silicones (organosiloxane polymers) have been used in a variety of applications where properties of high thermal stability, hydrophobicity, and low dielectric constant are necessary, e.g., as encapsulants or conformal coatings for integrated circuits. In 1969 it was demonstrated that room temperature vulcanized (RTV) silicones exhibited excellent performance as moisture protection barriers for IC devices and a number of different RTV silicone have been adapted For use in the elec-tronics industry... 

Figure 44 Package constructions used to evaluate the thermal transfer properties of the die attachment materials and substrates. TO-3 steel package is composed of steel case la, OFHC copper 2a, nickel film 3, soft solder 4a, and integrated circuit 5. TO-3 aluminium package is formed of aluminium header lb plated with nickel 3 on the top of which a silver-filled epoxy adhesive 4b is employed to bond the semiconductor device 5. The 24-lead CERDIP package is based on nickel-plated alumina substrate Ic with soft solder bonded silicon chips. In 40-lead plastic package, integrated circuits 5 are bonded to leadframes 2b by using silver-filled epoxy adhesive 4b and then encapsulated in moulding...

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