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Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Delamination Between Epoxy Molding Compound (EMC) and Metal in Encapsulated Microelectronic Packages

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Abstract

Microelectronics packages play a vital role in not only interconnecting the electronic signals from the die to the printed circuit board (PCB), but also in protecting the chips during the manufacturing process and their subsequent service lives. Epoxy molding compound (EMC) is widely used in electronic packaging due to its superior processing capability and low circuit signal delay. However, interfacial delamination is a common problem in encapsulated silicon devices, particularly at the interface between the copper leadframe (LF) pads and the EMC due to the weaker adhesion strength. Accordingly, the present study employs a double cantilever beam (DCB) experimental testing method and a numerical model based on the virtual crack closure technique (VCCT) to investigate the fracture behavior at the EMC/Cu LF interface in a quad flat no leads (QFN) package. The experiments are performed on an MTS-Acumen microforce tester equipped with a load unit capable of applying a force of 0.01 to 1250 N with a displacement resolution of 0.1 μm. The DCB specimens are prepared with a pre-crack length of 12 mm. The validity of the simulation model is confirmed by comparing the predicted values of the critical strain energy release rate (SERR, Gc) between the EMC and the copper LF pads with the experimental observations. In general, the results show that the Gc value provides a useful parameter for evaluating the delamination risk of encapsulated microelectronics packages and assessing the reliability of alternative package architectures.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) under grant MOST-110-2622-E-150-018 and MOST-111-2221-E-150-003. Likewise, the support received from Richtek Technology during the fabrication of the specimens is deeply appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Computer-Aided Engineering, National Formosa University, Huwei, Yulin, 632, Taiwan

    M.-K. Shih, Y.-H. Liu & G.-S. Lin

  2. Package Technology Engineering Department, Richtek Technology Corporation, Zhubei, Hsinchu, 302, Taiwan

    E. Hsu & J. Yang

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  1. M.-K. Shih
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  2. Y.-H. Liu
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  3. G.-S. Lin
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  4. E. Hsu
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  5. J. Yang
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Correspondence to M.-K. Shih.

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Shih, MK., Liu, YH., Lin, GS. et al. Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Delamination Between Epoxy Molding Compound (EMC) and Metal in Encapsulated Microelectronic Packages. Exp Tech (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40799-023-00679-5

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