Identification marking cavity filling for semiconductor packages
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electronic components, particularly semiconductor devices, experience mechanical and thermal stress due to identification markings, leading to material failure and reduced reliability, performance, and durability.
Innovation Solution
Forming semiconductor devices with a mold compound material and filling cavities in identification markings with a crack-resistant second material, such as epoxy, to alleviate stress amplification and enhance resistance to cracking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If identification markings are formed by creating cavities in the mold compound material, then identification markings are achieved, but stress amplification occurs leading to material failure and reduced reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful cavities created by laser marking into beneficial stress-distributing structures by filling them with a second material. The cavities that originally caused stress amplification and material failure are transformed into stress-relief features through the filling process, thereby improving device reliability while maintaining identification functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a composite material structure consisting of a mold compound material with embedded cavities filled with a second material. This composite construction allows the identification markings to serve dual purposes: maintaining visual identification while distributing mechanical and thermal stresses more effectively than a homogeneous material structure.
2Reliability
If cavities are formed in mold compound material for identification markings, then identification is achieved, but cracking and material failure occur under mechanical and thermal stress
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful effect of cavities causing cracking under stress is converted into a benefit by filling these cavities with a second material that has different mechanical properties. The filled cavities act as stress-distributing elements that prevent crack propagation, thereby improving resistance to cracking while maintaining the identification marking function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by filling only the cavity regions with a second material while leaving the surrounding mold compound material unchanged. This localized modification allows the identification markings to have enhanced crack resistance at the cavity locations without altering the overall material structure or compromising other mechanical properties.
3Reliability
If a second material is formed in the cavities, then stress amplification is alleviated and crack resistance is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by forming the cavities with the laser marking process before any filling operation. This sequence allows the cavity structure to be created as part of the identification marking step, and then the second material is subsequently introduced to fill these pre-formed cavities, improving durability while managing manufacturing complexity through a logical process sequence.
Solution Approach 2:
The second material serves as an intermediary substance that mediates between the mold compound material and the external environment. It fills the cavities to prevent stress concentration and crack propagation, thereby improving durability. The intermediary material bridges the structural requirements of the mold compound with the stress-distribution needs of the identification marking regions.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and devices for identification marking cavity filling for semiconductor packages are described. A semiconductor device may be formed to be relatively less susceptible to surface failures, including failure initiated by stress risers associated with identification markings. For example, a mold compound material may be formed over one or more semiconductor dies of the semiconductor device. One or more identification markings may be formed in the mold compound material based on forming one or more cavities into a surface of the material. A second material may be formed in the one or more cavities and may fill each of the cavities. The second material may be a crack-resistant material. The second material may be formed through one or more apertures of a stencil, or the second material may be formed by applying the second material over an entirety of the surface of the semiconductor device.