IC Package Gap Structure for Stress-Sensitive Voltage References

The patent segments the package into multiple cavities within the mold compound, with each cavity housing a discrete circuit element (such as filter capacitors, resistors, or other components). This segmentation allows stress from the mold compound to be distributed across multiple isolated regions rather than uniformly applied to a single integrated circuit, thereby reducing the harmful stress effects on voltage reference circuits while maintaining the protective enclosure function.

The patent merges the filter capacitor (previously an external discrete component on the PCB) with the IC package by placing it inside the mold compound in a separate cavity. This integration eliminates the external connection paths that were susceptible to PCB surface leakage and dielectric leakage. The filter capacitor remains electrically isolated within the encapsulated environment, maintaining its noise filtering function while eliminating leakage-related output voltage shifts.

The patent creates a universal package structure with multiple cavities that can accommodate various discrete circuit elements (capacitors, resistors, inductors, or other components) depending on the specific application requirements. This multi-functional cavity system allows the same basic package architecture to serve different circuit configurations, eliminating leakage issues across all applications while avoiding the need for entirely different package designs for each component type, thus managing complexity through standardization.