Manufacturing challenges with plastic overmolded packages

Plastic packages are getting very sophisticated. Significant improvement has been achieved in the last few years. Plastic packages are now being designed to handle over 100 watts of power. Notable improvements in material options and equipment availability for die attach, wirebonding and the molding have enhanced the quality for reliability to very acceptable levels. Advances in process monitoring equipment employing SAM technology and powerful X-rays, have minimized the occurrence of delamination and die attach voids. Several key manufacturing challenges associated with the assembly of plastic, overmolded packages are presented along with an exploration of material choices and bonding technologies and their impact on package reliability.