1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to “flip chip” style packaging of integrated circuits. More particularly, the invention relates to a support coating that is applied at the wafer level to support solder contacts in flip chip styled packaging.
2. Background
Numerous conventional packages for integrated circuit (“IC”) devices involve the formation of solder bumps or other suitable contacts directly on an IC die. The die is then typically attached to a suitable substrate, such as a printed circuit board (“PCB”), such that the solder bumps on the die may be surface mounted onto matching contacts on the substrate. Such surface mount devices are often referred to as “flip chip” devices. In order to reduce the costs of packaging in general, it is generally desirable to perform as many of the packaging steps as possible at the wafer level, before a wafer is diced and separated into individual IC devices.
When packaging surface mount devices, it is common to form the solder bumps directly over the I/O contact pads on the die at the wafer level. Such solder bumps are typically reflowed when the die is subsequently attached (e.g., soldered) to a suitable substrate. During the reflow process, the solder bumps typically collapse to form solder joint connections between the substrate and the attached die. The reliability and lifespan of a typical solder joint can depend on a variety of factors, with one common mode of failure being cracking or shearing due to temperature cycling. Because heat is ordinarily generated whenever an IC device is used, the die, substrate, contact pads, solder joints and other nearby components tend to heat up and expand. Solder, substrates and dice can all have different rates of thermal expansion, such that significant stresses are introduced into a solder joint whenever a significant shift in temperature occurs. When continued use of an IC device results in excessive or high variance temperature cycling, the resulting failure of even one affected solder joint connection can render the entire IC device as unreliable or useless.
It has been observed that the reliability of many reflowed solder joints with respect to this mode of failure is dependent on the wetting angle between the solder joint and the die, as well as the total “standoff” or gap between the substrate and the die. Current attempts to optimize this wetting angle and standoff include defining and controlling various parameters, such as the solder bump size, the amount of solder paste placed on the substrate, and the contact pad size, among others. While many of these techniques do generally help to improve the reliability of reflowed solder joints, there is always a desire to provide even more reliable and more cost effective processes for packaging integrated circuit devices.
It is an advantage of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for increasing flip chip package reliability. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a support coating is added to a wafer after solder bumps have been added but prior to dicing. This support coating or layer is arranged so that it constrains the interface between the solder bumps and their associated die contact pads during solder reflow. It has been observed that such a support coating can provide added strength to the eventual reflowed solder joint connections with a substrate, such that the operational lifetime of these solder joints is increased.
Other apparatuses, methods, features and advantages of the invention will be or will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.
The included drawings are for illustrative purposes and serve only to provide examples of possible structures for the disclosed inventive apparatus and method for providing support coating enhanced IC device packages. These drawings in no way limit any changes in form and detail that may be made to the invention by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Exemplary applications of apparatuses and methods according to the present invention are described in this section. These examples are being provided solely to add context and aid in the understanding of the invention. It will thus be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well known process steps have not been described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. Other applications are possible, such that the following examples should not be taken as limiting.
In the following detailed description, references are made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of the description and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments of the present invention. Although these embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable one skilled in the art to practice the invention, it is understood that these examples are not limiting; such that other embodiments may be used, and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
One advantage of the present invention is the reduction or elimination of reflowed solder joint connection failures due to temperature cycling. This advantage is accomplished at least in part via the improved designs and processes for creating IC device packages disclosed herein, the use of which results in an increased wetting angle and a larger standoff between the silicon die and the substrate to which the die is attached. Such a result is obtainable due to the presence of a support coating that is distributed onto the wafer before the wafer is separated into individual dice.
Referring first to
Referring now to
Referring to
Continuing on to
As will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, the original pre-collapse solder bump dimensions may vary widely from application to application. For purposes of illustration, various after collapse dimensions are given herein for a popular original solder bump size, which can be, for example, on the order of about 300 microns in diameter with an original wetting angle of about 60 degrees. After a typical reflow procedure in a device having solder bumps of such dimensions, the resulting wetting angle 31 for the collapsed solder bumps may be about 25 to 35 degrees, the final solder joint height or standoff 32 may be about 9 mils and the maximum solder bump diameter 33 may be about 360-400 microns. Similar results occur in instances involving different sized solder bumps, with the actual reflowed solder bump dimensions being largely dependent upon the original solder bump size and wetting angle. Although other physical features certainly exist, such as the wetting angle between the substrate and solder joint, the recited physical features for which exemplary dimensions are given here are thought to be most critical with respect to temperature cycling induced failure of the solder joint.
In this regard, it is worth noting that many solder joint failures occur at or near the interface between the solder joint and the die. Tests and observations have shown that not only is it important to have an increased offset between the die and substrate, but also that an increased wetting angle 31 results in a stronger solder joint near its interface with the die. An exemplary technical paper that explains in detail the importance of increasing the wetting angle for this type of packaging application is the one by P. Borgesen, Che Yuli, and H. D. Conway, IEEE Transactions on Components, Hybrids & Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 16, No. 3, May 1993, which technical paper is incorporated herein in its entirety and for all purposes.
Referring now to
Turning now to
It should be appreciated that support coating 150 is not intended to act as an underfill layer. Instead, support coating 150 is an applied layer that is fully cured or otherwise rendered sufficiently rigid after it is applied to the active face of a wafer, but before the wafer is singulated into individual dice. One or more additional layers that function as traditional underfill layers may also be used in conjunction with the present invention if desired, although such underfill layers are not believed to be necessary. Detailed examples and descriptions for adding and using underfill layers in SMT type device applications are disclosed in the commonly assigned and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/224,291 referenced above.
In the described embodiment, support coating 150 is preferably an epoxy-based curable fluid, although other materials than can be rendered sufficiently rigid at the wafer level are also contemplated. By rendering support coating 150 sufficiently rigid at the wafer level, it is intended that this coating be strong enough at this stage such that it can significantly support and constrain portions of the solder bumps near the contact pads during any subsequent reflowing of the solder bumps. While preferable, it is thus not necessary that the applied support coating actually be curable. In fact, while support coatings of this nature would certainly include many types of fully cured epoxies, it is also specifically contemplated that many epoxies at a substantially cured condition may also be used, as well as other fluids that can be applied and rendered sufficiently rigid at the wafer level without a curing procedure.
Referring now to
Continuing on to
Continuing on to
Another improved feature resulting from the use of the support coating is the setoff 132 between the die 100 and PCB 120. Again noting that solder bumps can come in a wide variety of sizes, exemplary dimensions are given herein with respect to an illustrative example involving solder bumps having an original pre-flow diameter of about 300 microns. In such an instance, the setoff after reflow for solder bumps with an original diameter of about 300 microns ranges from about 12 to 12.5 mils for the solder joint 130 shown in
It should be noted, however, that the height of the support layer relative to the solder bump and the amount of solder paste used on the substrate must be reasonably controlled to have the best results. It should be appreciated that the somewhat “snowman” like shape to the solder joint 130 illustrated in
Conversely,
Experimentation has determined that final heights for the support coating that go lower than about 20 percent and higher than about 70 percent of the original solder bump height result in solder joints that tend to be progressively weaker as the percentage extends from this range. Experimentation has also shown that the benefits of adding such an epoxy-based support coating outweigh the burdens involved in adding more materials and process steps when the solder joints are significantly strengthened and made to be more reliable. Such results certainly occur when the final height of the support coating falls between about 20 percent and about 70 percent of the original solder bump height. More preferably, the final height of the support coating should be at about 40 to 60 percent of the original height of the solder bumps, and even more preferably, the support coating height should be at about 48 to 52 percent of the original height of the solder bumps. It is thought that the ideal final height of the support coating is about 50 percent of the original solder bump height.
With respect to the composition that should be used for the support coating discussed herein, a curable dielectric fluid comprising an epoxy or other hard resin type base is preferred. Any other material or composition can be used, however, provided that such a material or composition can be cured or otherwise rendered sufficiently rigid such that it will not significantly transform further during any solder reflow or IC device operating conditions. The support coating is preferably clear, although dye may be added to help block visible light and thereby reduce photo induced leakage currents. By way of example, an epoxy-based support coating having a coefficient of thermal expansion (“CTE”) in the range of approximately 20×10−6/K to approximately 30×10−6/K@ 25° C., has been found to work well in order to assist in the reduction of thermally induced stresses, since the CTE for most solders is also in this range.
In one embodiment, an epoxy-based fluid having a 50-60 percent solvent content by weight is used, since the use of solvent results in a fluid that is easier to distribute evenly. Solvent is added mainly to control the viscosity of the formulation and more readily allow an even application of the support coating. Experimental use of a support coating material having the above-defined characteristics has shown that much of the solvent tends to evaporate during a curing process. Thus, the initial height of the support coating as applied to the active surface of the wafer may need to take into account the reduction in thickness due to solvent loss. In one example using a curable support coating having a 50 percent solvent content by weight, it has been found that in order to produce a fully cured support coating having a height of about 50 percent of the height of the solder bumps, the pre-curing thickness of the material should be approximately 100 percent of the height of the solder bumps. In various other embodiments of the invention, a support coating having a lower solvent content may be used. With the solvent content lower, the amount of solvent loss will be less. Therefore, the height of the pre-cured support coating needs to be selected such that the height of the fully cured support coating is at the desired level.
Although the foregoing invention has been described in detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity and understanding, it will be recognized that the above described invention may be embodied in numerous other specific variations and embodiments without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the invention. Certain changes and modifications may be practiced, and it is understood that the invention is not to be limited by the foregoing details, but rather is to be defined by the scope of the appended claims.
The present application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/224,291, filed Aug. 19, 2002, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety and for all purposes.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5008189 | Oroskar et al. | Apr 1991 | A |
5128746 | Pennisi et al. | Jul 1992 | A |
5136365 | Pennisi et al. | Aug 1992 | A |
5214308 | Nishiguchi et al. | May 1993 | A |
5244143 | Ference et al. | Sep 1993 | A |
5250843 | Eichelberger | Oct 1993 | A |
5329423 | Scholz | Jul 1994 | A |
5376403 | Capote et al. | Dec 1994 | A |
5495439 | Morihara | Feb 1996 | A |
5500534 | Robinson et al. | Mar 1996 | A |
5587342 | Lin et al. | Dec 1996 | A |
5668059 | Christie et al. | Sep 1997 | A |
5698894 | Bryant et al. | Dec 1997 | A |
5736456 | Akram | Apr 1998 | A |
5767010 | Mis et al. | Jun 1998 | A |
5768290 | Akamatsu | Jun 1998 | A |
5773359 | Mitchell et al. | Jun 1998 | A |
5872633 | Holzapfel et al. | Feb 1999 | A |
5880530 | Mashimoto et al. | Mar 1999 | A |
5895976 | Morrell et al. | Apr 1999 | A |
5925936 | Yamaji | Jul 1999 | A |
5937320 | Andricacos et al. | Aug 1999 | A |
5953623 | Boyko et al. | Sep 1999 | A |
5977632 | Beddingfield | Nov 1999 | A |
6023094 | Kao et al. | Feb 2000 | A |
6060373 | Saitoh | May 2000 | A |
6063647 | Chen et al. | May 2000 | A |
6071757 | Fogal et al. | Jun 2000 | A |
6100114 | Milkovich et al. | Aug 2000 | A |
6121689 | Capote et al. | Sep 2000 | A |
6130473 | Mostafazadeh et al. | Oct 2000 | A |
6171887 | Yamaji | Jan 2001 | B1 |
6190940 | DeFelice et al. | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6228678 | Gilleo et al. | May 2001 | B1 |
6245595 | Nguyen et al. | Jun 2001 | B1 |
6258626 | Wang et al. | Jul 2001 | B1 |
6288444 | Abe et al. | Sep 2001 | B1 |
6297560 | Capote et al. | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6307269 | Akiyama et al. | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6316528 | Iida et al. | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6327158 | Kelkar et al. | Dec 2001 | B1 |
6346296 | McCarthy et al. | Feb 2002 | B1 |
6352881 | Nguyen et al. | Mar 2002 | B1 |
6358627 | Benenati et al. | Mar 2002 | B2 |
6372547 | Nakamura et al. | Apr 2002 | B2 |
6391683 | Chiu et al. | May 2002 | B1 |
6429238 | Sumita et al. | Aug 2002 | B1 |
6455920 | Fukasawa et al. | Sep 2002 | B2 |
6468832 | Mostafazadeh | Oct 2002 | B1 |
6479308 | Eldridge | Nov 2002 | B1 |
6486562 | Kato | Nov 2002 | B1 |
6507118 | Schueller | Jan 2003 | B1 |
6605479 | Pasadyn et al. | Aug 2003 | B1 |
6649445 | Qi et al. | Nov 2003 | B1 |
6683379 | Haji et al. | Jan 2004 | B2 |
6791194 | Nagai et al. | Sep 2004 | B1 |
6818550 | Shibata | Nov 2004 | B2 |
6822324 | Tao et al. | Nov 2004 | B2 |
20020003299 | Nakamura et al. | Jan 2002 | A1 |
20020014703 | Capote et al. | Feb 2002 | A1 |
20020027257 | Kinsman et al. | Mar 2002 | A1 |
20020031868 | Capote | Mar 2002 | A1 |
20020109228 | Buchwalter et al. | Aug 2002 | A1 |
20020171152 | Miyazaki | Nov 2002 | A1 |
20030001283 | Kumamoto | Jan 2003 | A1 |
20030013233 | Shibata | Jan 2003 | A1 |
20030080360 | Lee et al. | May 2003 | A1 |
20030087475 | Sterrett et al. | May 2003 | A1 |
20030099767 | Fang | May 2003 | A1 |
20030127502 | Alvarez | Jul 2003 | A1 |
20030129789 | Smith et al. | Jul 2003 | A1 |
20030169064 | Pirkle et al. | Sep 2003 | A1 |
20030193096 | Tao et al. | Oct 2003 | A1 |
20030218258 | Charles et al. | Nov 2003 | A1 |
20040002181 | Scheifers et al. | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20050156331 | Akram | Jul 2005 | A1 |
20050212142 | Miyazaki et al. | Sep 2005 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 10224291 | Aug 2002 | US |
Child | 10707208 | US |