The present invention generally relates to semiconductor device packages. More particularly, the invention relates to semiconductor device packages with electromagnetic interference shielding.
Semiconductor devices have become progressively more complex, driven at least in part by the demand for enhanced processing speeds and smaller sizes. While the benefits of enhanced processing speeds and smaller sizes are apparent, these characteristics of semiconductor devices also can create problems. In particular, higher clock speeds can involve more frequent transitions between signal levels, which, in turn, can lead to a higher level of electromagnetic emissions at higher frequencies or shorter wavelengths. Electromagnetic emissions can radiate from a source semiconductor device, and can be incident upon neighboring semiconductor devices. If the level of electromagnetic emissions at a neighboring semiconductor device is sufficiently high, these emissions can adversely affect the operation of that semiconductor device. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as electromagnetic interference (“EMI”). Smaller sizes of semiconductor devices can exacerbate EMI by providing a higher density of those semiconductor devices within an overall electronic system, and, thus, a higher level of undesired electromagnetic emissions at a neighboring semiconductor device.
One way to reduce EMI is to shield a set of semiconductor devices within a semiconductor device package. In particular, shielding can be accomplished by including an electrically conductive casing or housing that is electrically grounded and is secured to an exterior of the package. When electromagnetic emissions from an interior of the package strike an inner surface of the casing, at least a portion of these emissions can be electrically shorted, thereby reducing the level of emissions that can pass through the casing and adversely affect neighboring semiconductor devices. Similarly, when electromagnetic emissions from a neighboring semiconductor device strike an outer surface of the casing, a similar electrical shorting can occur to reduce EMI of semiconductor devices within the package.
While an electrically conductive casing can reduce EMI, the use of the casing can suffer from a number of disadvantages. In particular, the casing is typically secured to an exterior of a semiconductor device package by an adhesive. Unfortunately, the casing can be prone to peeling or falling off, since binding characteristics of the adhesive can be adversely affected by temperature, humidity, and other environmental conditions. Also, when securing the casing to the package, the size and shape of the casing and the size and shape of the package should match within relatively small tolerance levels. This matching of sizes and shapes and associated precision in relative positioning of the casing and the package can render manufacturing operations costly and time consuming. Because of this matching of sizes and shapes, it also follows that semiconductor device packages of different sizes and shapes can require different casings, which can further increase manufacturing cost and time to accommodate the different packages.
It is against this background that a need arose to develop the semiconductor device packages and related methods described herein.
Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention is directed to a semiconductor device package with electromagnetic interference shielding.
In one embodiment, a semiconductor device package includes a circuit substrate, an electronic device, an encapsulant, and a conductive layer. The circuit substrate includes a carrying surface, a bottom surface opposite the carrying surface, and a pad. The electronic device is disposed adjacent to the carrying surface and is electrically connected to the circuit substrate. The encapsulant is disposed adjacent to the carrying surface and encapsulates the electronic device. The encapsulant includes a center portion and a peripheral portion surrounding the center portion. A thickness of the peripheral portion is less than a thickness of the center portion, and an opening exposing the pad of the circuit substrate is formed in the peripheral portion. The conductive layer conformally covers the encapsulant and traverses the opening to connect to the pad of the circuit substrate.
In addition, the circuit substrate may include a lateral surface extending between the carrying surface and the bottom surface. The peripheral portion of the encapsulant may include a lateral surface. The lateral surface of the peripheral portion may be substantially coplanar with the lateral surface of the circuit substrate.
In addition, the thickness of the peripheral portion may be substantially uniform.
In addition, the thickness of the conductive layer may be substantially uniform.
In addition, the opening may expose a top surface of the pad, and the conductive layer may cover a sidewall of the opening and the top surface of the pad. The pad may be disposed adjacent to the carrying surface of the circuit substrate.
In addition, the pad may be disposed within the circuit substrate, the opening may penetrate both the peripheral portion of the encapsulant and the circuit substrate, and the conductive layer may cover a sidewall of the opening and may connect to the pad. The pad may be exposed at the sidewall. The pad may also be disposed adjacent to the carrying surface or disposed adjacent to the bottom surface.
In addition, the semiconductor device package may further include a filler disposed in the opening.
In addition, the pad may be grounded.
In addition, the opening may include a circular hole, a linear slot, or a ring-shaped trench.
Another aspect of the present invention is further directed to methods of forming a semiconductor device package with electromagnetic interference shielding. In one embodiment, a method of forming a semiconductor device package includes: (1) providing a circuit substrate strip including a carrying surface, a bottom surface opposite the carrying surface, and a circuit substrate; (2) disposing an electronic device adjacent to the carrying surface, where the electronic device is bonded to the circuit substrate; (3) forming an encapsulant disposed adjacent to the carrying surface and encapsulating the electronic device; (4) performing a half-cutting of the encapsulant along a border of the circuit substrate to form a peripheral portion of the encapsulant extending along the border of the circuit substrate, where a thickness of the peripheral portion is less than a thickness of a center portion of the encapsulant; (5) forming an opening in the peripheral portion to expose a pad of the circuit substrate; and (6) forming a conductive layer to conformally cover the encapsulant, where the conductive layer is connected to the pad of the circuit substrate through the opening.
In addition, the thickness of the peripheral portion may be substantially uniform.
In addition, the method may further include performing a full-cutting of the peripheral portion of the encapsulant along the border of the circuit substrate to separate the circuit substrate from a remainder of the circuit substrate strip and to separate the peripheral portion from a remainder of the encapsulant.
In addition, the opening may be formed by laser drilling. In addition, the pad may be disposed adjacent to the carrying surface of the circuit substrate strip. The conductive layer may cover a sidewall of the opening and a top surface of the pad.
In addition, the opening may be formed by mechanical drilling. In addition, the pad may be disposed in an inner layer of the circuit substrate strip, and the opening may penetrate both the peripheral portion of the encapsulant and the circuit substrate strip. The conductive layer may cover a sidewall of the opening and connect to the pad exposed by the sidewall.
In addition, the method may further include filling the opening after forming the conductive layer, where filling the opening includes electroplating a metal material or printing a non-conductive material into the opening.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of some embodiments of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of some embodiments of the invention.
Reference will now be made in detail to some embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.
The following definitions apply to some of the aspects described with respect to some embodiments of the invention. These definitions may likewise be expanded upon herein.
As used herein, the singular terms “a”, “an” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to a grounding element can include multiple grounding elements unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
As used herein, the term “set” refers to a collection of one or more components. Thus, for example, a set of layers can include a single layer or multiple layers. Components of a set also can be referred to as members of the set. Components of a set can be the same or different. In some instances, components of a set can share one or more common characteristics.
As used herein, the term “adjacent” refers to being near or adjoining. Adjacent components can be spaced apart from one another or can be in actual or direct contact with one another. In some instances, adjacent components can be connected to one another or can be formed integrally with one another.
As used herein, terms such as “inner,” “top,” “bottom,” “above,” “below,” “downwardly,” and “lateral” refer to a relative orientation of a set of components, such as in accordance with the drawings, but do not require a particular orientation of those components during manufacturing or use.
As used herein, the terms “connect”, “connected” and “connection” refer to an operational coupling or linking. Connected components can be directly coupled to one another or can be indirectly coupled to one another, such as via another set of components.
As used herein, the terms “substantially” and “substantial” refer to a considerable degree or extent. When used in conjunction with an event or circumstance, the terms can refer to instances in which the event or circumstance occurs precisely as well as instances in which the event or circumstance occurs to a close approximation, such as accounting for typical tolerance levels of the manufacturing operations described herein.
As used herein, the terms “conductive” refers to an ability to transport an electric current. Electrically conductive materials typically correspond to those materials that exhibit little or no opposition to flow of an electric current. One measure of electrical conductivity is in terms of Siemens per meter (“S·m−1”). Typically, an electrically conductive material is one having a conductivity greater than about 104 S·m−1, such as at least about 105 S·m−1 or at least about 106 S·m−1. Electrical conductivity of a material can sometimes vary with temperature. Unless otherwise specified, electrical conductivity of a material is defined at room temperature.
Aspects of the present invention can be used for fabricating various package structures, such as stacked type packages, multiple-chip packages, or high frequency device packages.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Furthermore, the openings 136 can be shaped to have different profiles to meet various requirements.
Referring to
Furthermore, an optional filling process can be performed after forming the conductive layer 140 to fill the openings 136 with filler 138, thereby providing improved structural rigidity. For example, the filler 138 may be formed by electroplating a metal material or printing a non-conductive material into the openings 136. Embodiments of the present invention provide no limitation on the material included in or the formation of the filler 138.
Referring to
Referring to
Since the half-cutting process is conducted to reduce the thickness of the encapsulant 130 before forming the opening 136 and electrically connecting the conductive layer 140 to the pads 112, the throughput of the package process can be increased because of the reduced time needed to drill the shallow depth of the opening 136.
In general, the width or the depth of the cutting path of the aforementioned half-cutting process or the aforementioned full-cutting process can be altered depending on the shielding requisites or other electrical properties of the package, or even varied in accordance with the processing parameters. Preferably, referring to
In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, the method of forming a semiconductor device package shown in
Referring to
Referring to
The encapsulant 130 has at least an opening 136 (
In brief, an electrical connection between the conductive layer and the pad of the substrate is established by performing a half cutting process to reduce the thickness of a part of the encapsulant before electrically connecting the conductive layer to the underlying pad, and thereby the throughput of the process can be increased due to a shallow drilling depth. In the package structures of the present embodiment, the conductive layer conformally covers the encapsulant and the circuit substrate and functions as an EMI shielding layer, protecting the package structure from radiation from surrounding radiation sources. The substantially complete coverage of the conductive layer can effectively enhance the EMI shielding efficacy of the package structure. In addition, the reliability of the package can be improved. Moreover, such design is compatible with the packaging of high frequency devices, particularly, radio frequency devices.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of embodiments of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
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