The present disclosure generally relates to semiconductor devices. In particular, the present disclosure relates to resin-packaged or resin-sealed semiconductor devices with improved heat dissipation. Further, the present disclosure relates to packaging structures capable of facilitating heat dissipation for semiconductor devices.
In order to obtain stronger light emission from the semiconductor light-emitting device X, it is required to apply greater electrical power to the LED chip 92. Inevitably, the amount of heat generated by the LED chip 92 is increased, and for maintaining the proper light emission, the heat should be conducted from the longer strip portion 91a to the circuit board. One way to facilitate the heat conduction is to broaden the strip portion 91a (hence the lead frame 91) to which the LED chip 92 is attached.
While the width of the longer strip portion 91a is to be increased, the overall size of the case 93 may be unchanged so that the light-emitting device X is kept compact. In this case, the side walls of the case 93 need to be made thinner to permit the size increase of the longer strip portion 91a. This configuration, however, will weaken the frame-holding force of the case 93, which may allow the lead frame 91 to drop off from the case 93.
The present disclosure has been proposed under above-described circumstances, and thus an object of the present disclosure may be to provide semiconductor devices with improvements over conventional devices. As an instance, the present disclosure may aim to provide resin-packaged semiconductor devices with improved heat dissipation properties. A further object of the present disclosure may be to provide packaging structures configured to facilitate heat dissipation for semiconductor devices with a resin package or resin seal.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a semiconductor light-emitting device comprising: a lead frame including a bonding region having a top surface and a bottom surface; a semiconductor light-emitting element mounted on the top surface of the bonding region; and a case covering part of the lead frame. The bottom surface of the bonding region is exposed to an outside of the case. The lead frame includes a thin extension extending from the bonding region and having a top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface of the thin extension is flush with the top surface of the bonding region, while the bottom surface of the thin extension is offset from the bottom surface of the bonding region toward the top surface of the bonding region.
Preferably, the semiconductor light-emitting device of the present disclosure may further comprise a thick extension extending from the bonding region and having a top surface and a bottom surface. The thick extension is arranged adjacent to the thin extension and is the same in thickness as the bonding region. The bottom surface of the thick extension is exposed to the outside of the case.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, in a semiconductor device comprising a first portion of lead frame including a bonding portion, a second portion of lead frame spaced apart from the first portion of lead frame in a first direction perpendicular to a thickness direction of the bonding portion, a semiconductor element mounted on a first surface of the bonding portion and electrically connected to the first portion of lead frame and the second portion of lead frame, and a case covering a part of the first portion of lead frame and a part of the second portion of lead frame, and the improvement in the semiconductor device the bonding portion includes a first exposed surface that is opposite from the first surface and exposed from the case,
the first portion of lead frame further includes a plurality of thin extensions and a plurality of thick extensions, each thin extension extending from the bonding portion in a second direction perpendicular to the thickness direction and the first direction, each thin extension being smaller in thickness than the bonding portion, and each thick extension extending from the bonding portion in the second direction,
the plurality of thick extensions are disposed next to the plurality of thin extensions and have a same thickness as the bonding portion, each thick extension including a second exposed surface that is exposed from the case,
the second exposed surface of each thick extension and the first exposed surface of the bonding portion are contained in a same flat plane, and
the positions of the plurality of thick extensions are at different locations in the first direction from the positions of the plurality of thin extensions.
Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The semiconductor light-emitting device A may include a lead frame 1, a light-emitting diode (LED) chip 2, a case 3, and a protection resin (resin package or resin seal) 4 that allows the passage of light emitted from the LED chip 2. The light-emitting device A is a small rectangular parallelepiped having a length of about 4 mm, a width of about 1 mm, and a height of about 0.6 mm. In
The lead frame 1 is made of Cu, Ni, or an alloy containing Cu and/or Ni. As shown in
The bonding region 11 is a strip-shaped region on part of which the LED chip 2 is mounted. Each of the thin extensions 12 extends out from the bonding region 11, and has a thickness which is about half the thickness of the bonding region 11, for example. As shown in
As shown in
The LED chip 2 as a light source of the light-emitting device A is configured to emit light of a predetermined wavelength. The LED chip 2 is made of a semiconductor material such as GaN, for example, and emits blue light, green light, or red light by the recombination of electrons and holes at an active layer sandwiched by an n-type semiconductor layer and a p-type semiconductor layer. The LED chip 2 is connected to the shorter portion of the lead frame 1 via a wire 5.
The case 3 is made of a white resin, for example, and is a generally rectangular frame. As shown in
The protection resin 4 is made of a transparent or transparent epoxy resin, for example, filled in a space defined by the case 3. The protection resin 4 covers the LED chip 2, and while protecting the LED chip 2.
Next, the functions of the semiconductor light-emitting device A will be described below.
As described above, the case 3 is held in unreleasable engagement with the thin extensions 12. Thus, the lead frame 1 is reliably held by the case 3, to be prevented from dropping off from the case 3. As a result, though the light-emitting device A has a very small width (about 1 mm), the lead frame 1 is exposed out of the case 3 in a relatively large area, as seen from
As described above, the thin extensions 12 and the thick extensions 13 are arranged to alternate with each other, and the bottom surfaces of the thick extensions 13 are exposed to the outside of the case 3, as shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2007-092879 | Mar 2007 | JP | national |
This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. application Ser. No. 18/459,793, filed Sep. 1, 2023, which is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/369,710, filed Jul. 7, 2021, which is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/394,376, filed Apr. 25, 2019, which is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 15/997,184, filed Jun. 4, 2018, which a is continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 14/703,273, filed May 4, 2015, which is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 14/574,640, filed Dec. 18, 2014, which is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 14/184,173, filed Feb. 19, 2014, which is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 14/021,501, filed Sep. 9, 2013, which is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 13/414,294, filed Mar. 7, 2012, which is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 12/890,964, filed Sep. 27, 2010, which is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No. 12/079,760, filed Mar. 28, 2008, which claims priority to Japanese application 2007-092879, filed Mar. 30, 2007, all of which are incorporated herein by reference, including the original claims.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12079760 | Mar 2008 | US |
Child | 12890964 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 17369710 | Jul 2021 | US |
Child | 18459793 | US | |
Parent | 16394376 | Apr 2019 | US |
Child | 17369710 | US | |
Parent | 15997184 | Jun 2018 | US |
Child | 16394376 | US | |
Parent | 14703273 | May 2015 | US |
Child | 15997184 | US | |
Parent | 14574640 | Dec 2014 | US |
Child | 14703273 | US | |
Parent | 14184173 | Feb 2014 | US |
Child | 14574640 | US | |
Parent | 14021501 | Sep 2013 | US |
Child | 14184173 | US | |
Parent | 13414294 | Mar 2012 | US |
Child | 14021501 | US | |
Parent | 12890964 | Sep 2010 | US |
Child | 13414294 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 18459793 | Sep 2023 | US |
Child | 18971729 | US |