Method and apparatus for forming an underfill adhesive layer
AssigneeNational Semiconductor Corporation
InventorsLuu Nguyen, Nikhil Kelkar, Christopher Quentin, Ashok Prabhu, Hem P. Takiar
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for forming a layer of underfill adhesive on an integrated circuit located on a wafer surface are described. As a flip chip, the integrated circuit has electrically conductive pads, most of which have a solder ball attached thereto. A layer of underfill adhesive is then formed on the wafer surface such that at least some portion of most of the solder balls remain uncovered. The layer of underfill adhesive is partially cured and the flip chip is then mounted onto a substrate. A solder reflow operation electrically couples the flip chip and the substrate as well as fully cures the underfill adhesive.
Claims8
A wafer level method for forming a layer of underfill adhesive on integrated circuits formed on an active surface of a wafer having electrically conductive pads, the method comprising:
- forming solder bumps on a plurality of the electrically conductive pads;
- forming an underfill adhesive layer on the active surface of the wafer by,
- masking selected portions of the active surface of the wafer, and
- depositing the underfill adhesive on the active surface of the wafer such that the masked portions of the active surface correspond to uncovered portions of the active surface that are not covered by the underfill adhesive;
- and
- partially curing the underfill adhesive layer, wherein some of the uncovered portions provide a mechanism for relieving thermally induced stress in the wafer caused in part by the partial curing, and wherein the masked portions of the active surface of the wafer include most of a plurality of saw streets that isolate adjacent integrated circuits.
A method for forming a layer of underfill adhesive on an integrated circuit having an active surface that includes electrically conductive pads, comprising:
- forming a solder ball on most of the electrically conductive pads;
- forming the layer of underfill adhesive on the active surface of the integrated circuit, wherein at least some portion of most of the solder balls remain uncovered;
- and
- partially curing the underfill adhesive, wherein the integrated circuit is a flip chip integrated circuit suitable for encapsulation in a flip chip package wherein most of the electrically conductive pads on the flip chip integrated circuit are flip chip bond pads suitable for electrically coupling the flip chip integrated circuit to external circuitry;
- aligning selected ones of the solder balled flip chip bond pads to corresponding substrate bond pads included on a substrate;
- mounting the flip chip integrated circuit on the substrate such that each of the selected solder bumped flip chip bond pads are in direct contact with the corresponding substrate bond pad;
- and
- reflowing the solder balls such that the flip chip bond pads are electrically connected to the corresponding substrate bond pads, wherein the reflowing further cures the underfill adhesive such that there are substantially no voided regions between the substrate and the flip chip integrated circuit and that there is substantially no segregation of the resin and the silica in the intervening underfill adhesive, wherein the layer of underfill adhesive is substantially opaque thereby protecting the flip chip integrated circuit from photo induced leakage currents by blocking visible light.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.