Method and apparatus for distributing mold material in a mold for packaging microelectronic devices

A method for packaging a plurality of microelectronic devices attached to a substrate, comprising:

• at least partially enclosing the microelectronic devices in a mold with the microelectronic devices in a device region of the mold, the mold having a plurality of gate regions in fluid communication with a source of mold material and an intermediate region between the gate regions and the device region, wherein the gate regions have a first flow area transverse to a flow axis, and wherein the intermediate region has a second flow area greater than the first flow area and transverse to the flow axis;
• passing the mold material along the axis through the gate regions over a surface of the substrate into the intermediate region;
• and
• passing the mold material from the intermediate region to the device region through a flow restriction between the intermediate region and the device region before engaging a leading edge of the mold material with the microelectronic devices.