Method of electrically isolating leads of a lead frame strip by laser beam cutting

A method of processing a lead frame strip including a plurality of connected unit lead frames, each unit lead frame having a die paddle and a plurality of leads connected to a periphery of the unit lead frame, the method comprising:

• attaching a semiconductor die to each of the die paddles;
• covering the unit lead frames with a molding compound after the semiconductor dies are attached to the die paddles;
• directing a laser beam at regions of the periphery of each unit lead frame where the leads are located thereby forming spaced apart cuts in the periphery of each unit lead frame, the spaced apart cuts severing the leads from the periphery of each unit lead frame and extending at least partially into the molding compound in the regions of the periphery where the leads are located so that the molding compound remains intact between the spaced apart cuts;
• and
• processing the lead frame strip after the spaced apart cuts are formed in the periphery of each unit lead frame;
• and
• cutting the entire periphery of each unit lead frame by a saw blade after processing the lead frame strip, to separate the unit lead frames into individual packages,
• wherein a width of the spaced apart cuts made in the periphery of each unit lead frame by the laser beam is narrower than the width of the saw blade.