Design of Mold Materials with Excellent Releasability for IC Encapsulation using Epoxy Compounds

Adhesion between epoxy molding compounds (EMCs) and encapsulating mold surfaces is becoming a critical issue for integrated circuit (IC) packaging. Such adhesion results in IC damage or a serious reduction in productivity of the packaging process. It is thus highly desirable to develop mold materials that have excellent releasing properties for EMCs. In this study, the adhesion strengths of various oxide ceramics selected as model surfaces for mold materials for conventional EMCs were measured at room temperature. Some rare-earth oxides, which have surface isoelectric points (IEPs) of the oxide of approximately 9, exhibit excellent releasability from EMCs. This is considered to be caused by inhibiting acid-base interactions between EMCs and the oxide surfaces.