Plastic encapsulated components for cars

Thermal management in electronics packaging is important. Thermal stress greatly affects reliability and aging of electronic circuits. Our group developed a thermal simulation tool named TRESCOM for investigating thermal problems in electronic packaging. We used this tool for steady-state and dynamic analyses of the thermal qualities of PLCC and CLCC components. Our investigation demonstrated the surprising result that the thermal performance of the plastic encapsulated components is superior to hermetically sealed ceramic components. We conclude that plastic packages are reliable and can compete with ceramic packages at the elevated temperatures that are found in automotive applications