Additive manufacturing approaches for stress relief in semiconductor die packaging

Packaging of semiconductor chips, especially MEMS-based, always causes stress on the functional areas of the die causing unpredictable changes in chip performance. As a consequence such devices can only be calibrated individually after complete assembly. Melexis and TNO have developed an approach to reduce significantly packaging stress effects by means of additive manufacturing of the die package. The device is calibrated in a standard package with a standard calibration tool whereas the client specific shape is realized with additive manufacturing afterwards. The placement of a dedicated nozzle onto a SOIC16 package with a silicon pressure sensor illustrates the approach.