A model of temperature cycling performance in plastic encapsulated packages

A requirement for many customers of semiconductors encapsulated in plastic packages is the ability to survive 1000 cycles of air-to-air (gas-to-gas) temperature cycle under the conditions of -65/spl deg/C to +150/spl deg/C. A series of experiments were performed to model the performance of molding compounds relative to die size. The model was then correlated to the historical temperature cycling data of an encapsulant independent of package size or type. The temperature cycle performance can now be predicted based on die size. The package size or type is incidental, a larger package is generally required for a larger die.