Epoxy Mold Compound Characterization and Cure Kinetics for Post Mold Isothermal Cure Improvement and Accelerated Reliability Assessment

Epoxy-based mold compound were successfully characterized through dynamic thermal analyses and thermo-mechanical tests. The mold compound's cure kinetic parameters were successfully modeled using the Kissinger's method. Post mold isothermal cure improved the thermal and mechanical properties of the epoxy-based mold compound such as enthalpy, heat flow, thermogravimetric weight loss, flexural modulus, and button shear strength. The improvements can be attributed with the further polymer cross-linking reaction. All major improvements started at 4th hour post mold isothermal cure and stabilized at succeeding time. Furthermore, the reliability performance was evaluated through an accelerated temperature cycle test using the calculated activation energy from the kinetic model. Accelerated temperature cycle test validated that post mold isothermal cure improve the reliability performance of the mold-to-leadframe interface.