• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.55-65
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• 2020

The use of underfill materials in semiconductor packages is not only important for stress relieving of the package, but also for improving the reliability of the package during shock and vibration. However, in recent years, as the size of the package becomes larger and very thin, the use of the underfill shows adverse effects and rather deteriorates the reliability of the package. To resolve these issues, we developed the package using a solid epoxy material to improve the reliability of the package as a substitute for underfill material. The developed solid epoxy was applied to the package of the application processor in smart phone, and the reliability of the package was evaluated using thermal cycling reliability tests and numerical analysis. In order to find the optimal solid epoxy material and process conditions for improving the reliability, the effects of various factors on the reliability, such as the application number of solid epoxy, type of PCB pad, and different solid epoxy materials, were investigated. The reliability test results indicated that the package with solid epoxy exhibited higher reliability than that without solid epoxy. The application of solid epoxy at six locations showed higher reliability than that of solid epoxy at four locations indicating that the solid epoxy plays a role in relieving stress of the package, thereby improving the reliability of the package. For the different types of PCB pad, NSMD (non-solder mask defined) pad showed higher reliability than the SMD (solder mask defined) pad. This is because the application of the NSMD pad is more advantageous in terms of thermomechanical stress reliability because the solderpad bond area is larger. In addition, for the different solid epoxy materials with different thermal expansion coefficients, the reliability was more improved when solid epoxy having lower thermal expansion coefficient was used.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.75-82
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• 2019

Flexible solar cells have attracted enormous attention in recent years due to their wide applications such as portable batteries, wearable devices, robotics, drones, and airplanes. In particular, the demands of the flexible silicon and compound semiconductor solar cells with high efficiency and high reliability keep increasing. In this study, we fabricated a flexible InGaP/GaAs double-junction solar module. Then, the effects of the wind speed and ambient temperature on the operating temperature of the solar cell were analyzed with the numerical simulation. The temperature distributions of the solar modules were analyzed for three different wind speeds of 0 m/s, 2.5 m/s, and 5 m/s, and two different ambient temperature conditions of 25℃ and 33℃. The flexibility of the flexible solar module was also evaluated with the bending tests and numerical bending simulation. When the wind speed was 0 m/s at 25 ℃, the maximum temperature of the solar cell was reached to be 149.7℃. When the wind speed was increased to 2.5 m/s, the temperature of the solar cell was reduced to 66.2℃. In case of the wind speed of 5 m/s, the temperature of the solar cell dropped sharply to 48.3℃. Ambient temperature also influenced the operating temperature of the solar cell. When the ambient temperature increased to 33℃ at 2.5 m/s, the temperature of the solar cell slightly increased to 74.2℃ indicating that the most important parameter affecting the temperature of the solar cell was heat dissipation due to wind speed. Since the maximum temperatures of the solar cell are lower than the glass transition temperatures of the materials used, the chances of thermal deformation and degradation of the module will be very low. The flexible solar module can be bent to a bending radius of 7 mm showing relatively good bending capability. Neutral plane analysis was also indicated that the flexibility of the solar module can be further improved by locating the solar cell in the neutral plane.