Humidity Test of Premolded Chip Carriers

Premolded chip carrier packages made by AMPl containing test chips coated with various protective materials were humidity-tested at 85°C/85 percent relative humidity (RH) with a 40-V dc bias for 1000 h. The test chips were also packaged in plastic dual in-line packages (DIP's), and ceramic DIP's and tested at the same time for comparison. The purpose of this test was to gather preliminary information on the suitability of the premolded chip carrier as a semiconductor package. As expected none of those in the hermetic packages failed. The test chips in the chip carrier with protective coatings survived better than those in the plastic DIP's, and one of the chip carrier groups had no failures. The data are sufficiently encouraging to recommend continued development and testing of premolded packages.