Radiation exposure induced failure on semiconductor package material

Semiconductor industry has progressed towards the creation of packages with sub-micron technology. Quad-Flat No-Lead (QFN) package is among latest form semiconductor package in submicron size scale. Recent trends in digitization era lead to electronic package application in many fields including radioactive environment. In the development of semiconductor technology, the ability to predict and eventually to prevent failures of microelectronics is becoming increasingly important. This paper presents an effect of 1.33 MeV gamma irradiation induced failure in semiconductor packages. The packages were exposed to gamma radiation from a Cobalt-60 source with varying doses from 5 Gy to 50 000 Gy with an operating dose rate of 2.54 kGy/h. In this investigation, as-received packages were used as control samples. Following exposure to gamma ray, the inhouse fabricated QFN package then subjected to Scanning Acoustic Microscope (CSAM) and X-ray Imaging System (3D CT scan X-ray) to check the influence of radiation exposure on the package. Detail analysis exhibited that the increment of exposure dose influenced the occurrence of the wire sweep, delamination and cracks. The delamination occurs at the silicon die and leadframe region and the cracks were observed at the die surface. The gamma irradiation is believed to induce the failure in QFN package.