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.