Understanding the use of silicone gels for nonhermetic plastic packaging

The authors review some potential IC encapsulants, with special focus on the high-performance silicone gel, its chemistry, and its use as a VLSI device encapsulant for single and multichip applications. It is noted that high-performance silicone gel possesses excellent electrical and physical properties for IC protection. With their intrinsic low modulus and soft gel-like nature, silicone gels have become very effective encapsulants for larger, high I/O, wire-bonded VLSI chips. Recent studies indicate that adequate IC chip surface protection with high-performance silicone gels in plastic packaging could replace conventional ceramic hermetic packaging