Encapsulation of a stack of semiconductor dice

• US 20040016939A1
• Filed: 07/26/2002
• Published: 01/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Ichikawa, Kinya, Kumamoto, Takashi, Kubota, Jiro, Akiba, Masayuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,132,311 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 257/126
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/565 Moulds
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2223/54473 for use after dicing
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/16 of an individual bump connector
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2225/0652 Bump or bump-like direct electrical connections from substrate to substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2225/06551 Conductive connections on the side of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2225/06582 Housing for the assembly, e.g. chip scale package [CSP]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2225/06593 Mounting aids permanently on device; arrangements for alignment use of temporary supports H01L21/6835
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/3128 the substrate having spherical bumps for external connection
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/544 Marks applied to semiconductor devices or parts, e.g. registration marks, alignment structures, wafer maps test patterns for characterising or monitoring manufacturing processes H01L22/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/0657 Stacked arrangements of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/50 Multistep manufacturing processes of assemblies consisting of devices, each device being of a type provided for in group H01L27/00 or H01L29/00 H01L21/50 takes precedence

Abstract

Systems and methods for encapsulating a stack of semiconductor dice are described. A stack of semiconductor dice may be formed, for example by attaching die to flexible printed circuit supports attached to frames and stacking the supports, and then encapsulated by flowing a liquid encapsulant around the stack of dice and solidifying the liquid encapsulant. The die supports may contain encapsulant flow openings, such as rectangular slits, that allow the liquid encapsulant to flow around the stack of dice.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

forming a stack of semiconductor dice; and

encapsulating the stack of semiconductor dice.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein encapsulating includes (i) flowing a liquid encapsulant through an encapsulant flow opening, and (ii) solidifying the liquid encapsulant in the opening.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein encapsulating includes solidifying a liquid encapulant on a semiconductor surface of a die of the stack.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein encapsulating includes (i) adding a liquid encapsulant to an encapsulation chamber, and (ii) solidifying the liquid encapsulant in the chamber.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein forming includes aligning the stack of dice by inserting a jig into an alignment opening of the stack of dice.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein forming includes forming a stack of dice based on defect information.

7. A method comprising:

placing a stack of semiconductor dice in an encapsulation chamber; and

encapsulating the stack of dice by adding a liquid encapsulant to the chamber and solidifying the liquid encapsulant within the chamber.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein:

(i) placing includes placing a support that contains an encapsulant flow opening in the chamber; and

(ii) encapsulating includes flowing the liquid encapsulant through the flow opening and solidifying the liquid encapsulant in the opening.

9. The method of claim 7:

further comprising forming the stack of dice, prior to said placing, by stacking a first support having attached thereto a first die over a second support having attached thereto a second die having a bare semiconductor surface; and

wherein encapsulating includes solidifying the liquid encapulant on the bare semiconductor surface of the second die.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising, prior to said placing, forming the stack of semiconductor dice based on defect information determined for a logic die of the stack.

11. A method comprising:

attaching dice to a plurality of die supports;

stacking the dice by stacking the supports; and

encapsulating the stacked dice.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein stacking the supports includes aligning the plurality of supports by inserting a jig into alignment openings in the plurality of supports.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein:

(i) attaching includes attaching a die to a die support containing an encapsulant flow opening; and

(ii) encapsulating includes flowing a liquid encapsulant through the encapsulant flow opening and solidifying the liquid encapsulant in the encapsulant flow opening.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein encapsulating includes (i) placing the stacked dice in an encapsulation chamber, (ii) adding liquid encapsulant to the chamber, (iii) flowing the liquid encapsulant through an encapsulant flow opening in a support of the plurality, and (iv) encapsulating the stack of dice by solidifying the liquid encapsulant in the chamber.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein:

(i) stacking includes stacking a support having a semiconductor die having a bare semiconductor surface attached thereto; and

(ii) encapsulating includes contacting the bare semiconductor surface with the liquid encapsulant.

16. A device comprising:

a first semiconductor die attached to a first support stacked over a second semiconductor die attached to a second support, the first support containing a first encapsulant flow opening and the second support containing a second encapsulant flow opening; and

a solidified encapsulant formed over the first support, over the first die, in the first flow opening, over the second support, over the second die, and in the second flow opening.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein (i) the first and the second supports each contain signaling mediums to conduct signals received from the first and the second die, and (ii) the first encapsulant flow opening comprises a slit having a width sufficient to flow liquid encapsulant.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein (i) the first support comprises a printed circuit, and (ii) the width is between 0.5-2 millimeters and wherein the length is greater than 2 millimeters.

19. The device of claim 16, wherein the solidified encapsulant is formed on a semiconductor surface of the second die.

20. The device of claim 16, wherein (i) each of the supports contain a flexible sheet attached to a frame, and (ii) each of the frames contain an alignment opening to accommodate insertion of a jig to align the first die relative to the second die.

21. The device of claim 16, wherein the first die comprises a logic die known to be free of defects by testing.

22. A device comprising:

a plurality of stacked semiconductor dice; and

an encapsulant formed contiguously around the plurality of stacked semiconductor dice.

23. The device of claim 22, wherein (i) the encapsulant contacts semiconductor surfaces of the plurality of semiconductor dice, and (ii) mechanically connects the plurality of stacked semiconductor dice.

24. The device of claim 22, wherein the encapsulant is formed contiguously around the purality of stacked semiconductor dice by flowing through an encapsulant flow opening in a support of one of the die of the plurality.

25. The device of claim 22, wherein the dice are stacked based on die attach position defect information and semiconductor die defect information.

26. A mobile communication system comprising:

a plurality of stacked semiconductor dice; and

an encapsulant formed contiguously around the plurality of stacked semiconductor dice.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein (i) the encapsulant contacts semiconductor surfaces of the plurality of semiconductor dice, and (ii) mechanically connects the plurality of stacked semiconductor dice.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the encapsulant is formed contiguously around the purality of stacked semiconductor dice by flowing through an encapsulant flow opening in a support of one of the die of the plurality.

29. A semiconductor die support comprising a first side, a second side, a signaling medium to conduct a signal from a semiconducotor die attached to the first side of the support, and an encapsulant flow opening to allow a liquid encapsulant to flow from the first side of the support to the second side of the support.

30. The support of claim 29, wherein the signaling medium includes a patterned conductive material formed within an insulating polymeric material.

31. The support of claim 29, wherein the opening comprises a slit.

32. The support of claim 31, wherein the slit has a width that is between 0.5-2 millimeters and a length that is greater than 2 millimeters.

33. The support of claim 29, wherein (i) the first side of the support comprises a semiconductor die attach position, and (ii) the support comprises a plurality of encapsulant flow openings proximate the die attach position and on opposite sides of the die attach position.

34. The support of claim 29, wherein (i) the first side of the support comprises a plurality of die attach positions, and (ii) the support comprises a plurality of encapsulant flow openings proximate each of the plurality of die attach positions.

35. The support of claim 29, wherein the support comprises a frame and a flexible support sheet containing the encapsulant flow opening attached to the frame.