Polymer Adhesives and Encapsulants for Microelectronic Applications

This article provides an overview of the use of polymer adhesives in microelectronic packaging, with key applications including die attachment, underfills, and encapsulants. For many applications, polymer adhesives provide several advantages over alternative materials, and polymers have been widely used for die attachment. In flip-chip devices, polymers are being used for electrical interconnects instead of metallurgical joints. Polymer encapsulants are widely used to package microelectronic and optoelectronic devices when hermeticity is not required. The various types of materials and their properties are presented along with the relative advantages and disadvantages. Processing and assembly steps, testing, and reliability issues also are discussed.