Apparatus, system, and method for mitigating warpage of lidless integrated circuits during reflow processes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10242941-B1
Application number	US-201715671083-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 7, 2017
Priority date	Aug 7, 2017
Publication date	Mar 26, 2019
Grant date	Mar 26, 2019

Abstract

The disclosed apparatus may include (1) a stiffening brace that (A) is coupled to a top surface of a lidless integrated circuit and (B) includes at least one joint and (2) a removable lid that (A) interfaces with the stiffening brace at the joint, (B) temporarily sits atop the stiffening brace during a reflow process in which a bottom surface of the lidless integrated circuit is soldered to a circuit board, and (C) provides structural support to the lidless integrated circuit to impede the lidless integrated circuit from warping during the reflow process. Various other apparatuses, systems, and methods are also disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a stiffening ring that:
is fixed to a substrate of a lidless integrated circuit;
encompasses a die of the lidless integrated circuit; and
includes a plurality of slots that open upward from the substrate;

a removable lid that:
includes a plurality of pegs that fit in the slots of the stiffening ring;
interfaces with the stiffening ring via insertion of the pegs into the slots;
temporarily sits atop the stiffening ring during a reflow process in which a bottom surface of the lidless integrated circuit is soldered to a circuit board; and
provides structural support to the lidless integrated circuit to impede the lidless integrated circuit from warping during the reflow process.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the removable lid is removed from the stiffening ring after completion of the reflow process.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the stiffening ring:
is fixed to a top surface of the substrate of the lidless integrated circuit; and
surrounds the die of the lidless integrated circuit.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lidless integrated circuit is packaged as a surface-mount component.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the surface-mount component comprises a Ball Grid Array (BGA) package.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the removable lid prevents the substrate of the lidless integrated circuit from warping beyond a certain degree during the reflow process.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the removable lid impedes the lidless integrated circuit from warping such that all connection terminals included on the lidless integrated circuit:
are soldered to all corresponding contact pads on the circuit board; and
are communicatively coupled to all the corresponding contact pads on the circuit board.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the removable lid is placed atop the stiffening ring by a pick-and-place machine prior to the reflow process.

9. A lidless integrated circuit comprising:
a die;
a stiffening ring that:
is fixed to a substrate of the lidless integrated circuit;
encompasses the die; and
includes a plurality of slots that open upward from the substrate;

a removable lid that:
includes a plurality of pegs that fit in the slots of the stiffening ring;
interfaces with the stiffening ring via insertion of the pegs into the slots;
temporarily sits atop the stiffening ring during a reflow process in which a bottom surface of the lidless integrated circuit is soldered to a circuit board; and
provides structural support to the lidless integrated circuit to impede the lidless integrated circuit from warping during the reflow process.

10. The lidless integrated circuit of claim 9 , wherein the removable lid is removed from the stiffening ring after completion of the reflow process.

11. The lidless integrated circuit of claim 9 , wherein the stiffening ring is fixed to a top surface of the substrate of the lidless integrated circuit.

12. The lidless integrated circuit of claim 9 , wherein the lidless integrated circuit is packaged as a surface-mount component.

13. The lidless integrated circuit of claim 12 , wherein the surface-mount component comprises a Ball Grid Array (BGA) package.

14. A method comprising:
fixing a stiffening ring to a top surface of a substrate of a lidless integrated circuit such that the stiffening ring encompasses a die of the lidless integrated circuit; and
temporarily placing a removable lid atop the stiffening ring prior to a reflow process in which a bottom surface of the substrate of the lidless integrated circuit is soldered to a circuit board such that the removable lid:
interfaces with the stiffening ring via insertion of a plurality of pegs of the removable lid into a plurality of slots of the stiffening ring, wherein the slots of the stiffening ring open upward from the substrate; and
provides structural support to the lidless integrated circuit to impede the lidless integrated circuit from warping during the reflow process.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising removing the removable lid from the stiffening ring after completion of the reflow process.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising attaching a heatsink to the die of the lidless integrated circuit after removing the removable lid from the stiffening ring.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising maintaining the stiffening ring fixed to the top surface of the lidless integrated circuit after removing the removable lid from the stiffening ring.

Assignees

• Juniper Networks Inc

Inventors

• Su Peng
• Turner Helen L
• Hartranft Marc D
• Ganguly Gautam
• Subbarayan Guhan

Classifications

• H10W90/734

  between a chip and a stacked insulating package substrate, interposer or RDL · CPC title

• H10W90/724

  between a chip and a stacked insulating package substrate, interposer or RDL · CPC title

• H10W74/15

  on active surfaces of flip-chip devices, e.g. underfills · CPC title

• H10W76/42

  Fillings · CPC title

• H10W76/12

  characterised by their shape · CPC title