Investigation of plasma effects on plastic packages delamination and cracking

This paper investigates the use of a non-reactive plasma formed in a radio frequency discharge as a treatment to various substrates to reduce or eliminate the organic and inorganic contamination which prevents intimate interfacial contact. Argon was investigated as the plasma gas. The effect of time, chamber pressure, and power were studied. A goniometer was utilized to measure wetting contact angles as a quantitative measure of the cleaning effectiveness of the surface treatment. ESCA (electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis) data are correlated to substrate hydrophilicity, delamination and package cracking. The results show the argon plasma treatment to be an effective mean of reducing interfacial organic and inorganic contamination and improving the polyimide to mold compound adhesion. The improvement in package cracking performance brought about the argon plasma treatment is significant.<>