Post Mold Cure Research Articles

Reduced warpage in semiconductor packages: Optimizing post-cure temperature profile considering cure shrinkage and viscoelasticity of epoxy molding compound

Warpage in semiconductor packages is a critical issue that affects their reliability and performance. This study aims to minimize the warpage of a bi-material dummy package by optimizing the post-mold curing (PMC) temperature profile. A warpage simulation model was developed considering the viscoelastic properties and cure shrinkage behavior of the epoxy molding compound (EMC). A compression molding monitoring system was also developed to analyze the cure behavior of the EMC. The gelation point of the EMC during compression molding was determined using a dielectric sensor, while cure shrinkage behaviors were analyzed using a fiber Bragg grating sensor. Viscoelastic properties were characterized through stress relaxation tests, and thermal properties were measured using three-dimensional digital image correlation. The developed simulation model was used to optimize the PMC temperature profile using a genetic algorithm. Experimental validation showed that the optimized temperature profile reduced the warpage from ∼1519 μm to 486 μm compared to a linear profile. The findings of this study have broader implications for the design and manufacturing of semiconductor packages, as the proposed approach can be applied to minimize warpage and improve package reliability.

Analysis of warpage and reliability of very thin profile fine pitch ball grid array

With the evolution of advanced integrated circuit (IC) packaging technology, the use of experiments to identify package performance and life expectation will take a significant amount of time and cost to finish the job. To reduce the cost of research and testing, predictive analyses of reliability and performance using simulation tools have become a feasible approach for the IC assembly industry. Therefore, this study utilized Moldex3D molding simulation software to analyze very thin profile fine pitch ball grid array (VFBGA) packages and established a numerical analysis procedure from the molding and curing process, the post-mold cure (PMC) process, to a thermal cycling test (TCT) to predict the amount of package warpage during processing and reliability after TCT.The results showed that the warpage trends of both experiments and simulations during the same temperature ramping process were similar. In the thermal cycling analysis, potential failure locations were found to be at the copper pillars and redistribution layer (RDL), where the maximum Von Mises stress occurred at the lowest temperature (−65 °C). The fatigue life model, Coffin–Manson model, was used to calculate the potential fatigue life at the two locations, resulting in 1689 cycles (copper pillars) and 9706 cycles (RDL L1).

Optimizing Epoxy Molding Compound Processing: A Multi-Sensor Approach to Enhance Material Characterization and Process Reliability.

The in-line control of curing during the molding process significantly improves product quality and ensures the reliability of packaging materials with the required thermo-mechanical and adhesion properties. The choice of the morphological and thermo-mechanical properties of the molded material, and the accuracy of their determination through carefully selected thermo-analytical methods, play a crucial role in the qualitative prediction of trends in packaging product properties as process parameters are varied. This work aimed to verify the quality of the models and their validation using a highly filled molding resin with an identical chemical composition but 10 wt% difference in silica particles (SPs). Morphological and mechanical material properties were determined by dielectric analysis (DEA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), warpage analysis and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The effects of temperature and injection speed on the morphological properties were analyzed through the design of experiments (DoE) and illustrated by response surface plots. A comprehensive approach to monitor the evolution of ionic viscosity (IV), residual enthalpy (dHrest), glass transition temperature (Tg), and storage modulus (E) as a function of the transfer-mold process parameters and post-mold-cure (PMC) conditions of the material was established. The reliability of Tg estimation was tested using two methods: warpage analysis and DMA. The noticeable deterioration in the quality of the analytical signal for highly filled materials at high cure rates is discussed. Controlling the temperature by increasing the injection speed leads to the formation of a polymer network with a lower Tg and an increased storage modulus, indicating a lower density and a more heterogeneous structure due to the high heating rate and shear heating effect.

Warpage and residual stress analyses of post-mold cure process of IC packages

To improve the production yield rate, reliability is one of the important indicators of electronic packaging products. In past research, however, the influence of the fabrication process was rarely taken into consideration. In this thesis, mold flow analysis software Moldex3D is used to develop a series analysis procedure for IC package products. The effects of many factors, including process, structure, and materials were being taken into account. Especially for epoxy molding compound, namely EMC, is studied on its properties during the molding and post-mold cure (PMC) processes. This paper adopted P–V-T-C equations, which consider both volume shrinkage due to thermal mismatch and chemical shrinkage to predict the amount of warpage and residual stresses after the mold filling process. Next, dual shift factor model for viscoelastic analysis was used to model the PMC process and predict the amount of warpage and residual stresses after PMC. And the influence of different PMC process conditions and loading conditions on the warpage results is discussed. The residual stresses after PMC simulation are set as the initial conditions for reliability analysis and then the stress distribution after two thermal cycles is analyzed. It is observed that the deformed shape of the simulation and experiment results after PMC were consistent. Both are concave downwards. In comparison with experiment results, the error of warpage simulation results was between 10% and 50%. The biggest error was found in the short direction. During two thermal cycles, it is can be found that the maximum stress of the lead frame is 505.7 MPa and the location of the possible failure is at the top left of the die. In addition, when considering or not considering the process-induced residual stress in the thermal cycle analysis, the stress states are very different.

Study on the Strip Warpage Issues Encountered in the Flip-Chip Process.

This study successfully established a strip warpage simulation model of the flip-chip process and investigated the effects of structural design and process (molding, post-mold curing, pretreatment, and ball mounting) on strip warpage. The errors between simulated and experimental values were found to be less than 8%. Taguchi analysis was employed to identify the key factors affecting strip warpage, which were discovered to be die thickness and substrate thickness, followed by mold compound thickness and molding temperature. Although a greater die thickness and mold compound thickness reduce the strip warpage, they also substantially increase the overall strip thickness. To overcome this problem, design criteria are proposed, with the neutral axis of the strip structure located on the bump. The results obtained using the criteria revealed that the strip warpage and overall strip thickness are effectively reduced. In summary, the proposed model can be used to evaluate the effect of structural design and process parameters on strip warpage and can provide strip design guidelines for reducing the amount of strip warpage and meeting the requirements for light, thin, and short chips on the production line. In addition, the proposed guidelines can accelerate the product development cycle and improve product quality with reduced development costs.

Warpage modeling and characterization of intelligent power modules (IPMs)

Abstract Intelligent power modules (IPMs) are widely used in the electric vehicle (and hybrid electric vehicle industry nowadays due to their high power density and ability to integrate multiple components within a single package. However, the reliability of IPMs is severely degraded by the substrate warpage effect produced during the packaging process. This study therefore develops a computational model to analyze the warpage of the IPM assembly at various stages of the packaging process. The validity of the simulation model is confirmed by comparing the numerical results for the warpage of the direct plated copper substrate with the experimental observations. Taguchi experiments are then performed to examine the effects of eight control factors on the IPM package warpage following the post-mold cure (PMC) process, namely (1) the dam bar layout, (2) the epoxy molding compound (EMC) thickness, (3) the lead frame thickness, (4) the ceramic thickness, (5) the bottom layer Cu foil thickness, (6) the top layer Cu foil thickness, (7) the ceramic material type and (8) the EMC material type. Finally, the Taguchi analysis results are used to determine the optimal packaging design that minimizes the warpage of the post-PMC package.

Viscoelastic Material Characterization: A Realistic Approach to Stress Analysis

This paper presents an advanced method in materials characterization for the mold compound material in semiconductor packages to build models that can technically explain the actual warpage or stress observations under different thermal conditions and time history. In the study, the mold compound material characterization was conducted using Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA) followed by curve fitting to obtain parameters for the computer modeling input requirement. Thermo-mechanical modeling using viscoelastic material properties was conducted on a bi-material test sample model. Results showed that the new characterized viscoelastic material properties exhibited dependence on time and temperature. Slow cool down from post mold cure (PMC) to room temperature resulted in lower warpage or stress. This observed rate dependent response was explained using viscoelastic material properties in contrast to the usual linear elastic material simplification. Thus, a realistic result from stress or warpage analysis could be achieved using viscoelastic material characterization.

Study of the Impact of Curing Condition on Flexural Strength of a Very Thin Semiconductor Package

Thinner semiconductor package is becoming popular especially in consumer electronics applications. As package becomes thinner, it is more vulnerable to package crack when subjected to external load. It is important to ensure that the package is strong enough to resist package cracking. This paper presents the study of package flexural strength under different epoxy mold compound curing condition. A 3-point bend test was done to characterize the breaking strength of the package that was subjected to post-mold curing. It was then compared to the strength of the package not subjected to post-mold curing (PMC). Results of the bend testing showed that the package flexural strength is much lower when the package is not subjected to post-mold curing. This study demonstrates that the measurement of flexural strength can be used to determine if the package has undergone post-mold curing or not. Performing the right post-mold curing of the thin molded package is required to ensure higher flexural strength.

Warpage Characterization of Molded Wafer for Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packaging

Abstract This study presents a comprehensive assessment of the process-induced warpage of molded wafer for chip-first, face-down fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWLP) during the fan-out fabrication process. A process-dependent simulation methodology is introduced, which integrates nonlinear finite element (FE) analysis and element death-birth technique. The effects of the cure-dependent volumetric shrinkage, geometric nonlinearity, and gravity loading on the process-induced warpage are examined. The study starts from experimental characterization of the temperature-dependent material properties of the applied liquid type epoxy molding compound (EMC) system through dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and thermal mechanical analysis. Furthermore, its cure state (heat of reaction and degree of cure (DOC)) during the compression molding process (CMP) is measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) tests. Besides, the cure dependent-volumetric (chemical) shrinkages of the EMC system after the in-mold cure (IMC) and postmold cure (PMC) are experimentally determined by which the volumetric shrinkage at the gelation point is predicted through a linear extrapolation approach. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical model, the prediction results are compared against the inline warpage measurement data. One possible cause of the asymmetric/nonaxisymmetric warpage is also addressed. Finally, the influences of some geometric dimensions on the warpage of the molded wafer are identified through parametric analysis.

Ultra-low Warpage and Anhydride-free Liquid Compression Molding Materials for Advanced Semiconductor Packaging

Advanced semiconductor packaging landscape is rapidly evolving to accommodate requirements of front end node shrink and performance expectations from emerging applications in big data, artificial intelligence, mobile and autonomous driving. Multiple innovations in packaging process technology as well as processing materials enable the progress in advanced packaging. Several wafer level packaging (WLP) platforms have emerged recently using fan-in, fan-out, 2.5D and 3D packaging processes to satisfy the requirements of increased functionality, reduced form factor, lower power consumption, and high reliability. These often-conflicting requirements drive the design and development of many new electronic materials including liquid compression molding (LCM) for Fan-In and Fan-Out WLPs. Historically, anhydride-based LCM materials have been used to balance the material properties to achieve consistent dispensability, high quality molding, and high mechanical stability during grinding, RDL, and singulation processing. However, stricter environmental regulations driven by EU REACH stipulates complete replacement of anhydride resins with more environmentally friendly raw materials while still providing the same or better performance. Most recently, Henkel has developed new platforms of anhydride-free LCM materials with reduced cure shrinkage, ultra-low warpage, good chemical resistance, and high reliability. LCM material choice is integral to the package design and end use as this material needs to withstand several thermal, mechanical, chemical and vacuum processes during the construction of the package and stringent reliability conditions. By judicious construction of the polymer network, appropriate filler selection, and controlled cure kinetics design, the cure shrinkage and warpage were significantly reduced over other designs. Furthermore, the low warpage stability of the molded wafer is maintained through post-mold curing, PI simulation, and RDL simulation process steps ultimately leading to improved reliability performance. Compared to traditional anhydride-based LCM, our reliability data (after 96 hours of uHAST & 1000 cycles of AATC) clearly indicates performance advantages of no filler-fall-off, no delamination, and better chemical resistance. In terms of workability, the new system shows improved work-life, fast-cure at 110–130°C, and complete gap filling. Lower die shift, good mold release, and improved tape debonding has also been observed through formulation and process optimization. Taking advantage of the proprietary resin and formulation design, Henkel's new LCM materials are delivering positive results in new FO-WLP designs and WLCSP applications needing 5-side or 6-side protection.

Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packaging (FOWLP) of Large Chip with Multiple Redistribution-Layers (RDLs)

Abstract This study is for fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWLP) with chip-first (die face-up) formation. The chips with Cu contact-pads on the front-side and a die attach film (DAF) on the backside are picked and placed face-up on a temporary glass wafer carrier with a thin layer of light-to-heat conversion (LTHC) material. It is followed by compression molding with epoxy molding compound (EMC) and post mold cure (PMC) on the reconstituted wafer carrier, and then backgrinding the molded EMC to expose the Cu contact-pads of the chips. The next step is to build up the redistribution layers (RDLs) from the Cu contact-pads and then mount the solder balls. Next comes the de-bonding of the carrier with a laser, and then the dicing of the whole reconstituted wafer into individual packages. A 300mm reconstituted wafer with a package/die ratio = 1.8 and a die-top EMC cap = 100μm has also been fabricated (a total of 325 test packages on the reconstituted wafer.) This test package has three RDLs; the line width/spacing of the first RDL is 5μm/5μm, of the second RDL is 10μm/10μm, and of the third RDL is 15μm/15μm. The dielectric layer of the RDLs is fabricated with a photosensitive polyimide (PI) and the conductor layer of the RDLs is fabricated by electrochemical Cu deposition (ECD).

Warpage of QFN Package in Post Mold Cure Process of integrated circuit packaging

This research studied about warpage of QFN package in post mold cure process of integrated circuit (IC) packages using pre-plated (PPF) leadframe. For IC package, epoxy molding compound (EMC) are molded by cross linking of compound stiffness but incomplete crosslinked network and leading the fully cured thermoset by post mold cure (PMC) process. The cure temperature of PMC can change microstructure of EMC in term of stress inside the package and effect to warpage of the package due to coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) between EMC and leadframe. In experiment, cure temperatures were varied to check the effect of internal stress due to different cure temperature after completed post mold cure for TDFN 2×3 8L. The cure temperature were varied with 180 °C, 170 °C, 160 °C, and 150°C with cure time 4 and 6 hours, respectively. For analysis, the TDFN 2×3 8L packages were analyzed the warpage by thickness gauge and scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) after take the test samples out from the oven cure. The results confirmed that effect of different CTE between EMC and leadframe due to different cure temperature resulting to warpage of the TDFN 2×3 8L packages.

Analysis of warpage and residual stress in plastic ball grid array package after post mold cure

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a design and material selection guideline for a plastic ball grid array (PBGA) package in order to improve its reliability and manufacturing ability after post mold cure.Design/methodology/approachNumerical experiments based on a three‐dimensional (3‐D) viscoelastic finite element method have been conducted to evaluate governing damage mechanisms after post mold cure (PMC) for PBGA packages. The parametric studies for the PBGA package with various molding compounds have been performed. A wide range of the modulus (1MPa∼15GPa) and the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) (10ppm∼300ppm) are evaluated to see feasibility of a new class of material set in the molding compound. Effects of thermo‐mechanical properties of selected molding compound on the warpage and residual stress of the PBGA are analyzed.FindingsThe present study shows that the material properties such as modulus and CTE of molding compounds play an important role in warpages and reliability of PBGA packages. After post mold cure, compressive normal stress σxx is observed in the silicon die, while tensile stress occurs in the rest of the PBGA package. The maximum normal stress σxx is observed at the center of the silicon die and decreases near the edge of the package. As the coefficient of thermal expansion of the silicon die is substantially less than that of the molding compound or substrate, the molding compound and the substrate are trying to shrink more when temperature decreases and in turn compressing the silicon chip. The molding compound with low modulus produces low stresses in the Si die and the die attach. Moreover, for the low modulus case, the CTE of molding compound does not affect the warpage of the PBGA package and the stresses in the silicon die or the die attach. However, for the high modulus case, the warpage and stresses are increased significantly by increasing the CTE of molding compound.Research limitations/implicationsIt is suggested that adhesion strengths of die attaches should be studied in future studies, since those affect the delamination between dies and substrates.Practical implicationsThe findings can be used as general design guidelines for a PBGA package.Originality/valueThe results presented in the paper will be very useful to designers of PBGAs.

Thermo-Mechanical Analysis and Design for SOD Package Based on Finite Element Method

Today's electronic packaging products have to keep shrinking in size and achieving higher packing density. The small-outline diode (SOD) is one of the smallest and most widely used components in all electronic devices. A series of calculations and analyses were conducted based on finite element simulation to study the thermo-mechanical performance of SOD package. The residual thermal stresses accumulated during production in the cooling processes after die bonding and post-mold curing were considered as the indicator of thermo-mechanical performance of the packages. Subsequently, the impacts of the package's material properties and geometric parameters on the residual stresses were investigated. Based on this paper, a design that achieves optimum reduction in thermal stresses has been obtained. In addition, die cracking is one of the crucial problems in electronic packaging industry that certainly influences the reliability of electronic devices. In this paper, the possibility of slanting corner cracking in silicon die during the cooling process after die bonding was taken into account, and the strain energy release rate in fracture mechanics at the crack tip was employed to evaluate the impact of several package parameters to the risk of die cracking. Similar to the previous part, parametric studies and optimal design have been conducted with the purpose of reducing the risk of die cracking.

Warpage evolution of overmolded ball grid array package during post-mold curing thermal process

Two of the main driving forces for warpage deformation and residual stress in electronic packages are the thermal expansion mismatch between dissimilar package constituents and the crosslinking reaction of polymers during packaging thermal processes. For the purpose of quantitatively characterizing these two driving forces and assessing the process effect on warpage deformation, experimental and numerical analyses were applied to study the warpage evolution of overmolded ball grid array (BGA) package under post-mold curing (PMC) thermal histories. From in situ shadow Moiré warpage analyses on bimaterial and package specimens, it was observed that, during the isothermal curing condition, a significant increase in specimen warpage occurred as a result of molding compound shrinkage. A numerical modeling procedure that incorporates the models for the thermochemical cure kinetics, the curing- and chemical aging-induced shrinkage strains, and the cure-dependent viscoelastic relaxation modulus for the molding compound was then applied to simulate and compare to the experimentally obtained warpage evolutions. It can be seen from the analysis results that the evolution of package warpage over multiple thermal histories can be superpositioned by the thermal expansion mismatch-driven warpage change during non-isothermal stages and the chemical shrinkage-induced warpage evolution during isothermal aging at temperatures above the material glass transition point.

Effects of Curing and Chemical Aging on Warpage—Characterization and Simulation

In this paper, the effect of the curing process on the warpage of an encapsulated electronic package is considered by using a coupled chemical–thermomechanical modeling methodology. A cure-dependent constitutive model that consists of a cure-kinetic model, a curing- and chemical-aging-induced shrinkage model, and a degree of cure-dependent viscoelastic relaxation model was developed and implemented in a numerical finite-element model for warpage simulation. Effects of polymerization conversion and chemical aging on the warpage evolution of a bimaterial dummy package after molding and during the postmold curing (PMC) process were investigated by using the proposed modeling methodology. Shadow Moiré warpage analyses were also performed to validate the numerical results. It was found from the warpage analyses that the chemical aging, while contributing little to the overall cross linking during the PMC, has a significant effect on the package warpage. The coupled chemical–thermomechanical model can be applied for performing numerical optimization for the packaging process and the assembly reliability.

Determination of residual strains of the EMC in PBGA during manufacturing and IR solder reflow processes

Even though recently published results indicated that residual strains of the epoxy molding compound (EMC) play a key role on the warpage values and shapes of the plastic ball grid array (PBGA) packages, it is still unknown about how these residual strains build up and change during the manufacturing and infrared (IR) solder reflow processes. The purpose of this study is to quantify the residual strains of the EMC in the PBGA packages during the aforementioned processes using a combination of experimental, theoretical and numerical approaches. In the experiments, a full-field shadow moiré is used for measuring their real-time out-of-plane deformation (warpage), during heating and cooling conditions, of two types of the PBGA specimens (without a silicon chip inside) with the same EMC but different substrates (with glass transition temperature T g = 172 and 202 °C). Furthermore, Timoshenko’s bi-material theory associated with the measured and temperature-dependent elastic moduli and coefficients of thermal expansion for the EMC and substrates is applied for extracting residual strains of the EMC from shadow moiré results. In the analysis, the finite element method cooperating with those determined residual strains is employed to numerically simulate the thermal-induced deformations of the PBGA specimens, in order to verify mechanics. The full-field warpage of the specimens from shadow moiré is documented before and after post-mold curing, solder reflow and during the temperature cycling (from room temperature to 260 °C). The residual strains of the EMC for the specimens with low- T g and high- T g substrates after post-mold curing are found to be 0.059% and 0.134%, respectively, which double those before post-mold curing, and further down to 0.035% and 0.08% after the first thermal cycling. After the first cycling, the residual strains remain almost constant during heating and cooling processes. This phenomenon is also observed at lead-free solder reflow processes. Therefore, the residual strains of the EMC induced by the chemical shrinkage of the EMC curing and possibly mold flow pressure are different between the specimens with low- T g and high- T g substrates, and these residual strains could change during post-mold curing and the first solder reflow processes.

The Measurement of Ion Diffusion in Epoxy Molding Compounds by Dynamic Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy

The primary focus of this research was the measurement of ion diffusion in a common epoxy molding compound used to encapsulate microelectronic devices. Ion diffusion measurements were made by exposing the encapsulant materials to aqueous solutions of 2M sodium chloride, and making measurements by Dynamic Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry. The diffusion dependency of temperature exposure of the encapsulants to aqueous salt solutions at 75degC, 85degC, 100degC, 125degC, 150degC and 175degC and post-mold curing for 2, 4, 6, and 8 h at 175degC was evaluated. The ion diffusion was found to depend on the glass transition temperature of the encapsulant. The rate of ion diffusion above the glass transition temperature of the encapsulant was faster than predicted by an Arrhenius plot of the diffusion coefficient as a function of temperature below the glass transition temperature. Post-mold curing of the encapsulant decreased the diffusion of chloride ions in the encapsulant. Ion diffusion was shown to be slower than moisture diffusion in the encapsulant by approximately nine orders of magnitude.

The Effect of Epoxy Molding Compound on Thermal/Residual Deformations and Stresses in IC Packages During Manufacturing Process

Thermal/residual deformations and stresses in plastic integrated circuit (IC) packages caused by epoxy molding compound (EMC) during the manufacturing process are investigated experimentally (only for deformations), theoretically, and numerically. A real-time Twyman-Green interferometry is used for measuring the out-of-plane thermal and residual deformations of die/EMC bi-material specimens. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and thermomechanical analysis (TMA) are for characterizing thermomechanical properties of the EMC materials. A finite element model (FEM) and theory associated with experimental observations are employed for understanding the thermal/residual deformations and stresses of IC packages due to EMC encapsulation. It is shown that EMC materials must be fully cured so that the material properties are stable enough for applications. Experimental results show that the EMC material experiences stress relaxation due to its viscoelastic behavior during the post mold curing (PMC) process. As a result, the strains (stresses) resulted from the chemical shrinkage of the EMC curing could be relaxed during the PMC process, so that the chemical shrinkage has no effect on the residual strains (stresses) for the plastic packages being post cured. Compared with numerical and theoretical analyses, the experimental results have demonstrated that die/EMC bi-material structure at high temperature (above Tg) warps less than expected, as a result of viscoelastic stress relaxation of EMC at high temperature (during solder reflow process). Meanwhile, this stress relaxation can also cause shifting this zero-stress temperature to the higher one, so that the residual deformations (stresses) of die/EMC bi-material specimens were found to increase by about 40% after the solder reflow process. The residual and thermal stresses have been resolved by FEM and theoretical analyses. The results suggest that the pure bending stresses (without shear and peel stresses) of the bi-material specimens are only limited in the region from x= 0 (the center) to x= 0.75 L due to the free edge effects, but this region is shrunk down to x= 0.4L at 200degC. And the maximum warpage and bending stress per unit temperature change is occurred around 165degC (Tg of the EMC). This study has demonstrated that the Twyman-Green experiment with associated bi-material plate theory and FEM can provide a useful tool for studying the EMC-induce residual/thermal deformations and stresses during the IC packaging fabrication

Comparative Study on the Failure of Polymer/Roughened Metal Interfaces under Mode-I Loading I: Experimental Result

Copper-based leadframe sheets were immersed in two kinds of hot alkaline solutions to form brown-oxide or black-oxide layer on the surface. The oxide-coated leadframe sheets were molded with epoxy molding compound (EMC). After post mold curing, the oxide-coated EMC-leadframe joints were machined to form sandwiched double-cantilever beam (SDCB) specimens. The SDCB specimens were used to measure the fracture toughness of the EMC/leadframe interfaces under quasi-Mode I loading conditions. Fracture surfaces were analyzed by various equipment to investigate failure path. The present paper deals with the failure path, and the cause of the failure path formation with an adhesion model will be treated in the succeeding paper.