Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
From a processing point of view polyimides are attractive materials for use as interlayer dielectric and as passivation coating on ICs. For plastic encapsulated devices they can also improve on the thermomechanics, thereby enhancing yield and reliability. We simulated the thermomechanical behaviour of such a device with finite element calculations. Based on these simulations the commercial product PIQ-L100 was chosen as a model polyimide to study some important physical and chemical parameters. The results from investigating internal stress, molecular orientation and imidization kinetics can be used to optimize polyimide processing and to obtain the desired coating characteristics.