editor's blog
Subscribe Now

Why Is Plastic Package News?

A new device available in a plastic package. Big news! Wow, no one has ever done that before, right?

In so many other cases, this might be a reasonable reaction to a press release announcing a new plastic package. Except when the topic is MEMS. You can never take anything for granted with MEMS, it would seem. Least of all packaging.

So why is this news? It was a pressure sensor from STMicroelectronics. And here’s the deal: pressure sensors have to be open to the environment. That’s how they access the pressure, through a hole or port. If you take such a device, with its delicate diaphragm, and you subject it to the plastic molding process –which occurs under high pressure – you’re very likely to damage the pressure sensor itself.

Some folks have apparently addressed this issue by encasing the inner workings with a gel that can absorb the strain – in some cases even covering the sensor, meaning the pressure measurement has to act through the gel.

What ST did was to make a rather substantial change on the sensor die itself: they’ve decoupled the sensing element from the rest of the die, suspending the sense element by silicon springs. The springs handle the molding pressure without interfering with the sensed pressure. (Well, it would seem that the springs would have to be calibrated into the measurement, but they’re not blocking in the way a gel would.)

Rather a lot of work to accommodate something as silly as a simple plastic package. Which, of course, is neither silly nor simple… You can find out more in their announcement.

Leave a Reply

featured blogs
Dec 1, 2023
Why is Design for Testability (DFT) crucial for VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) design? Keeping testability in mind when developing a chip makes it simpler to find structural flaws in the chip and make necessary design corrections before the product is shipped to users. T...
Nov 27, 2023
See how we're harnessing generative AI throughout our suite of EDA tools with Synopsys.AI Copilot, the world's first GenAI capability for chip design.The post Meet Synopsys.ai Copilot, Industry's First GenAI Capability for Chip Design appeared first on Chip Design....
Nov 6, 2023
Suffice it to say that everyone and everything in these images was shot in-camera underwater, and that the results truly are haunting....

featured video

TDK CLT32 power inductors for ADAS and AD power management

Sponsored by TDK

Review the top 3 FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) regarding TDK’s CLT32 power inductors. Learn why these tiny power inductors address the most demanding reliability challenges of ADAS and AD power management.

Click here for more information

featured paper

3D-IC Design Challenges and Requirements

Sponsored by Cadence Design Systems

While there is great interest in 3D-IC technology, it is still in its early phases. Standard definitions are lacking, the supply chain ecosystem is in flux, and design, analysis, verification, and test challenges need to be resolved. Read this paper to learn about design challenges, ecosystem requirements, and needed solutions. While various types of multi-die packages have been available for many years, this paper focuses on 3D integration and packaging of multiple stacked dies.

Click to read more

featured chalk talk

OPTIGA™ TPM SLB 9672 and SLB 9673 RPI Evaluation Boards
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Infineon
Security is a critical design concern for most electronic designs today, but finding the right security solution for your next design can be a complicated and time-consuming process. In this episode of Chalk Talk, Amelia Dalton and Andreas Fuchs from Infineon investigate how Infineon’s OPTIGA trusted platform module can not only help solve your security design concerns but also speed up your design process as well.
Jun 26, 2023
19,375 views