Uniformity of Plating Thickness of IC Packages at Various Locations on its Lead Frame

This report outlines a project entitled ‘Uniformity of Plating Thickness of IC
Packages at Various Locations on its Lead Frame’. The project is conducted with the
collaboration of IDS Electronics Sdn Bhd, a company that offers semi conductor
assemblies and services. IC package used in this study is SOT-23-3L EIAJ matrix
lead frame with tin plating since it is the most critical product in IDS Electronics that
frequently having problem during its plating process. Hence, this project aims to
measure plating thickness at various locations on its tin plated lead frame and
simultaneously acts as continuous quality improvement (CQI) for this particular
package. Metallographic technique has been employed entirely throughout this study
in order to measure the plating thickness of IC lead frame. The result from this study
shows that the average tin plating thickness of SOT-23-3L EIAJ IC package lead
frame is 14.976 μm and its standard deviation of 2.458 μm. Plating thickness
measured from this random condition plating solution show some variations of
thickness but no measurements were found to lie outside the thickness specification
range of 7μm to 20μm [Joseph Gauci, 2002]. Variations in surface finish were also
apparent depending on location of the lead frame. Outputs of this study may ensure
the company to produce better product with high quality on top of plating process
can be performed with more practical and cost saving in the future production.