Silicon Cert, Ltd. (SCL) is pleased to announce IC package decapsulation as part of our growing list of services. Our decapsulation techniques allow for the decapping of a wide range of package types and metal systems.

Decapsulation is a chemical etching technique for opening IC plastic packages in order to expose their internal components for examination. Although physically destructive in nature, the process leaves the die, bond pads, and wire bonds intact.
Several methods of decapsulation are available depending upon the device and the customer’s requirements. Such methods include jet etching, manual cavity etching, and total package removal. Fuming nitric acid (HNO3), sulfuric acid (H2SO4) or a mixture of the two acids are used to dissolve the encapsulant.

Jet etching is an automated version of chemical decapsulation. The jet etcher dispenses a stream of acid onto the package creating a cavity and exposing the die. With manual etching, a depression is first milled into the surface of the package after which acid is dropped into the cavity to dissolve the encapsulant over the die. Total package removal is performed by dissolving the entire package in a beaker of sulfuric acid leaving only the silicon die and some amount of undissolved metal. This last technique is primarily used to inspect for cracks on the back of die.

Decapsulation of IC packages is just one of several services offered by SCL to provide FAILURE ANALYSIS (FA) utilizing electrical testing, cross-sectioning, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and data analysis. For information about any of these services, please call 610.939.9500.
Please watch for our future newsletters announcing our newly expanded website and additional services such as Scanning Acoustical Microscopy.