13
\$\begingroup\$

I am just curious, what is the dark, almost black material that seems like all microchips are made out of? I did some searching on Google to try and find out, but I can only seem to find the material inside the chip, silicon, which I already knew. I am fairly certain the WHOLE chip isn't made out of silicon anyway.

Thanks!

\$\endgroup\$
1
  • \$\begingroup\$ What is the part number on the chip? The package material is often encoded into the part number. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 16:34

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
10
\$\begingroup\$

The black part of a chip is simply a plastic epoxy resin.

Inside an IC

\$\endgroup\$
5
  • \$\begingroup\$ I can see it being plastic for a good number of chips. But sometimes it feels more metallic in nature. I say this, because it is cold to the touch, feels colder than room temperature. Maybe this one I am holding is the ceramic type? \$\endgroup\$
    – renosis
    Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 12:10
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Possibly, but the plastic is fairly thermally conductive, and contains some metal too. Can you post a photo of it? \$\endgroup\$
    – Rocketmagnet
    Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 12:17
  • \$\begingroup\$ Rocketmagnet, it is at home right now, I can when I get off work. I believe it said Agere AC97 on it. It was from an old modem. I had just gotten a hot-air rework station and I was messing around with it, removing random components from old junk hardware. Here is a link to a picture of the modem \$\endgroup\$
    – renosis
    Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 12:35
  • 4
    \$\begingroup\$ The picture you used has a 'bug': 100 mils = 2.54 mm. You can spot that a mile away (=6.336*10^7 mils) \$\endgroup\$
    – m.Alin
    Commented May 31, 2012 at 17:12
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @m.Alin - Haha. Yes, well spotted. Let me see if I can fix that. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rocketmagnet
    Commented Jun 1, 2012 at 8:57
8
\$\begingroup\$

It is a moulded epoxy resin. Interestingly, nearly all the worlds supply comes from only two plants. Specifically, it is o-cresol-formaldehyde novolac epoxy (CNE) according to this paper.

\$\endgroup\$
6
\$\begingroup\$

It's an epoxy resin. Early chips had ceramic packages, but they were expensive, and soon replaced by epoxy. Ceramic packaging is still used for high-reliability devices.

\$\endgroup\$
5
\$\begingroup\$

Plastic/epoxy or ceramic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit_packaging

http://www.electroiq.com/articles/ap/print/volume-14/issue-8/features/the-back-end-process/materials-and-methods-for-ic-package-assemblies.html

\$\endgroup\$
3
  • \$\begingroup\$ What's funny is that the Wikipedia page actually shows a picture of a metal can IC, but doesn't mention anywhere that some IC are canned in metal. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rocketmagnet
    Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 12:15
  • \$\begingroup\$ They use ceramic, as well. \$\endgroup\$
    – Leon Heller
    Commented Mar 28, 2012 at 14:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ Wikipedia is also wrong calling COB "rare"; it's quite often used for packaging low cost/high volume devices. \$\endgroup\$
    – stevenvh
    Commented Mar 29, 2012 at 7:40

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.