Epoxy-Coated Lids
Materion Microelectronics and Services recently launched a new product line of epoxy-coated lids called Epo-Lids™. The launch of the Epo-Lid™ product line enables Materion to offer customers both package and matching lid in one easy step. Epoxy-coated lids are used to seal ceramic air cavity packages. A layer of B-staged epoxy, 9 mils (0.23 mm) thick, is applied to the lip of the lid. When the epoxy is cured, the package is sealed to a bubble-leak-tight specification. The epoxy is a dielectric so that the electrical leads it rests upon are not electrically shorted together. Nearly all RF power transistors intended for commercial applications, including cellular phone base station amplifiers, are sealed in packages with an epoxy-sealed ceramic lid.
Materion has been manufacturing and selling ceramic air cavity packages for over 10 years. Buyers of these ceramic packages perform solder attachment of their transistor dice followed by wire bonding of the dice to the leads. The package must then be sealed with an epoxy-coated lid. Each package design requires a lid whose design is matched to that specific package. With the Epo-Lid™ product line, Materion is now able to offer customers both the package and the matching lid. This simplified process saves customers time and resources by allowing them to place one purchase order with the knowledge that packages and lids will be an exact match.
Additionally, Materion offers a superior product with a solid 20-year track record of reliability. The epoxy-coated lid product line was acquired from Micross Components (formerly North Penn Technology), which pioneered the application of B-staged epoxy onto ceramic caps over 15 years ago.
Materials and Services
As enhancements to the product line acquired from Micross, Materion is offering the following products and services to further the goal of being the “Customers’ First Choice”:
• Recycling of used or expired lids. Materion will burn off the old epoxy and apply fresh epoxy to lids supplied by the customer. This value-added service is important because the ceramic cap is the most expensive part of the lid, and frequently requires a long lead time to produce.
• Quick-turn dispensing of epoxies onto new caps, or caps supplied by the customer. Such “soft tooled” application of epoxy can reduce the time to apply epoxy onto a new cap from eight weeks to two weeks.
• New epoxies with enhanced properties, e.g., low volatile organic content.
In addition to complementing Materion’s ceramic packages, the Epo-Lids™ also complement other standard Materion lid products, including solder preforms and frames, Combo-Lids™, Micro-Lids™ and Visi-Lids™. Taken together, Materion offers a comprehensive suite of lid products.
For more information about Materion Epo-Lids™, please contact Rich Koba at Richard.Koba@materion.com, or visit our website.
Figure 1: An assortment of Materion epoxy-coated lids
Figure 2: An assortment of Materion air cavity packages that require epoxy-coated lids