Qualcomm Incorporated

Tom Gregorich

Ryan David Lane

Edward Reyes

Mark Stephen Veatch

Tiona Marburger

An area array package comprising a die attach area for attaching a die to a substrate, a network of staggered bond fingers, and a network of bond islands for coupling bond wires between the bond islands and die bond pads is provided. A network of package leads, for example, a network of solder balls in a ball grid array, is depopulated to permit greater trace route flexibility and via placement within the substrate. Stacked die and multi-chip packages are also disclosed. A method for accommodating a high pin-count die in an area array package is also included.

Method for accommodating small minimum die in wire bonded area array packages

An area area package includes a plurality of solder balls not used as electrical connectors. These non-connected solder balls, or &ldquo;dummy balls,&rdquo; provide protection to solder balls connected to live pins and therefore increase reliability of the area array package. The dummy balls may be placed in the corners, along the diagonals or in other high stress location on the area array package. To further increase reliability, a continuous copper ball land pad may be used to connect each group of corner dummy balls. Continuous copper pads help to reduce stress on the dummy balls. For center-depopulated BGA packages, an array of dummy balls may be used in the center of the package to prevent substrate bending and improve drop test reliability.

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Tom Gregorich