Realtime 3D Stress Measurement in Curing Epoxy Packaging

This paper presents a novel method to characterize stress in microsystem packaging. A circular p-type piezoresistor is implemented on a (001) silicon chip. We use the circular stress sensor to determine the packaging induced stress in a polystyrene tube filled with epoxy. The epoxy curing process is monitored by stress measurements. From the stress measurements we conclude that the epoxy cures in 8 hours at room temperature. We find the difference in in-plane normal stresses to be sigmaxx-sigmayy=6.7 MPa and (sigmaxx+sigmayy-0.4sigmazz)=232 MPa.