Lead frame and semiconductor device

Claim 1

A lead frame comprising: a die pad having opposed first and second sides defining a thickness direction perpendicular thereto, said first side for mounting thereon a semiconductor chip including a plurality of electrodes; a plurality of leads disposed peripherally around said die pad for electrical connection with respective electrodes of the semiconductor chip; and an outer frame member peripherally disposed around said die pad from which said plurality of leads extend including supporting leads extending to and supporting said die pad and resin guide means extending toward said die pad from said outer frame member for disposition (i) within a molding cavity of a mold that receives said die pad, (ii) centrally disposed, relative to the thickness direction, within a resin gate groove of the mold through which molten resin is supplied to the molding cavity, said gate groove having a height generally parallel to the thickness direction and a width transverse to the thickness direction, and (iii) extending fully across the width of the gate groove for dividing the molten resin into two separated streams in the gate groove and for guiding the two streams of molten resin flowing through the gate groove along the resin guiding means respectively to said first and second sides of said die pad and to the semiconductor chip during resin encapsulation of said lead frame and the semiconductor chip without intermixing of the two streams in the gate groove and adjacent the gate groove in the molding cavity.