Molded plastic packaging of electronic devices

Claim 1

A plastic molded circuit package, which comprises: an integrated circuit (IC) unit, a plurality of leads projecting away from the IC unit, and plastic material encapsulating the IC unit and portions of the leads and forming a sealed package, wherein each of said leads has an inner section immediately adjacent to and projecting away from the IC unit, a flat outer section for electrical connection to outside contacts, said outer section laying in a different plane than the inner section, and a central section interconnecting the inner and the outer sections, said inner and central sections being completely enclosed in the plastic material and said flat outer section being embedded in the plastic material such that only an outer conductive surface of each lead is exposed to permit said electrical connection, the outer conductive surface laying in a plane which is essentially coplanar with a bottom surface of the molded package, wherein an outermost end section of each lead forms an extension of the outer section, projects from the plastic material, and is bent away from said plane of the outer section, whereby said outer conductive surface is enabled to form an interconnection between the IC unit and contacts of an interconnect board by means of an interconnect material comprising solder or polymeric adhesive material.