Carrier strip and molded flex circuit ball grid array

Claim 1

An article of manufacture comprising an elongated carrier strip including a series of longitudinally spaced apertures and a series of pre-tested and pre-accepted flex circuitry substrates mounted in seriatim over said apertures along the elongated carrier strip, said elongated carrier strip having a greater stiffness than a stiffness of said flex circuitry substrates, each of said flex circuitry substrates having outer peripheral edges in an adhesive connection directly to respective inner peripheral edges of the elongated carrier strip bounding the apertures in said elongated carrier strip, and wherein said elongated carrier strip and said flex circuitry substrates remain connected while assembling the flex circuitry substrates into a grid array package; an integrated circuit die attached to each of said flex circuitry substrates, each said die having die conductive pads wire bonded to bonding pads on a first surface of a corresponding flex circuitry substrate, and molded encapsulation over said die, around said wire bonds and onto a portion of said first surface of said flex circuitry substrate; an array of contact pads on an opposite second surface of said flex circuitry substrate and conductive vias extending from said contact pads to metallization on said first surface of said flex circuitry substrate; wherein a portion of said elongated carrier strip surrounding said apertures extends from the molded encapsulation and remains attached to the flex circuitry substrate such that a resultant package is stiffened by said elongated carrier strip portion and provides a thermally conductive surface area exposed outside of the package; and wherein said elongated carrier strip portion forms a ground plane with said metallization.