US20070272590A1

US20070272590A1 - Packaging structure

Info

Publication number: US20070272590A1
Application number: US11/583,167
Authority: US
Inventors: Te-Hai Tseng; Jin-Shr Huang
Original assignee: AU Optronics Corp
Current assignee: AU Optronics Corp
Priority date: 2006-05-26
Filing date: 2006-10-19
Publication date: 2007-11-29
Also published as: TWI297320B; TW200743625A

Abstract

A packaging structure is provided. The packaging structure is used to package at least two semiconductor elements. The packaging structure includes a flexible film. The flexible film has a contacting surface. The at least two semiconductor elements are placed on the contacting surface. The contacting surface has slight stickiness such that the positions of the at least two semiconductor elements relative to the contacting surface can be held.

Description

This application claims the benefit of Taiwan Patent Application No. 95118840, filed May 26, 2006, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a packaging structure, and more particularly to a packaging structure capable of packaging display panels of various sizes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the advance in the manufacturing technology of display devices, large scaled production for display panels of various sizes has been realized. During the process of delivery or transport, a large amount of packaging materials are needed to protect the display panels. Therefore, a considerable portion of costs in the assembly and delivery of the display panels are dedicated to packaging materials and packaging method.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a packaging structure not only capable of fixing display panels of various sizes simply by adhering but also can be stacked together. Thus, there is no need for the mass production and storage of packaging material, and relevant costs can be reduced.
The invention achieves the above-identified object by providing a packaging structure used for packaging at least two semiconductor elements. The packaging structure includes a flexible film. The flexible film has a contacting surface. The at least two semiconductor elements are placed on the contacting surface. The contacting surface has slight stickiness, such that the positions of the at least two semiconductor elements relative to the positions of the contacting surface are held.
The invention achieves the above-identified object by providing a packaging structure used for packaging semiconductor elements. The packaging structure includes a first container, a second container, a first flexible film, a buffer material and a second flexible film. The first container and the second container are assembled together to form an accommodation space. The first flexible film is positioned inside the accommodation space. The first flexible film has a first contacting surface. The at least two first semiconductor elements are placed on the first contacting surface. The first contacting surface has slight stickiness, such that the positions of the at least two first semiconductor elements relative to the positions of the first contacting surface are held. The buffer material is positioned on the at least two first semiconductor elements. The second flexible film is positioned on the buffer material. The second flexible film has a second contacting surface. The at least two second semiconductor elements are placed on the second contacting surface. The second contacting surface has slight stickiness, such that the positions of the at least two second semiconductor elements relative to the positions of the second contacting surface are held.
The invention achieves the above-identified object by providing a packing structure for accommodating a number of electronic components. The packaging structure includes a first container and a first flexible film disposed in the first container. The first film has a number of first sticky portions for contacting with the electronic components.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiments. The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded diagram of a packaging structure of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an assembly diagram of the packaging structure of the invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged diagram of the packaging structure of the invention assembled with a semiconductor element; and

FIG. 4 is an exploded diagram of another packaging structure of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Conventionally, most of the packaging structures used for packaging small-sized display panels are placed in a fix-sized container made of plastic such as polystyrene (PS) or expandable polypropylene (EPP). However, as the size of the display panel diversifies, the size of the packaging structure also may need to diversify, not only wasting resources and costs but also requiring a large amount of storage space. Meanwhile, the waste of resources is environmentally unfriendly.
Referring to FIG. 1, an exploded diagram of a packaging structure of the invention is shown. The packaging structure 100 includes a first container 110, a second container 160, a first flexible film 120, two buffer, such as buffer materials 130 and 150, and a second flexible film 140. The first container 110 and the second container 160 are assembled together to form an accommodation space. The first flexible film 120 is positioned inside the accommodation space. The first container 110 and the second container 160 are made of materials such as EPP, hard plastic and metal that have supporting strength and cannot be over-deformed. The connecting mechanism between the first container 110 and the second container 160 is preferably a mountable structure such that the first container 110 and the second container 160 are firmly coupled. The first flexible film 120 has a first contacting surface 122 with a plurality of first sticky portions 124 formed thereon. A plurality of electronic components, such as first semiconductor elements 10 (striped blocks) contact with the first sticky portions 124. The first sticky portions 124 have slight stickiness and fixes the plurality of first semiconductor elements 10 on the first contacting surface 122, so that the number of first semiconductor elements 10 are prevented from colliding with each other during horizontal shift or vibration. In the invention, the first semiconductor elements 10 are fixed on the first contacting surface 122. That is say the number of first elements 10 are held relative to each other because the number of first semiconductor elements 10 are held by the stickiness of the first sticky portions 124. Since the first sticky portions 124 of the flexible film 120 have slight stickiness, once the first semiconductor elements 10 are placed on the first sticky portions 124 of the flexible film 120, and under normal packaging process without any particular force being applied to the number of first semiconductor elements 10, the relative positions between the number of first semiconductor elements 10 and the first contacting surface 122 of the flexible film 120 are held. When a force is applied or the gravity gravitational direction of the first semiconductor element 10 realative to the flexible film 120 changes so that departing force occurs between the number of first semiconductor elements 10 and the first sticky portions 124 of the flexible film 120, the number of first semiconductor elements 10 is separated from the first contacting surface 122 of the flexible film 120. The first sticky portions 124 have slight stickiness. After the number of first semiconductor elements 10 are placed on the first sticky portions 124, it is better to ascertain that when the first contacting surface 122 is perpendicular to the ground, the number of first semiconductor elements 10 adhered onto the first contacting surface 122 will not come off due to their own weight. The buffer material 130 is positioned on the number of first semiconductor elements 10, and the second flexible film 140 is positioned on the buffer material 130. The buffer material 130 evenly spreads the stress coming from top lest the stress might be concentrated at a particular position and cause damage to the number of first semiconductor elements 10. In the present embodiment of the invention, the materials of the buffer material include expandable polyethylene (EPE). The second flexible film 140 has a second contacting surface 142 with a number of second sticky portion 144 formed thereon, a number of second semiconductor elements 20 are placed on the second sticky portion 144, and then the number of electronic components, such as second semiconductor elements 20 (striped blocks) are covered by a buffer layer 150. The second sticky portion 144 also have slight stickiness, so that the number of second semiconductor elements 20 are fixed on the second contacting surface 142 and will not collide with each other during horizontal shift. The standard of the slight stickiness requested of the second sticky portion 144 is similar to the standard of the slight stickiness requested of the first sticky portion 124. In the present embodiment of the invention, the number of first semiconductor element 10 and the number of second semiconductor element 20 are display panels, and more particularly are small-sized liquid crystal display (LCD) panels or organic light emitting diode (OLED) display panels. The packaging structure can be used to protect other fragile structures such as glass substrate, silicon wafer or chip.
Referring to FIG. 2, an assembly diagram of the packaging structure of the invention is shown. As shown in FIG. 2, the flexible film 120, the number of first semiconductor elements 10, the buffer material 130, the second flexible film 140, the number of second semiconductor elements 20 and the buffer material 150 are sequentially positioned inside the accommodation space formed by the first container 110 and the second container 160. For the purpose of elaboration, the stacked structure of the semiconductor elements in FIG. 2 is exemplified by two layers. However, in practical application, the stacked structure is not limited to two layers of semiconductor elements. The semiconductor elements can be stacked to as many layers as the safety range of vertical stress permits. The stacking of semiconductor elements can be adjusted to further enhance the protection of the semiconductor elements by either adjusting the size of the accommodation space formed by the first container 110 and the second container 160 or by providing a suitable buffer material.
When the number of first semiconductor elements 10 and the number of second semiconductor elements 20 are respectively placed on the contacting surface 122 and the contacting surface 142, the number of first semiconductor elements 10 and the number of second semiconductor elements 20, as shown in FIG. 1, can be arranged correspondingly, interlacingly or partially overlapped in the normal direction of the contacting surface 122 or the contacting surface 142. When at least part of one of the first sticky portions 124 and at least part of one of the second sticky portions 144 are overlapped, the first semiconductor element 10 and the second semiconductor element 20 are arragned partially overlapped in vertical direction. When at least one of the first sticky portions 124 and at least one of the second sticky portions 144 are overlapped, the first semiconductor element 10 and the second semiconductor element 20 are arragned correpondinly in vertical direction. When the first sticky portions 124 and the second sticky portions 144 are non-overlapped, the first semiconductor elements 10 and the second semiconductor elements 20 are arragned interlacingly in vertical direction. The first semiconductor element 10 and the second semiconductor element 20 can have same or different sizes. Meanwhile, the buffer material 130 is not necessary in the embodiment. It means that the packaging structure 100 may include the first container 110, the first flexible film 120, the second flexible film 140, the buffer material 150, and the second container 160 arranged in the same order. In another case, the packaging structure 100 may only include the first container 110, the first flexible film 120 with the buffer material 130 formed thereon, and the second container 160 arranged in the same order.
Similarly, the semiconductor elements placed on the same contacting surface can have the same or different sizes. The semiconductor elements packaged on the same or different layers can have different structures. Examples of the semiconductor elements include display panel, glass substrate, silicon wafer or chip. The packaging structure can also be used to protect other fragile structures. When packaging the semiconductor elements, the relative positions between the number of first semiconductor elements 10 and the number of second semiconductor elements 20 placed on different layers can be adjusted according to the size and the weight of the semiconductor elements.
Referring to FIG. 3, an enlarged diagram of the packaging structure of the invention assembled with a semiconductor element is shown. As shown in FIG. 3, a semiconductor element 1 is placed on the contacting surface 122 of the flexible film 120. The first sticky portion 124 of the contacting surface 122 have slight stickiness, so the semiconductor element 1 is fixed on the contacting surface 122 and will not collide with other semiconductor elements during horizontal shift. The semiconductor element 1 creates a recess on the flexible film 120 by the weight of the semiconductor element 1 and forms a wrapping structure with the buffer material 130. Thus, the semiconductor element 1 is protected and wrapped within. The flexible film 120 and the buffer material 130 may contact or non-contact each other.
In the invention, when the thickness of the semiconductor element ranges from 0.6 mm to 1.2 mm, the thickness of the flexible film can range from 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm, the thickness of the buffer material can be larger than 0.5 mm or range from 0.5 mm to 2.0 mm, and the stickiness of the flexible film can range from 1 N/20 mm to 10 N/20 mm. In a variation of the present embodiment of the invention, the thickness of the flexible film can be increased to be ranging from 0.5 mm to 2.0 mm, and under such circumstance, the buffer material can be dispensed with. However, the thickness disclosed above is only for the purpose of exemplification. In practical application, the thickness can be adjusted according to the characteristics of the packaging materials, the size, the fragility and other factors of the structure to be packaged. If the overall thickness is not limited, the thickness of the packaging materials can be further increased.
Referring to FIG. 4, an exploded diagram of another packaging structure of the invention is shown. The main difference between the packaging structure 200 and the packaging structure 100 is the first flexible film 220 and the second flexible film 240. For sure, flexible films 120, 140, 220 and 240 may be replaced with each other. The whole first contacting surface 222 and the whole second contacting surface 242 have stickiness, not only in particular portions of the first flexible film 220 and the second flexible film 240. Such the first semiconductor elements 10 and the second semiconductor elements 20 can be arranged more freely.
According to the packaging structure disclosed in the above embodiment of the invention, a wrapping structure formed by a flexible film with slight stickiness and a buffer material is used to fix and protect multiple semiconductor elements, and more particularly is applicable to the package of small-sized display panels. The packaging structure being flexible and having temporary shapes is applicable to semiconductor elements of various sizes. The packaging material can fit semiconductor elements of various sizes without having to be manufactured according to the size of a semiconductor element. Besides, the container for accommodating the semiconductor elements is recyclable, environmentally friendly and economically.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.

Claims

1. A packaging structure for accommodating a plurality of electronic components, comprising:

a first container; and

a first flexible film, disposed in the first container, having a plurality of first sticky portions for contacting with the electronic components.

2. The packaging structure according to claim 1, further comprising a second flexible film disposed over the first flexible film, wherein the second flexible film has a plurality of second sticky portions for contacting with the electronic components.

3. The packaging structure according to claim 2, further comprising a buffer disposed between the first and the second flexible films.

4. The packaging structure according to claim 3, wherein at least part of one of the first sticky portions and at least part of one of the second sticky portions are overlapped.

5. The packaging structure according to claim 3, wherein the first sticky portions and the second sticky portions are non-overlapped.

6. The packaging structure according to claim 3, further comprising a second container disposed over the first container.

7. The packaging structure according to claim 2, wherein at least part of one of the first sticky portions and at least part of one of the second sticky portions are overlapped.

8. The packaging structure according to claim 2, wherein the first sticky portions and the second sticky portions are non-overlapped.

9. The packaging structure according to claim 2, further comprising a second container disposed over the first container.

10. The packaging structure according to claim 9, further comprising a buffer disposed on the second flexible film.

11. The packaging structure according to claim 1, further comprising a buffer disposed on the first flexible film.

12. The packaging structure according to claim 11, wherein the buffer is comprised of expandable polyethylene (EPE).