In electronics, encapsulation refers to the protective housing of a component or circuit to shield it from environmental stressors while maintaining necessary electrical connections. ¹⁾

There are two ways of encapsulating the IC :

• Molding
• Lid

For processors, encapsulation also serves to increase thermal dissipation surface area. The CPU can be molded to ensure thermal dissipation or it can be topped with a metal lid, the second option is usually chosen for large and resources consuming CPUs such as server ones.

A complete CPU server assembly consists of ²⁾:

• Substrate (base layer),
• Die (silicon core),
• Heat spreader (top metallic layer), which interfaces with cooling solutions to manage thermal output

• Plasma clean
• Transfert mold
• Post mold cure

• Thermal interface application
• Lid attach
• Lid attach cure