The vapor pressure inside a plastic package increases rapidly when the package is exposed to the high temperature of solder reflow. Under certain conditions, this pressure can cause internal delamination of the plastic from the die and/or leadframe/laminate substrate, internal cracks that do not extend to the outside of the package, bond damage, wire necking, bond lifting, thin film cracking, or cratering beneath the bonds. In the most severe case, the stress can result in external package cracks. This is commonly referred to as the “popcorn” phenomenon because the internal stress causes the package to bulge and then cracks with an audible “pop”. SMDs are more susceptible to this problem than through-hole parts because they are exposed to higher temperatures during reflow soldering. The reason for this is that the soldering operation must occur on the same side of the board as the SMD device. For through-hole devices, the soldering operation occurs under the board that shields the device from the hot solder. In addition, SMDs have a smaller minimum plastic thickness from the chip or mount pad interface to the outside package surface that has been identified as a critical factor in determining moisture sensitivity.
During qualification of a package, the package must be assessed on various moisture conditions to determine the MSL. These levels are defined according to JEDEC levels. Depending on the sensitivity level, dry packing is required.