Against the backdrop of the rapid development of the chip industry, the stability, reliability, and service life of chips are threatened by various environmental factors. Silicone rubber sealants, with their outstanding performance, have become an indispensable key material in the chip field. Composed mainly of organosilicon, they possess excellent high-temperature resistance, low-temperature resistance, electrical insulation, chemical stability, and good sealing properties. They play a crucial role in the production, packaging, assembly, and subsequent use of chips. Their specific application scenarios are as follows:

Chip packaging is a key link in protecting the core circuit of the chip, realizing electrical connection, and ensuring the normal operation of the chip. Silicone rubber sealants are widely used in this field, mainly reflected in the following aspects:

For some bare chips sensitive to the environment, such as radio frequency (RF) chips and power chips, silicone rubber sealants can be directly coated on the surface and around the chip to form a uniform and dense protective coating. This coating can effectively isolate harmful external substances such as moisture, dust, and corrosive gases, preventing the chip’s core circuit from being eroded. At the same time, the excellent high-temperature resistance of silicone rubber sealants enables the chip to maintain stable performance in high-temperature operating environments (e.g., in the automotive electronics field, the operating temperature of chips often reaches 125°C or even higher), without seal failure or material aging due to excessive temperature. For example, power chips in automotive engine control systems often use silicone rubber sealants for bare chip protection and packaging to ensure reliable operation of the chips in harsh environments of high temperature and vibration.

During the assembly of chips and substrates, there are tiny gaps between them. If these gaps are not sealed, external moisture and impurities can easily enter, affecting the electrical connection performance between the chip and the substrate, and even causing chip failure. Silicone rubber sealants can fill the gaps between the chip and the substrate to form a reliable sealing structure. Their good fluidity ensures that the gaps are fully filled, and after curing, they have a certain degree of elasticity, which can absorb the stress generated by the difference in thermal expansion coefficients between the chip and the substrate, preventing cracking or separation between them and ensuring the long-term stable operation of the chip. In the connection between the processor chip of a smartphone and the motherboard substrate, the application of silicone rubber sealants has effectively improved the operating stability of the smartphone in different temperature environments.

In addition to the packaging of the chip itself, the protection of components around the chip also relies on silicone rubber sealants. The specific applications include:

Chip pins are an important part of realizing the connection between the chip and external circuits. If the pins are eroded by moisture, dust, or corrosive substances, poor contact will occur, affecting the normal operation of the chip. Silicone rubber sealants can be coated on the chip pins and their surrounding areas to form a sealed protective layer, effectively isolating adverse external factors. Moreover, silicone rubber sealants have excellent electrical insulation properties, which will not affect the electrical performance of the pins, ensuring stable connection between the chip and external circuits. The application of silicone rubber sealants is relatively common in the protection of chip pins in industrial control equipment.

On the circuit board where the chip is located, there are usually electronic components such as resistors, capacitors, and inductors. These components work in coordination with the chip to ensure the normal operation of the equipment. Silicone rubber sealants can seal and protect these surrounding electronic components to prevent them from being damaged by the external environment. For example, in communication equipment used outdoors, the circuit board is exposed to wind, rain, and sunlight for a long time. Silicone rubber sealants can provide reliable protection for the electronic components around the chip, avoiding component failure due to moisture and aging, thereby ensuring the stable operation of the entire communication equipment.

In some special application environments, chips face more severe conditions. Silicone rubber sealants, with their unique properties, have become ideal protective materials in these scenarios:

In the aerospace field, chips need to work in extremely high-temperature environments (e.g., chips near spacecraft engines have an operating temperature that can exceed 200°C). Ordinary sealing materials tend to soften and decompose at high temperatures, losing their sealing performance. However, silicone rubber sealants have excellent high-temperature resistance, which can maintain stable physical properties and sealing effects in high-temperature environments, effectively protecting the chips from the impact of high-temperature environments. For example, control chips in rocket propulsion systems use silicone rubber sealants for protection to ensure normal operation of the chips under high-temperature working conditions.

In fields such as polar exploration equipment and deep-sea exploration equipment, chips are exposed to extremely low-temperature environments (e.g., the temperature in polar regions can be as low as -60°C or below, and the temperature in deep-sea environments is also relatively low). Many sealing materials become brittle and hard at low temperatures, prone to cracking and resulting in seal failure. Silicone rubber sealants have good low-temperature resistance, and can still maintain good elasticity and sealing performance in low-temperature environments, without losing their protective effect due to excessively low temperatures. For instance, chips in meteorological monitoring equipment used in polar scientific research stations, protected by silicone rubber sealants, can operate stably in extremely low-temperature environments, ensuring the accurate collection of meteorological data.

In high-humidity and highly corrosive scenarios such as marine environments and chemical production environments, chips are easily eroded by moisture and corrosive gases, leading to reduced chip performance or even damage. Silicone rubber sealants have excellent water resistance and chemical corrosion resistance, which can effectively block moisture and corrosive substances from entering the interior of the chip, providing a reliable protective barrier for the chip. For example, control chips on offshore oil drilling platforms are in a high-humidity and high-salt-spray environment for a long time. The application of silicone rubber sealants has effectively extended the service life of the chips and ensured the normal operation of oil drilling equipment.

Silicone rubber sealants not only play an important role in chip protection but also can optimize the chip packaging process, which is specifically reflected in the following aspects:

Some silicone rubber sealants have the characteristic of rapid curing. During the chip packaging process, they can shorten the curing time and improve the packaging production efficiency. For example, in the mass production of large-scale integrated circuits, the use of fast-curing silicone rubber sealants can significantly reduce the residence time of chips in the packaging link, accelerate the production rhythm, and meet the needs of large-scale production.

With the continuous development of chip packaging technology, a variety of new packaging structures have emerged, such as BGA (Ball Grid Array) and CSP (Chip Scale Package). Silicone rubber sealants have good fluidity and plasticity, and can adapt to the needs of different packaging structures. Whether it is a complex three-dimensional structure or a tiny packaging space, they can achieve uniform coating and effective sealing, providing strong support for the promotion and application of new packaging technologies.

As chip technology moves toward miniaturization, high integration, and high power, higher requirements are put forward for the performance of silicone rubber sealants, and at the same time, the further expansion of their application fields is promoted:

With the continuous reduction of chip size, miniature chips are widely used in fields such as medical equipment and wearable devices. To meet the packaging needs of miniature chips, silicone rubber sealants are developing toward low viscosity and high-precision coating, to ensure accurate sealing on the surface and gaps of miniature chips, while avoiding damage to the tiny structures of miniature chips. For example, the packaging of miniature chips in implantable medical devices requires the use of high-performance miniaturized silicone rubber sealants for protection.

High-power chips generate a large amount of heat during operation. If the heat cannot be dissipated in a timely manner, the temperature of the chip will rise, affecting the performance and service life of the chip. Some new silicone rubber sealants have good thermal conductivity by adding thermally conductive fillers. While sealing and protecting high-power chips, they can also conduct the heat generated by the chips to the heat dissipation structure, assisting in chip heat dissipation. This type of silicone rubber sealant with both sealing and thermal conductivity functions has broad prospects in applications such as power chips of new energy vehicles and CPUs of servers.