METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROTECTING AND STRENGTHENING ELECTRICAL CONTACT INTERFACES

摘要

A method for providing electrical contact to pads (57) on a surface of a device involves steps of adding a first contact extension (59) to individual ones of the pads, covering the pads and contact extensions with a layer of protective material (61), removing a portion of the layer of protective material (61) such that each a portion of each of the contact extensions is exposed, and applying a second contact extension to individual ones of the exposed first contact extensions. The first extensions may be of several different kinds, including wire or solder balls (15), and the protective material layer provides both protection from environment effects and added lateral strength for the connection of the first extensions to the contact pads.