The effect of green flame retardants on the properties of encapsulation molding compounds

Green flame retardants are required for protecting the electronic components, human health, and environments. In this paper, the effects of three green flame retardants of triphenyl phosphine oxide, melamine cyanurate (MCA), and aluminum hydroxide on the properties of encapsulation molding components were examined by experiments. The results show that their amounts in weight percentage affect the encapsulation and flammability properties. The flammability test results indicate that both triphenyl phosphine oxide (with the added amount reaching 1.5% or more) and MCA (of 2% or more) can meet the UL94-V0 flammability requirement, whereas aluminum hydroxide can also meet the requirement with 6% or more loading. By adding more triphenyl phosphine oxide, the encapsulation molding compound (EMC) moldability becomes poor and also induces large leakage current and should carefully be used if the leakage current was of great concern. Adding more MCA will also lead to poor moldability, but not increasing the leakage current. Overall comparison indicates that triphenyl phosphine of 1.5-2 wt%, MCA of 2 wt%, or aluminum hydroxide of 6% can be adopted as green flame retardants for EMCs for practical applications.