A QFP or Quad Flat Package is a surface mount integrated circuit package with "gull wing" leads extending from each of the four sides.[1] Socketing such packages is rare and through-hole mounting is not possible. Versions ranging from 32 to 304 pins with a pitch ranging from 0.4 to 1.0 mm are common. Other special variants include low profile QFP and thin QFP.[2]
The QFP component package type became common in Europe and United States during the early nineties, even though it has been used in Japanese consumer electronics since the seventies. It is often mixed with hole mounted, and sometimes socketed, components on the same printed circuit board.
A package related to QFP is PLCC which is similar but has pins with larger pitch, 1.27 mm (or 1/20 inch), curved up underneath a thicker body to simplify socketing (soldering is also possible). It is commonly used for NOR Flash memories and other programmable components.
Limitations
The quad flat-pack has connections only around the periphery of the package. To increase the number of pins, the spacing was decreased from 50 mil (thousandths of an inch) (as found on small outline packages) to 20 and later 12 mil (1.27 mm, 0.51mm and 0.30mm respectively). However, this close lead spacing made solder bridges more likely and put higher demands on the soldering process and alignment of parts during assembly.[1] The later pin grid array and ball grid array packages, by allowing connections to be made over the area of the package and not just around the edges, allowed for higher pin counts with similar package sizes, and reduced the problems with close lead spacing.
Variants
| Other styles |
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| A 304-pin QFP with exposed thermal pad. |
| A 144 pin low profile LQFP IC |
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The basic form is a flat rectangular (often square) body with leads at four sides but with numerous variation in the design. These differ usually only in lead number, pitch, dimensions, and materials used (usually to improve thermal characteristics). A clear variation is Bumpered Quad Flat Package with extensions at the four corners to protect the leads against mechanical damage before the unit is soldered.
Heat sink Quad Flat Package, Heatsink Very-thin Quad Flat-pack No-leads (HVQFN) is a package with no component leads extending from the IC. Pads are spaced along the sides of the IC with an exposed DIE that can be used as ground. Spacing between pins can vary.
A thin quad flat pack (TQFP) provides the same benefits as the metric QFP, but is thinner. Regular QFP are 2.0 to 3.8 mm thick depending on size. TQFP packages range from 32 pins with a 0.8 mm lead pitch, in a package 5 mm by 5 mm by 1 mm thick, to 256 pins, 28 mm square, 1.4 mm thick and a lead pitch of 0.4 mm.[2]
TQFPs help solve issues such as increasing board density, die shrink programs, thin end-product profile and portability. Lead counts range from 32 to 176. Body sizes range from 5 mm x 5 mm to 20 x 20 mm. Copper lead-frames are used in TQFPs. Lead pitches available for TQFPs are 0.4 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.65 mm, 0.8 mm, and 1.0mm.
PQFP, or plastic quad flat pack, is a type of QFP, as is the thinner TQFP package. PQFP packages can vary in thickness from 2.0 mm to 3.8 mm.
A Low-profile Quad Flat Package is a surface mount integrated circuit package format with component leads extending from each of the four sides. Pins are numbered counter-clockwise from the index dot. Spacing between pins can vary; common spacings are 0.4, 0.5, 0.65 and 0.80 mm intervals.
Other quad flat package types
| Package |
|---|
| BQFP: Bumpered Quad Flat Package |
| BQFPH: Bumpered Quad Flat Package with heat spreader |
| CQFP: Ceramic Quad Flat Package |
| EQFP: Plastic Enhanced Quad Flat Package |
| FQFP: Fine Pitch Quad Flat Package |
| LQFP: Low Profile Quad Flat Package |
| MQFP: Metric Quad Flat Package |
| NQFP: Near chip-scale Quad Flat Package.[3] |
| SQFP: Small Quad Flat Package |
| TQFP: Thin Quad Flat Package |
| VQFP: Very small Quad Flat Package |
| VTQFP: Very Thin Quad Flat Package |
| TDFP: Thin Dual Flat Package.[4] |
Some QFP packages have an Exposed Pad. The exposed pad is an extra pad underneath or on top of the QFP that may act as a ground connection and/or as a heat sink for the package. The pad is typically 10 or more mm², and with the pad soldered down onto the ground plane heat is passed into the PCB. This exposed pad also gives a solid ground connection. These type of QFP packages often have a -EP suffix (e.g. a LQFP-EP 64), or they have an odd number of leads, (e.g. a TQFP-101).
See also
References
External links
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| | Transistor | |
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| | Dual row | |
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| | Quad row | |
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| | Grid array | |
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| | Wafer | |
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| | Related topics | |
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| Note: It's relatively common to find packages that contain other components than their designated ones, such as voltage regulators in transistor packages, etc. |
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