Sandisk FlashDisk Memory Card

Sandisk FlashDisk Memory Card

SanDisk Flashdisk Memory Card

PC cards (or PCMCIA cards) are credit card sized computer peripherals that slide into PCMCIA slots to add various functions to computers or other (mostly portable) electronics equipment. This year (1995) about 19 million PC cards will be sold worldwide. About half of these are memory cards, but other functions include data/fax modems, network adapters, and hard disk drives.

This month's teardown report features a FlashDisk flash memory card assembled by SanDisk in Thailand. The PCMCIA Type II card (i.e., it is 5mm thick) has a storage capacity of 1.8MB; other versions are available up to a capacity of 175MB. The card contains a four-layer, 4 mil thick, FR4 printed circuit board onto which five active devices are mounted. These devices are packaged in QFP, SOIC, and TSOP with a minimum 20 mil pitch and up to 140 leads. These devices, as well as 39 passive components, are mounted on one side.

The other side is reserved for the memory die, which are placed onto separate memory modules. The picture below shows a cross section of a memory module. The bare die is mounted onto a 10 mil thick FR4 board through single-edge wire bonding and overmolded with encapsulant. The structure on the right is a woven molding frame used to control the flow of encapsulant.

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Copyright 1995 Integrated Electronics Engineering Center and Prismark Partners LLC.