CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This Utility patent application claims priority to German Patent Application No. 10 2019 110 191.3, filed Apr. 17, 2019, which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present a invention relates to a package, a method of manufacturing a package, and a method of determining an origin of a package.

A package may comprise an electronic component, such as a semiconductor chip, mounted on a carrier, such as a leadframe. Packages may be embodied as encapsulated electronic component mounted on a carrier with electrical connects extending out of the encapsulant and being coupled with an electronic periphery.

However, packages suffer from plagiarism. Counterfeit packages may have an insufficient quality and reliability and may therefore cause severe danger during operation of the package. This is in particular critical in safety related fields, for instance for packages used for automotive applications, aircraft applications or medical applications.

SUMMARY

There may be a need to manufacture a package in a simple and forgery-proof manner.

According to an exemplary embodiment, a package is provided which comprises a carrier, at least one electronic component mounted on the carrier, and an identifier indicative of an origin of the package and being formed on and/or in the carrier.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a method of manufacturing a package is provided, wherein the method comprises mounting at least one electronic component on a carrier, and forming an identifier indicative of an origin of the package on and/or in the carrier.

According to yet another exemplary embodiment, a method of determining an origin of a package having the above-mentioned features is provided, wherein the method comprises detecting data from the identifier on and/or in the carrier, and identifying the origin of the package by evaluating the detected data (for example by comparing the detected data with reference data stored in a database).

According to an exemplary embodiment, an identifier characterizing the identity or origin of a package may be formed on and/or in a carrier. By forming the identifier on the carrier, there is substantially no additional effort for forming the identifier, because the carrier needs to be there anyway for carrying the electronic component. In many cases, the carrier itself is processed during the manufacturing procedure of a package, so that the parallel formation of an identifier on and/or in the carrier can be possible substantially without additional effort. Furthermore, the (in many cases at least partially metallic) carrier is appropriate for forming the identifier thereon and/or therein, because such an identifier cannot be easily removed by plagiarism, so that it may be ensured that the identifier being indicative of the origin of the package can remain permanently part of the package. Therefore, a forgery-proof package guaranteeing a genuine origin is provided, which increases the safety of operation due to a guaranteed quality and reliability connected with the indicated origin. Failure and safety issues caused by inappropriate plagiarism packages may therefore be safely prevented.

