Patent ID: 8211753

Claim:
A method for fabricating a heat spreader, comprising: forming heat spreaders surrounded by a frame and connected to one another and to the frame by tie bars, the heat spreaders and tie bars having respective upper surfaces and at least one of the tie bars having an end portion for serving as a pin identifier; thinning at least portions of the upper surfaces of the tie bars to form thinned portions to reduce heights of the tie bars at least on a singulation line thereon; forming the frame to support the heat spreader upper surfaces and the thinned portions of the tie bars in an elevated position with respect to a bottom horizontal portion of the frame, the frame having stand-off legs with a wider width than widths of the tie bars; and encapsulating the heat spreaders and the tie bars with an encapsulant, the encapsulant exposing the upper surfaces of the heat spreaders and one surface of the pin identifier coplanar to the upper surfaces of the heat spreaders.