Patent ID: 7288439

Claim:
A method, comprising: forming a lead frame panel suitable for use in forming integrated circuit packages, including forming a plurality of device areas within the lead frame panel that are arranged in a two dimensional array, each device area having a die attach pad, and a plurality of corresponding electrical contacts surrounding the die attach pad, each contact having an inner region and an outer region, wherein the outer region is a portion of the contact positioned horizontally adjacent to the periphery of the device area, and wherein the inner region is a portion of the contact positioned horizontally adjacent to both the die attach pad and the outer region, the inner region having a vertical height relative to a bottom surface of the lead frame panel that is less than a vertical height of a topmost surface of the die attach pad, and a vertical thickness between a top surface of the inner region and a bottom surface directly opposite the top surface of the inner region that is less than a vertical thickness between a top surface of a thickest portion of the die attach pad and a bottom surface directly opposite the top surface of the thickest portion of the die attach pad, wherein bottom surfaces of the die attach pads are substantially coplanar with bottom surfaces of the electrical contacts.