SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD OF FORMING MOLD DEGATING STRUCTURE FOR PRE-MOLDED SUBSTRATE

A semiconductor device has a substrate panel with a substrate having a first substrate area and a second substrate area outside a footprint of the first substrate area. A plurality of semiconductor die or discrete IPDs is disposed over the first substrate area. Substrate area 102a has electrical interconnect for the semiconductor die. A molding compound is disposed over the semiconductor die and first substrate area using a transfer mold process, which leaves mold culls and mold gates disposed over the second substrate area. A substrate edge is formed in the second substrate area under the mold gates. The substrate edge extends into the first substrate area under the molding compound to reinforce the mold gates and reduce cracking during mold degating. The substrate edge can have a variety of forms such as parallel bars, diagonal bars, orthogonal bars, and combinations thereof.