Arrangement in semiconductor packages for inhibiting adhesion of lid to substrate while providing compression support

In a semiconductor flip-chip package having a semiconductor die 104 as part of a substrate assembly, a lid 110 (or lid assembly) and substrate 102 are supported to prevent tilting and teetering of the lid. The lid and substrate do not adhere, so as to reduce cracking of solder joints due to thermal cycling induced by repeated system power on-off. An adhesion prohibitor 315, 325 may be applied so that a support 314, 324 does not adhere to both lid and substrate; the support 314, 324 may be prevented from adhering to both lid and substrate by a separate curing step. The arrangements and fabrication methods may be applied to many package types, including ball grid array (BGA) and land grid array (LGA) packages.