A method of self-healing cracks in a cured
epoxy base underfill material between an I / C
chip and a substrate is provided. A plurality of capsules is dispersed in the
epoxy base. Each
capsule has a curable thermosetting
adhesive encapsulated in a rupturable shell to disperse the thermosetting
adhesive in a crack in the
epoxy base when the shell ruptures. Each
capsule is less than 25 microns in
diameter. A curing agent that will cause a reaction of the thermosetting
adhesive on contact is dispersed in the epoxy to form a cured adhesive in a crack in said epoxy base. The shell will rupture when encountering a crack being propagated in the underfill material, which will at least partially fill the crack with the adhesive, and cure the adhesive with the curing agent to bond the edges of the crack together. The invention also includes the structure for crack self-healing.