Improvement of Dielectric Performance of a Prototype AlN High Temperature Chip-level Package
Aluminum nitride (AlN) has been proposed as a packaging substrate material for reliable high temperature electronics operating in a wide temperature range. However, it was discovered in a recent study that the dielectric properties of some commercial polycrystalline AlN materials change quite significantly with temperature at high temperatures. These material properties resulted in undesired large and temperature-dependent parasitic parameters for a prototype chip-level package based on an AlN substrate with the yttrium oxide dopant. This paper reports a method using a coating layer of a commercial thick-film glass on the AlN substrate surface to significantly reduce both the parasitic capacitances and parasitic conductances between neighboring inputs/outputs (I/Os) of a prototype AlN chip-level package. The parasitic parameters of 8-I/Os low power chip-level packages with the insulating glass coating were characterized at frequencies from 120 Hz to 1 MHz between room temperature and 500°C. These results were compared with the parameters of AlN packages without the glass coating. The results indicate that the parasitic capacitances and conductances between I/Os of the improved prototype AlN packages are significantly reduced and stable at high temperatures. The method using a glass coating provides a feasible way to mitigate the temperature dependence of dielectric properties of AlN and further utilize AlN as a reliable packaging substrate material for high temperature applications.