Reliability Design and Simulation of High Density Packaging T/R Module

The requirements, development, packaging characteristics and existing reliability problems of high density packaging T/R modules are introduced, and the importance of reliability design is recognized. Aiming at the reliability problems of Electro Magnetic Compatibility (EMC), heat dissipation and electrostatic discharge, the reliability design and simulation scheme are given, and some cases are provided. Through design analysis and improvement, the reliability of 3D high density packaging T/R modules can be effectively improved.

CFD - Based Investigation of Effects of Obstruction in Front of Small Axial Cooling Fan and Deterioration of Supply Flow Rate

This study describes the deterioration of a small axial fan’s supply flow rate in high-density packaging electronic equipment. A cooling fan flow rate can be predicted by its P-Q curve, which shows a relationship between a pressure rise at a fan (ΔP) and a supply flow rate (Q). However, in high-density packaging electronic equipment, the fan performance is affected by the mounting components around the fans, and the accurate prediction of the supply flow rate becomes difficult. This paper tried to do flow visualization around a small axial cooling fan’s impellers when the obstruction was mounted in front of the fan through CFD analysis. A relationship between the supply flow rate by the fan and the flow pattern around the impellers was investigated while changing the distance between the test fan and the obstruction. Through this study, the following results can be obtained. The fan’s flow is stable in the rotating stall region and the higher flow rate operating points regardless of whether or without the obstruction. At the lower flow rate conditions, the formation of a complex unsteady flow is reproduced. As the flow rate decreases, the flow’s separation point becomes closer to the leading edge of the impeller. In the case of obstruction, the change of the flow pattern causes a larger attack angle. As a result, fan performance is degraded.

Flexible Circuit Board Package Embedded With Multi-Stack Dies

Miniaturization of electronics modules is always required for various medical applications including wearable technology, such as hearing aids, and implantable devices. Many types of high-density packaging technologies, such as package-on-package, bare-die stack, flex folded package and Through Si Via (TSV) technologies, have been proposed and used to fulfill the request. Among them, embedded die technology is one of the promising technologies to realize miniaturization and high-density packaging. We have developed WABE™ (wafer and board level device embedded) technology for embedding dies into multilayer flexible printed circuit (FPC) boards. The WABE package is comprised of thin dies (85 μm thickness), multi-layer polyimide, adhesive films and conductive paste. The dies are sandwiched by polyimide films with Cu circuits (FPCs). The conductive paste provides electrical connections between the layers as well as the layer and embedded die. First, each FPC layer is fabricated individually, and via holes are filled with conductive paste, and the dies are mounted on certain layers. Then, all layers undergo a one-step co-lamination process, and they are pressed to cure the adhesive material and conductive paste at the same time. This WABE technology has enabled multiple dies to be embedded by the one-step lamination process. Even if multiple dies are embedded, the footprint of a package can be reduced drastically by embedding multiple dies vertically in stacks. This paper describes the details of the results of fabricating a test vehicle with six embedded dies (three-dies in two stacks side-by-side). The fabricated test vehicle had 14 copper layers with less than 0.9 mm thickness. This paper also reports the results of various reliability testing on the package. These results were obtained by electrical measurements of daisy chain patterns formed between some of the layers. The fabricated test vehicle showed high reliability based on the results of a moisture and heat test and heat-shock test. These results show that the WABE technology to embed multiple dies vertically in polyimide film is one of the most promising packaging technologies to significantly miniaturize electronic circuits such as medical electronics.

Evaluation of die to organic laminate to PCB interconnects up to 50GHz

Ceramic substrates have traditionally been used in RF and microwave packaging applications because of the electrical properties at high frequencies. However, there is significant interest in using organic laminates due to its tighter wiring ground rules for high density packaging and lower cost of fabrication. The high frequency performance of interconnection from die to PCB using an organic packaging substrate has not yet been studied in detail. In this work, the interconnect performance of die to organic laminate to PCB up to 50 GHz was modeled and characterized using a test vehicle assembly. The test vehicle was specifically designed with test pads to characterize the interconnect performance at multiple levels of interconnection. A comparison study using a ceramic package substrate was also carried out. The modeling and hardware testing results from this study showed −3dB bandwidth of more than 50GHz for printed circuit board (PCB) to organic laminate and a bandwidth of 40GHz for the die to organic laminate to PCB interconnection. The results from this study showed that the organic laminate demonstrated a high frequency performance comparable to that of the ceramic substrate, which makes it suitable as a packaging substrate material for high frequency applications.