Panel-size component integration (PCI) with molded liquid crystal polymer (LCP) substrates

Future product development in microelectronics requires low-cost, high-speed, high-reliability, good manufacturability, and environmental compatibility. Recently developed DCA techniques, such as flip-chip and CSP on high-density microvia substrates, are believed to be able to satisfy such needs. Further integration of passive devices has been realized recently in the Single Level Integrated Module (SLIM). The integration of active devices into a planar substrate has been focused on planar substrates such Si-wafers, or LTCC or low-temperature smart-card substrate applications. More recently, a novel technology to integrate both active and passive components directly into a low-cost, multi-layer organic substrate has been based on a fully additive process utilizing photoimageable polymers and electroless copper processing on multi-layer polymer substrates, and very thin chips with shallow Cu bumps (a few microns) of very small pitch (100 μm or less). The objective of the present program is to research and develop a technology using LCP substrates for manufacturing and integration of both passives and actives in a package, to exploit the potential CTE match to silicon. The emphasis is focused on studying the polymer/metal interfaces established between the dissimilar materials used in multi-layer modules. Meanwhile, the research work is also aimed to understand the fundamental thermal, electrical, mechanical and interactions between the different materials. The paper reports on work to date.