A new packaging technology for GaAs MMIC modules

A coplanar film carrier for packaging uniplanar MMICs (monolithic microwave integrated circuits) is presented. This film carrier has an insulating polyimide film on which RF, DC bias, and ground conductor areas are formed. The areas extend into bonding windows, which are etched in the polyimide film, and the extended portions form inner and outer leads. The interconnection of the inner and outer leads to MMIC-electrode pads is highly reliable because of the gold-plated bumps formed at the distal ends of the inner and outer leads. The coplanar film carrier has an insertion loss of less than 0.2 dB/mm without resonance over the frequency range from DC to 30 GHz. The electrical performance of the GaAs MMIC module with coplanar film carrier is almost equal to that of the MMIC measured directly on-wafer.<>