Design-performance aspects of Glass Ceramic in comparison to Alumina Ceramic and organic FCPBGA packages for high link densities of high speed SerDes

High performance glass ceramic (HPGC) packages widely used in various range of IBM server applications are characterized for high frequency performance of SerDes differential links using TDR and network analyzer measurements and their design to performance aspects are analyzed in depth. Also HPGCspsila merits and design to electrical factors are discussed in comparison with an Alumina Ceramic and an organic Flip-chip Plastic Ball Grid Array (FCPBGA) packages alongside application space as the three types of packages were built on the same footprints of chip and board IO interfaces for a test site involving different design strategies to accommodate high link density of SerDes links. While HPGC has greater advantage for reliability and high power, and FCPBGA has greater advantage for cost, both demonstrate similar performance in compromising between through transmission and noise isolation parameters. Both HPGC and FCPBGA perform better than Alumina Ceramic in those areas.