Method for Packaging a Board of Electronic Components

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to packaging for integrated circuits (chips) and has particular relation to such packaging in which the chip substrate may be soldered into the package concurrently with the soldering of circuit to the feed throughs of the package.

2. Background Art

Chips and the substrates to which they are bonded are often subjected to harsh environments. It is therefore necessary to hermetically seal them in packages to protect them from such environments, yet simultaneously allow signals to enter and exit the package through various ports in the package.

A major problem in the prior art has been the necessity of connecting the chip/substrate to the ports of the package by fine wires. When the chip/substrate/package combination is subjected to acceleration, vibration, or other stress, these wires can work loose, rendering the combination inoperative.

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the need for wire bonds.

It is a feature of the present invention that the substrate is soldered to the package.

It is an advantage of the present invention that such soldering of the substrate to package may take place concurrently with the soldering of the feed-throughs of the package, thereby minimizing the number of thermal cycles that the chip or chips and substrate are subjected to.

These and other objectives, features, and advantages will become apparent with reference to the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a base.

FIG. 2 shows a base with metallization.

FIG. 3 shows a metallized base with a rectangular annular layer of insulation over the metallization.

FIG. 4 shows an insulated metallized base with walls and lid, forming a package.

FIG. 5 shows a package with a multi-layer board and chip ready to be contained therein.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a ceramic base 10 is shown, the perimeter of which includes a plurality of castellations 12.

In FIG. 2, the castellations 12 are metallized with a layer of metal 14, and a trace 16 leads from the layer 14 to a pad 18 well inward of the perimeter of the base 10. A metallized pad 54 is included for interconnection with a metallized pad on bottom of multi-layer board 28.

FIG. 3 shows an insulating layer 20 laid down over the perimeter of the base 10, thereby insulating the layer 14 and a portion of the trace 16 from apparatus to be placed above it.

FIG. 4 shows a wall 22 built on the outside portion of the insulating layer 20, with a sealing ring 24 on the top of the wall 22. The sealing ring 24 preferably comprises kovar, as does the lid 26 which rests on the sealing ring 24. The under side of the lid 26 includes a layer of solder, or, if desired, a separate ring of solder above the sealing ring 24 may be used. Kovar is selected because it has a coefficient of thermal expansion which closely approximates that of the wall 22 and base 10, which are comprised of ceramic.

In FIG. 5, a multi-layer board 28 supports one or more integrated circuits (chips) 30. Other electronic components may be used instead of, or in addition to, the chip 30. The chips 30 are connected by wires 32 to pads 34, which are connected by traces 36 to large vias 38 on the perimeter of the multi-layer board 28; each large via 38 being aligned with a pad 18. The large vias 38 are metallized. A solder ball 40 is placed on the top end of each large via 38 of interest. When the multi-layer board 28 is placed on the base 10, heating of the entire structure will simultaneously bond the multi-layer board 28 to the base pad 54, and will melt the solder balls 40 so that the resultant molten solder will form both an electrical connection and a mechanical connection between each large via 38 and its corresponding pad 18. An additional sheet of solder 42 may be placed on the under side of the multi-layer board 28 so as to form an additional electromechanical bond between the multi-layer board 28 and the base 10. The solder sheet 42 also aids in thermal dissipation. A second sheet of solder 44 on the underside of the base 10 provides additional electrical, mechanical, and thermal connection between the base 10 and whatever it is resting on.

The chips 30 not only have wires 32 going to pads 34 and traces 36 to large vias 38, which are connected with the base 10.. they also have wires 46 which are connected to pads 48 connected to traces 50 connected to small vias 52, which enter the multi-layer board, but do not penetrate through it to a pad 18. This latter structure between the chip 30 and small via 52 does not require a solder ball 40, since it is being bonded electrically with metal filled vias to complete the circuitry within the multi-layer structure.

The wires 32 and 46 may be omitted if a flip-chip structure is used, in which the chips 30 are bonded directly to the pads 34 and 48.

Finally, the Kovar lid 26 is seam welded to the Kovar sealing ring 24 to effect a hermetically sealed package or enclosure.

The present invention is capable of exploitation in industry, and can be used, in any situation in which it is desired to avoid the weaknesses of wire bonding, while subjecting the chip and substrate to the minimum number of thermal cycles. It can be made of components which are, if taken individually, entirely conventional, or it can be made from their nonconventional counterparts.

While a particular embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited thereto, but is limited only by the following claims.