As semiconductor and electronics markets have progressed, several technical factors have emerged that have significant impact to the electrical interconnects for “systems” whether they be computer, handset, tablet, automotive, medical, telecomm, data centers. Extreme increases in data traffic driven by internet, streaming video, smart phone, tablet and cloud computing are driving need for significant increases in bandwidth. Increases in data rate and functionality are driving significant wide scale architecture evolution. Advances in semiconductor packaging are driving significant density and routing challenges. Power and thermal management are challenges with low voltage systems to preserve battery life. Advances in semiconductor geometries have outpaced printed circuit geometries.
Traditional printed circuits are often constructed in what is commonly called rigid or flexible formats. The rigid versions are used in nearly every electronic system, where the printed circuit board (PCB) is essentially a laminate of materials and circuits that when built is relatively stiff or rigid and cannot be bent significantly without damage.
Flexible circuits have become very popular in many applications where the ability to bend the circuit to connect one member of a system to another has some benefit. These flexible circuits are made in a very similar fashion as rigid PCB's, where layers of circuitry and dielectric materials are laminated. The main difference is the material set used for construction. Typical flexible circuits start with a polymer film that is clad, laminated, or deposited with copper. A photolithography image with the desired circuitry geometry is printed onto the copper, and the polymer film is etched to remove the unwanted copper.
Flexible circuits are processed similar to that of rigid PCB's with a series of imaging, masking, drilling, via creation, plating, and trimming steps. The resulting circuit can be bent, without damaging the copper circuitry. Flexible circuits are solderable, and can have devices attached to provide some desired function. The materials used to make flexible circuits can be used in high frequency applications where the material set and design features can often provide better electrical performance than a comparable rigid circuit. Flexible circuits are very commonly used in many electronic systems such as notebook computers, medical devices, displays, handheld devices, autos, aircraft and many others.
Flexible circuits are connected to electrical system in a variety of ways. In most cases, a portion of the circuitry is exposed to create a connection point. Once exposed, the circuitry can be connected to another circuit or component by soldering, conductive adhesive, thermo-sonic welding, pressure or a mechanical connector. In general, the terminals are located on an end of the flexible circuit, where edge traces are exposed or in some cases an area array of terminals are exposed. Often there is some sort of mechanical enhancement at or near the connection to prevent the joints from being disconnected during use or flexure.
In general, flexible circuits are expensive compared to some rigid PCB products. Flexible circuits also have some limitations regarding layer count or feature registration, and are therefore generally only used for small or elongated applications.
Rigid PCBs and package substrates experience challenges as the feature sizes and line spacing are reduced to achieve further miniaturization and increased circuit density. The use of laser ablation has become increasingly used to create via structures for fine line or fine pitch structures. The use of lasers allows localized structure creation, where the processed circuits are plated together to create via connections from one layer to another. As density increases, however, laser processed via structures can experience significant taper, carbon contamination, layer-to-layer shorting during the plating process due to registration issues, and high resistance interconnections that may be prone to result in reliability issues. The challenge of making fine line PCBs often relates to the difficulty in creating very small or blind and buried vias.
The printed circuit industry has been driven by the mobile and handset market to achieve finer lines and spaces with higher density. The domestic circuit market has adopted laser direct imaging systems and laser drilled micro-vias over the last several years as advancements in fabrication techniques. In general, domestic suppliers can supply 75 micron lines and spaces with multi-layer construction, with the availability of 50 micron lines and spaces in some cases. The supplier pool is dramatically reduced below 50 micron lines and spaces, with blind and buried vias likely required.
Material sets available to traditional fabrication combined with the line and space capabilities drive the overall stack up for impedance control. For high speed applications, loss associated with glass weave and solder mask are an issue, and conventional via technology has become a major source of impedance mismatch and signal parasitic effects.
In general, signal integrity, high aspect ratio vias and line and space requirements limit the relationship between semiconductor packaging and the printed circuit board the chips are mounted to. Whether the application is a multi-layer rigid PCB, a flex circuit, or rigid flex there is a need for a high speed high density alternative.