In recent years, it has become apparent that the conventional FC-BGA (Flip Chip Ball Grid Array) substrate manufacturing method (Electroless Cu plating, Desmear, Laser Drilling processing) is reaching its limits for finer wiring dimensions and narrower pitches of the flip chip pad. On the other hand, the demand for miniaturization and higher density continues to increase. Our solution is the Organic Multi Chip Package, a combined organic interposer and organic substrate.
Unlike a conventional 2.5D interposer that is separately manufactured and then attached to a substrate PWB (Printed Wire Board), the interposer of our Organic Multi Chip Package is built directly onto an organic substrate. First normal build-up layers are laminated on both sides of the PWB core and metal traces formed by conventional semi-additive techniques. After the back side is coated with a typical SR layer for FC-BGA, the top surface and its laser-drilled vias are smoothed by CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing). A thin-film process is used to deposit the interposer's insulating resin layers. Then normal processes are applied to open small diameter vias and a metal seed layer is sputtered on. The wiring is patterned, and the metal traces are fully formed by plating. Finally, the Cu pads on the top layer are treated by OSP (Organic Solderability Preservative).
In this paper we discuss results using a prototype 40 mm × 40 mm Organic Multi Chip Package. The prototype's organic substrate has a two-metal layer core with 100 μm diameter through-holes, two build-up layers on the chip side, and three plus a solder resist layer on the BGA side. The interposer has four wiring layers. Thus the structure of the prototype is 4+(2/2/3). For evaluation purposes, there are four patterns of lines and spaces on the interposer: 2 μm/2 μm, 3 μm/3 μm, 4 μm/4 μm, and 5 μm/5 μm. The metal trace thicknesses are 2.5 μm, via diameters are 10 μm, pad pitches are 40 μm, and the Cu pad diameters are 25 μm. These dimensions allow the Organic Multi Chip Package to easily make the pitch conversions of the IC to the PCB.
With a 4+(2/2/3) structure, the Organic Multi Chip Package is asymmetric, raising concerns about package warping. However, the warping can be reduced by the optimization of structure and materials. In this way, we were able to connect a high pin-count logic chip to standard Wide I/O memory chips.
We think that there are at least two obvious advantages of the Organic Multi Chip Package. The first is a total height reduction compared to a structure with a separate silicon interposer attached to a PWB substrate. The Organic Multi Chip Package, with its built-on interposer, eliminates the need for solder joints between the interposer and substrate. In addition, the fine resin layers make our interposer much thinner than a silicon interposer. The second advantage is simpler assembly. Our structure does not require the separate step of assembling an interposer to the substrate. Assembly costs should be lower and yields higher.
In this paper we demonstrate the successful attainment of fine lines and spaces on the Organic Multi Chip Package. We also show and discuss reliability test results.