A novel integrated decoupling capacitor for MCM-L technology

This paper discuses the design, materials, fabrication and measurements of a novel integrated decoupling capacitor for MCM-L-based substrates. Based on modeling using the SLA Roadmap, it has been estimated that 13-72 nF/cm² of specific decoupling capacitance will be required for the next decade. The capacitor in this paper addresses this need. The fabrication of the capacitor has been achieved using filled polymer materials in thin film form, with via diameters of 100 um and below, through photodefinable processes. Dielectric constant as high as 65 with loss tangent below 0.05 and specific capacitance of 22 nF/cm² have been achieved. The scattering parameters were measured up to 20 GHz using a network analyzer for various capacitor structures to study input impedance and scaling of the devices. Input impedance of the capacitor is found to be low in the GHz range. The polymer-filled materials and capacitor structures are also scalable to a variety of sizes and values