A solderless interconnect technology for millimeter wave device/circuit assembly

We have developed a practical, high performance heatsink for low-cost, high-power millimeter wave devices. In this approach, a metal heatsink is first fabricated on a very thin epi-layer structure without damaging the active layer of the device. The fabricated device heatsink is then attached to a metal block and ribbon bonded with planar millimeter wave transmission line circuitry using a thermosonic bonding process. The thermosonic bonding process is developed to minimize the stresses that damage the devices, without degrading the bond integrity. The paper will also describe our findings concerning the effects of different assembly parameters on the heat dissipation of the device