Development of vertical interconnect surface mount packages

A novel vertical interconnect package (VIP) based upon surface mount plastic lead frame packages is presented for microwave applications. The prototype has been fabricated and measured, and its finite element method (FEM) simulation is confirmed by experimental results. This new package demonstrates improvements of approximately 10 dB in return loss and 1 dB in insertion loss over the small shrink outline package (SSOP) to 10 GHz. Investigation into the behavior of the discontinuities has provided insight into mismatches at interconnects, and higher performance prototypes are in fabrication.