Cost-effective chip-on-heat sink leadframe package for 800-Mb/s/lead applications

Chip-on-heat sink leadframe (COHS-LF) packages offer a simple, low-cost chip encapsulation structure with advanced electrical and thermal performance for high-speed integrated circuit applications. The COHS-LF package is a novel solution to the problems of increased power consumption and signal bandwidth demands that result from high-speed data transmission rates. Not only does it offer high thermal and electrical performance, but also provides a low-cost short time-to-market package solution for high-speed applications. In general, there are two main memory packages employed by the most popular high-speed applications, double data rate (DDR) SDRAM. One is the cheaper, higher parasitic leadframe packages, such as the thin small outline packages (TSOPs), and the other is the more expensive, lower parasitic substrate-based packages, such as the ball grid array (BGA). Due to the requirement for higher ambient temperature and operating frequency for high-speed devices, DDR2 SDRAM packages were switched from conventional TSOPs to more expensive chip-scale packages (i.e., BGA) with lower parasitic effects. And yet, by using an exposed heat sink pasted on the surface of the chip and packed in a conventional leadframe package, the COHS-LF is a simpler, lower cost design. Results of a three-dimensional full-wave electromagnetic field solver and SPICE simulator tests show that the COHS-LF package achieves less signal loss, propagation delay, edge rate degradation, and crosstalk than the BGA package. Furthermore, transient analysis using the wideband T-3π models optimized up to 5.6 GHz for signal speeds as high as 800 Mb/s/lead demonstrates the accuracy of the equivalent circuit model and reconfirms the superior electrical characteristics of COHS-LF package.