Packaging of MMICs in multilayer LCP substrates

Author

Thompson, Dane C. ; Tentzeris, Manos M. ; Papapolymerou, John

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA

Volume

16

Issue

7

fYear

2006

fDate

7/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

410

Lastpage

412

Abstract

A 13-25-GHz GaAs bare die low noise amplifier is embedded inside a multilayer liquid crystal polymer (LCP) package made from seven layers of thin-film LCP. This new packaging topology has inherently unique properties that could make it an attractive alternative in some instances to traditional metal and ceramic hermetic packages. LCP is a near-hermetic material and its lamination process is at a relatively low temperature (285degC versus >800degC for ceramics). The active device is enclosed in a package consisting of several laminated C0₂ laser machined LCP superstrate layers. Measurements demonstrate that the LCP package and the 285degC packaging process have minimal effects on the monolithic microwave integrated circuit radio frequency (RF) performance. These findings show that both active and passive devices can be integrated together in a homogeneous laminated multilayer LCP package. This active/passive compatibility demonstrates a unique capability of LCP to form compact, vertically integrated (3-D) RF system-on-a-package modules

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; MMIC amplifiers; gallium arsenide; liquid crystal polymers; low noise amplifiers; system-in-package; 13 to 25 GHz; 285 C; GaAs; MMIC packaging; RF system-on-a-package modules; lamination process; low noise amplifier; multilayer LCP substrates; multilayer liquid crystal polymer package; near-hermetic material; packaging topology; thin film LCP; Ceramics; Gallium arsenide; Integrated circuit packaging; Liquid crystal polymers; Low-noise amplifiers; MMICs; Nonhomogeneous media; Packaging machines; Radio frequency; Substrates; Embedded actives; laser machining; liquid crystal polymer (LCP); monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC); organics; package; three-dimensional (3-D) integration;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1531-1309

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LMWC.2006.877130

Filename

1644767