Antenna Package Stiffening Layer for Rigidity Without Signal Loss
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Solution Overview
Problem
Semiconductor packages with integrated antennas lack rigidity, making them fragile during manufacturing and use, and mold layers that encase antennas can degrade performance.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a stiffening layer with gaps over each antenna on the substrate, which can be conductive, to improve package rigidity without adversely affecting antenna operation, and using a moldless design to enhance robustness and reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a mold layer is used to encase the antenna, then the package structure is protected and integrated, but the antenna performance is degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the antenna from the mold layer by creating a void space around it, allowing the antenna to be exposed rather than encased. This extraction eliminates the harmful interaction between the mold material and antenna while maintaining package protection through alternative means such as underfill material applied only to the substrate surface.
2Strength
If the package structure is made more rigid, then manufacturing robustness is improved, but antenna operation may be adversely affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the stiffening layer conductive in specific regions and non-conductive in other regions. The conductive portions provide electromagnetic shielding and grounding without interfering with antenna operation, while the non-conductive portions allow electromagnetic field propagation. This localized differentiation resolves the contradiction between providing structural rigidity and maintaining antenna performance.
3Strength
If a stiffening layer is added to improve rigidity, then package robustness is enhanced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the stiffening layer multi-functional by giving it both mechanical and electrical functions. The conductive stiffening layer provides structural rigidity while simultaneously serving as an electromagnetic shield and ground reference for the antenna system. This consolidation of multiple functions into a single component reduces overall device complexity despite adding the stiffening layer.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The stiffening layer enhances the semiconductor package's rigidity and reliability, reducing fragility during manufacturing and use, while maintaining antenna performance and improving thermal conductivity.
Implementation Method 1
In some specific examples, the stiffening layer may be formed from a conductive material, and gaps over the antennas may function as wave guides.
Data Source
AI summary
A package includes a substrate, a conductive layer on a first surface of the substrate forming a set of antennas, and a semiconductor die forming communication channels for the antennas, each of the communication channels being electrically coupled to the antennas by way of a redistribution layer that includes the substrate, the semiconductor die being mounted on either the first surface or an opposing second surface of the substrate. The package further includes a set of electrical contacts on the second surface of the substrate, the redistribution layer further coupling the set of electrical contacts to the semiconductor die. The package further includes a stiffening layer over the first surface of the substrate, the stiffening layer forming gaps over the antennas such that the antennas are on an outer surface of the package.