Component Carrier Through-Hole Filling With Sintered Metal Paste

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional methods for manufacturing component carriers with high aspect ratio electrical interconnections face challenges such as voids, over-plating risks, and difficulties in producing reliable connections, especially on glass substrates, which are prone to breakage during the manufacturing process.

Innovation Solution

A component carrier is created using a stack with a support layer structure, metal paste filling material, and a metal pad, where the metal paste filling material and metal pad comprise the same material, such as copper, and are formed without a seed layer, allowing efficient filling and solidification through sintering, enabling reliable high aspect ratio interconnections.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Manufacturing precision

If conventional plating process is used to fill through-holes, then electrical interconnections can be formed, but high aspect ratios become difficult to produce and voids/dimples are generated

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvequality of electrical interconnectionsVSAvoidreliability of high aspect ratio interconnections

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the material state from liquid plating material to paste form, and changes the bonding mechanism from electrochemical deposition to sintering. The paste filling material contains metal particles (5-50 μm) in a binder that can be sintered at controlled temperatures, enabling reliable filling of high aspect ratio through-holes without the limitations of conventional plating processes

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces the electrochemical plating system with a mechanical sintering process. Instead of using electrical current to deposit metal layer by layer, the invention uses paste application followed by thermal sintering to fuse metal particles into solid interconnections, eliminating the fundamental limitations of plating for high aspect ratios

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Ease of manufacture

If seed layer is applied before plating to enable through-hole filling, then plating process can be performed, but process time increases and over-plating risk arises

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefeasibility of through-hole fillingVSAvoidtotal process time

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies paste filling material directly to the through-holes before any sintering process, eliminating the need for preliminary seed layer deposition. The paste formulation allows direct application and subsequent sintering to achieve complete filling, reducing the number of process steps and total manufacturing time

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent extracts and eliminates the seed layer step from the conventional plating process sequence. By using paste filling material that can be directly applied and sintered, the invention removes the intermediate seed layer deposition and electrochemical plating steps, streamlining the manufacturing process

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Strength

If glass substrates are used for component carriers, then mechanical robustness is achieved, but substrates may break during conventional manufacturing processes

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemechanical robustness of substrateVSAvoiddifficulty of manufacturing on glass substrates

Core Design Contradiction:

StrengthVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the processing temperature profile to be compatible with glass substrates. By using paste sintering at controlled temperatures rather than high-temperature conventional plating processes, the method enables manufacturing on temperature-sensitive glass substrates without causing thermal stress or breakage

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces mechanical drilling and high-temperature plating processes with laser drilling and paste sintering. This substitution reduces mechanical stress on glass substrates during manufacturing, enabling production of component carriers on fragile glass substrates that would otherwise break during conventional processing

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

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

This method provides efficient and reliable electrical interconnections with reduced manufacturing complexity and risk of substrate breakage, ensuring robust and efficient thermal and electrical conductivity, even under harsh conditions.

Implementation Method 1

allowing efficient filling and solidification through sintering

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectSintering: Sintering

Data Source

PatentUS20250014955A1Component Carrier and Method of Manufacturing the Component Carrier

Publication Date: 2025.01.09 AT & S AUSTRIA TECHNOLOGIE & SYSTEMTECHNIK AG

AI summary

A component carrier and a method of manufacturing the component carrier are presented. The component carrier comprises a stack having at least one electrically conductive layer structure and at least one electrically insulating layer structure, wherein the stack comprises i) a support layer structure comprising at least one through-hole; ii) a metal paste filling material in the through-hole; and iii) a metal pad provided on and extending from an exterior main surface of the support layer structure. The metal paste filling material in the through hole and the metal pad comprise at least partially the same material.