Organic Substrate Core with Lithographic Pillars for Dense Hole Spacing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional drilling techniques for creating holes in semiconductor cores, such as mechanical drilling or laser drilling, limit the minimum spacing between holes, restricting the integration of power regulation components like inductors or capacitors in the package substrate core.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the lithographic removal of resist layers to form conductive pillars with tight spacing, followed by encapsulation with dielectric material, allowing for closer placement of pillars and integration of power regulation components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional mechanical drilling or laser drilling is used to create holes in the core, then the holes can be created with existing technology, but the minimum spacing between holes is limited by drilling accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical drilling with a lithographic patterning process to create conductive pillars. Instead of using mechanical drill bits or lasers to physically remove material and create holes, the invention uses photolithography to define patterns of conductive material that form pillars. This substitution of mechanical drilling with a chemical/photo-based lithographic process enables much tighter spacing between features, as lithographic methods can achieve finer feature sizes and smaller pitch dimensions than mechanical drilling capabilities.
2Power
If hole spacing is reduced to increase power delivery, then power delivery improves, but drilling accuracy cannot maintain the required precision
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical drilling with a lithographic patterning process to create conductive pillars. Instead of using mechanical drill bits or lasers to physically remove material and create holes, the invention uses photolithography to define patterns of conductive material that form pillars. This substitution of mechanical drilling with a chemical/photo-based lithographic process enables much tighter spacing between features, as lithographic methods can achieve finer feature sizes and smaller pitch dimensions than mechanical drilling capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the fundamental parameters of the hole creation process by transitioning from mechanical removal (drilling) to material deposition and patterning (lithography followed by plating). This parameter change allows for controlled formation of conductive pillars with precise dimensions and spacing, where the pillar spacing is determined by lithographic pattern dimensions rather than mechanical drill bit spacing. The conductive pillars are formed by applying a resist pattern, electroplating conductive material, and removing excess material, enabling precise control over pillar location, size, and spacing.
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
Enables increased power delivery and improved signal integrity by allowing for reduced spacing between conductive pillars, enhancing the integration of power regulation components in semiconductor substrates.
Implementation Method 1
forms a set of pillars by plating the remaining portions of the resist layer with a conductive material
Implementation Method 2
The core is compression molded to encapsulate the pillars in the dielectric material
Data Source
AI summary
A method for forming a core for a substrate that removes portions of a resist layer based on a pattern specifying widths of removed portions of the resist layer. The method forms a set of pillars by plating the remaining portions of the resist layer with a conductive material, so each pillar of the set has a perimeter plated with the conductive material. Additionally, each pillar of the set of pillars is encapsulated with a dielectric material. In some implementations, the dielectric material is an organic material.