Multilayer boards

Electronic-Grade MMCs. Metal-matrix composites can be tailored to have optimal thermal and physical properties to meet requirements of electronic packaging systems, eg, cotes, substrates, carriers, and housings. A controUed thermal expansion space tmss, ie, one having a high precision dimensional tolerance in space environment, was developed from a carbon fiber (pitch-based)/Al composite. Continuous boron fiber-reinforced aluminum composites made by diffusion bonding have been used as heat sinks in chip carrier multilayer boards. 

A great variety of resia formulations is possible because other thermosets, such as epoxies or acrylates, and reactive diluents, such as o-diaUyl phthalate [131-17-9] triaUyl cyanurate [101-37-17, or triaUyl isocyanurate [1023-13-6J, can be used to further modify the BT resias. The concept is very flexible because bismaleimide and biscyanate can be blended and copolymerized ia almost every ratio. If bismaleimide is used as a major constituent, then homopolymerization of the excess bismaleimide takes place ia addition to the copolymerization. Catalysts such as ziac octoate or tertiary amines are recommended for cure. BT resias are mainly used ia ptinted circuit and multilayer boards (58). 

A popular connection system consists of square metal pins, usually 0.064 cm (0.025 in.) in size, that are pressed into holes drilled in a printed circuit board. The holes are copper (qv) plated on the insides and interconnect conductors on the top and bottom faces of the board. Multilayer boards have interior circuits that may also be interconnected in this way. The pias have either a soHd shank or a deformable (compHant) cross section where the pias joia the board (Fig. 2). Separable connectors or soldedess wraps (Fig. 3) engage the ends of the pias. One end of the pia can be the contact and spring of a separable connector. 

There has been a continual increase in size and complexity of PCBs with a concurrent reduction in conductor and hole dimensions. Conductors can be less than 250 p.m wide some boards have conductors less than 75 pm wide. Multilayer boards greater than 2.5 mm thick having hole sizes less than 250 pm are being produced. This trend may, however, eventually cause the demise of the subtractive process. It is difficult to etch such fine lines using 35-pm copper foils, though foils as thin as 5 pm are now available. It is also difficult to electroplate holes having high aspect ratio. These factors may shift production to the semiadditive or fully additive processes. 

Flexible PCBs are produced in large quantities, usually consisting of polyester, polyimide, and polyimide—Teflon films. Both foil-laminated and uncoated versions are available. A modem complex multilayer board after final fabrication is shown in Figure 2. 

In 1990 the majority of U.S. PCB production resulted from subtractive or print-and-etch processing additive processes were less than 6% of the total multilayer boards accounted for 55.8%. The ratio of rigid to flexible surface areas plated is about 15 1. High performance plastics including polyimide. Teflon, and modified epoxy comprised 6% of the market ( 324 million) flexible circuits were 6.6% ( 360 million) (42). 

Multilayer boards, which use multiple interior laminates of plastic and copper, now comprise over half of the value of production, though much less on a surface area basis. Surface mount technologies demand extreme flatness and reproducibiHty from surfaces. Greater packing density has led to commercial production of finer lines and holes, often less than 50 p.m and 500 p.m, respectively. Electroless gold over electroless nickel—phosphoms, or electroless nickel—boron alone, is often used as a topcoating for wire bonding or improved solderabiHty. 

Dielectric constant is directly proportional to the capacitance of a material. Present computer operations are limited by the coupling capacitance between circuit paths and integrated circuits on multilayer boards since the computing speed between integrated circuits is reduced by this capacitance and the power required to operate is increased.11 If the dielectric constant is reduced a thinner dielectric provides equivalent capacitance, and the ground plane can be moved closer to the line, so that additional lines can be accommodated for the same cross-talk. Thus, the effect of a low dielectric constant will be to increase the speed ofthe signal and improve the density of the packaging, and this will result in improved system performance.2... 

The most important application for bismaleimide resin is multilayer boards. The development in this area requires resins with low dielectric constants. It is well documented in the literature that fluorine containing linear polyimides show lower dielectric constants vis a vis their non-fluorinated counterparts. Recently, Hitachi Research Laboratory, Japan, reported the thermal and dielectric behaviour of fluorine-containing bismaleimides (29). The chemical structures of the fluorinated BMIs investigated are provided in Fig. 6. The non-fluorinated four aromatic rings containing BMI, 4,4 -bis(p-maleimidophenoxyphenyl) propane, was tested in comparison. 

PCB wiring requires high ductility copper, for which both electroless and electrolytic baths have been developed [29, 30], Electroless plating provides good throwing power, hence is suitable for high aspect ratio multilayered boards with densely packed inhomogeneous circuitry. 

Multilayer boards are formed by adding unetched, single-sided laminates on either side of an etched single or multilayer laminate by using an interface of partially cured resin and (usually) glass mats. In the mass-lamination approach, large arrays of boards can be produced, although the technique is usually limited to about ten layers. 

Ordered polymer films made from poly benzthiazole (PBZT) and poly benzoxazole (PBO) can be used as substrates for multilayer printed circuit boards and advanced interconnects to fill the current need for high speed, high density packaging. Foster-Miller, Inc. has made thin substrates (0.002 in.) using biaxially oriented liquid crystal polymer films processed from nematic solutions. PBZT films were processed and laminated to make a substrate with dielectric constant of 2.8 at 1 MHz, and a controllable CTE of 3 to 7 ppm/°C. The films were evaluated for use in multilayer boards (MLBs) which require thin interconnect substrates with uniform controllable coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), excellent dielectric properties, low moisture absorption, high temperature capability, and simple reliable processing methods. We found that ordered polymer films surpass the limitations of fiber reinforced resins and meet the requirements of future chip-to-chip interconnection. 

PBO and PBZT films can be made very thin (less than 0.002 in.) and can be impregnated with secondary resins, resulting in a substrate with a dielectric constant less than 2.8, an isotropic planar CTE of 7 ppm per °C or less, and temperature resistance over 250°C. Copper circuits and ground planes can be added by a variety of additive or substrative means, and multilayer circuit boards can be fabricated using plated through holes. Further development of these thin film dielectric substrates should result in interconnection density over 100 times greater than is currently possible with fiber reinforced epoxy multilayer boards. 

In the early and mid-1960s, multilayer boards arrived on the scene, particularly for military uses, where cost was not an issue the premium was on compactness, weight, and reliability. These boards evolved with advances that occurred in metallizing and photoresist processes. Standards and specifications were prepared for conventional boards in the early 1960s, and in the latter part of that decade for multilayers. Because of migration problems, silver was permanently eliminated as a competitor for copper in metallizing circuit board holes. 

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