Design and Characterization of Liquid Metal Flip Chip Interconnections for Heterogeneous Microwave Assemblies

Flip chip interconnections have superior performance for microwave applications compared to wire bond interconnections because of their reduced parasitics, more compact architecture, and flexibility in laying out flip chip bond pads. Reduction in interconnect parasitics enables these interconnects to support broadband signals, therefore increasing the bandwidth capabilities of flip chip-assembled systems. Traditional flip chip designs provide mechanical and electrical connections from a top chip to a carrier substrate with rigid solder joints. For heterogeneous assemblies, flip chip connections suffer from thermo-mechanical failures caused by coefficient of thermal expansion mismatches. As an alternative, flexible flip chip interconnections incorporating a metal, which is liquid at room temperature, mitigates the possibility of such thermo-mechanical failures. Additionally, liquid metal, flip chip interconnections allow for room temperature assembly, simplifying assembly and rework processes. This dissertation focuses on the design and characterization of liquid metal interconnections, specifically using Galinstan, an alloy of gallium indium and tin, for the heterogeneous assembly of active monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) onto a CTE mismatched substrate. Carrier substrates designed for liquid metal transitions were fabricated on high resistivity Si and on three dimensional copper structures. The three dimensional copper structures were fabricated in the PolyStrata™ process. Individual MMIC chips were post-processed to mate with carrier substrates in a liquid metal, flip chip configuration. S-parameter measurements of prototype MMIC assemblies with liquid metal, flip chip interconnections showed an average transition loss of 0.7dB over the MMIC's frequency of operation (4.9 - 8.5 GHz). Passive assemblies were also fabricated to characterize the power and temperature performance of liquid metal transitions. Liquid metal interconnections show excellent power handling, maintaining consistent RF performance while transmitting 100W of continuous wave power for an hour. Liquid metal interconnections were also tested following 200 temperature cycles over the -140°C – 125°C range. A comparison of S parameter measurements taken before and after temperature cycling, over a frequency range of 10MHz - 40GHz showed no significant changes in performance. These passive assemblies were also used to develop a lumped element model of the interconnection which is useful for the verification the interconnection\'s performance and for comparison of liquid metal interconnection parasitic to wire bond and flip chip interconnect parasitics. The experimental results presented in this dissertation confirm that liquid metal interconnect are viable for wider use in military and commercial applications. In the future, additional environmental testing and further refinement of the processing flow, such as improved contact metallurgy, are needed to make this interconnect approach more viable for large volume manufacturing.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical Engineering

Department dc:contributor.department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Ralston, Parrish Elaine

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Raman, Sanjay

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Orlowski, Mariusz Kriysztof
• Agah, Masoud
• Bostian, Charles W.
• Paul, Mark R.

• liquid metal
• electronics packaging
• flip chip
• 3D integration
• MMIC integration

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:24

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/50641