Patent Application
20080157343
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to the field of integrated circuit packages and, more particularly, to a ceramic interposer with silicon voltage regulator and array capacitor combination for integrated circuit packages.
Silicon voltage regulators are being incorporated into integrated circuit (IC) packages as a way to improve power delivery to the IC device(s). However, the testing and assembly of conventional IC packages are burdensome in that the voltage regulator(s) is/are typically attached to a sub-assembly for electrical testing and then reworked to be removed from the sub-assembly and attached to the IC package substrate. Additionally, accommodations need to be made for bulk decoupling to ensure optimal performance.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements, and in which:
In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the invention can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the invention.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
Ceramic interposer 102 represents a bowl shaped interposer containing conductive traces. In one embodiment, ceramic interposer 102 electrically couples silicon voltage regulators 104, small pitch devices on interposer top surface 116, with array capacitors 106, larger pitch components on interposer bottom surface 108.
Silicon voltage regulators 104 represent integrated circuits that convert an input voltage to one or more output voltages. Silicon voltage regulators 104 can be controlled and adjusted by input signals. In one embodiment, there are a plurality of voltage input and output contacts on silicon voltage regulators 104 to provide adequate current. In one embodiment, there are a plurality of voltage input and output contacts on silicon voltage regulators 104 to deliver power in multiple phases.
Array capacitors 106 represents tiles containing many layers of conductive plates to store charge. One skilled in the art would appreciate that array capacitors 106 may be useful to decouple power to and from silicon voltage regulators 104.
Interposer 102 may have one or more walls 110 to provide mechanical support and trace routing. In one embodiment, control signals to silicon voltage regulator 104 are routed through wall(s) 110. Lip contacts 112 and array capacitor contacts 114 are substantially flush to each other and allow sub-assembly 100 to be coupled with a test socket for electrical testing and/or burn-in testing before being attached to a substrate of an IC package.
Ceramic substrate 302 represents dielectric material containing electrical traces, not shown, for power and data transmission to and from IC dice 306.
Package connections 304 provide an interface between IC package 300 and other components, for example through a socket. In one embodiment, control signals for silicon voltage regulators of sub-assembly 100 are routed through package connections 304 to lip contacts 112 while power and ground are routed through package connections 304 to array capacitor contacts 114.
IC Dice 306 may represent any type of integrated circuit device or devices that would benefit from having voltage regulation at the package substrate, for example multi-core processors.
Processor(s) 402 may represent any of a wide variety of control logic including, but not limited to one or more of a microprocessor, a programmable logic device (PLD), programmable logic array (PLA), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a microcontroller, and the like, although the present invention is not limited in this respect. In one embodiment, processors(s) 402 are Intel® processors. Processor(s) 402 may have an instruction set containing a plurality of machine level instructions that may be invoked, for example by an application or operating system.
Memory controller 404 may represent any type of chipset or control logic that interfaces system memory 406 with the other components of electronic appliance 400. In one embodiment, the connection between processor(s) 402 and memory controller 404 may be referred to as a front-side bus. In another embodiment, memory controller 404 may be referred to as a north bridge.
System memory 406 may represent any type of memory device(s) used to store data and instructions that may have been or will be used by processor(s) 402. Typically, though the invention is not limited in this respect, system memory 406 will consist of dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In one embodiment, system memory 406 may consist of Rambus DRAM (RDRAM). In another embodiment, system memory 406 may consist of double data rate synchronous DRAM (DDRSDRAM).
Input/output (I/O) controller 408 may represent any type of chipset or control logic that interfaces I/O device(s) 412 with the other components of electronic appliance 400. In one embodiment, I/O controller 408 may be referred to as a south bridge. In another embodiment, I/O controller 408 may comply with the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express™ Base Specification, Revision 1.0a, PCI Special Interest Group, released Apr. 15, 2003.
Network controller 410 may represent any type of device that allows electronic appliance 400 to communicate with other electronic appliances or devices. In one embodiment, network controller 410 may comply with a The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) 802.11b standard (approved Sep. 16, 1999, supplement to ANSI/IEEE Std 802.11, 1999 Edition). In another embodiment, network controller 410 may be an Ethernet network interface card.
Input/output (I/O) device(s) 412 may represent any type of device, peripheral or component that provides input to or processes output from electronic appliance 400.
In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form.
Many of the methods are described in their most basic form but operations can be added to or deleted from any of the methods and information can be added or subtracted from any of the described messages without departing from the basic scope of the present invention. Any number of variations of the inventive concept is anticipated within the scope and spirit of the present invention. In this regard, the particular illustrated example embodiments are not provided to limit the invention but merely to illustrate it. Thus, the scope of the present invention is not to be determined by the specific examples provided above but only by the plain language of the following claims.
