Electronic assembly with detachable components

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for assembling an electronic assembly using an anisotropic conducting membrane (ACM) as a component interconnect and a substrate embossed with placement cavities or a positional fixture to facilitate component placement on the substrate in the electronic assembly. The fixture may comprise multiple layers of interconnects to improve routing density for the electronic assembly enclosed in a housing. An alignment chain may be used to monitor positional and contact integrity of the ACM interfaced components in a complex assembly. The systems and methods allow components to be detached for reuse. Interconnection elements or conduction pathways at the components can be used to interconnect a plurality of neighboring substrates over the ACM layers into a stacked electronic assembly.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrate a set of alignment marks at a component coupled to a set of reference marks on a substrate with auxiliary conduction pathways, in an exemplary implementation;

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary implementation of an alignment chain linking two components on a substrate using anisotropic conducting membrane as an interconnect layer;

FIG. 3 is depicts an enclosed electronic assembly comprising an alignment chain, in an exemplary implementation of the invention;

FIG. 4A depicts a profile of an exemplary electronic assembly using a fixture to assemble components on a substrate enclosed in a housing;

FIG. 4B depicts a top view of an exemplary fixture comprising interconnection traces and coupled to a substrate underneath;

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary electronic assembly of a memory module, where a fixture is attached to a substrate to hold the ACM interfaced components in place enclosed in a housing;

FIG. 6 depicts a top view of a memory module including a fixture, components, an alignment chain, and an external interface enclosed in a clamshell according to an exemplary implementation of the invention;

FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart of an exemplary method for assembling ACM laminated components on a substrate embossed with placement cavities in an exemplary assembly enclosed in a housing;

FIG. 8 depicts a flowchart of an exemplary method for assembling an electronic assembly using ACP and ACM combined techniques; and

FIG. 9 depicts an exemplary stacked assembly comprising multiple MFSs in a cascade.

Claims

1. An electronic assembly, comprising: a component comprising a contact array for external interfacing;a substrate comprising a set of land patterns configured to match the contact array of the component; andan anisotropic conducting material (ACM) layer configured to electrically couple the component to the substrate.

2. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the component further comprises a set of conductive pads coupled to the contact array, the conductive pad coupled to a conductive pathway configured to conduct a signal from one surface region to another surface region of the component.

3. The electronic assembly of claim 2 wherein the conductive pad is further coupled to a sensing device at the component.

4. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the substrate further comprises a set of conductive pads coupled to the set of land patterns on the substrate.

5. The electronic assembly of claim 4, wherein a conductive pad of the substrate is coupled to a conductive pad on the component to monitor placement integrity of the contact array of the component over the ACM layer on the land pattern at the substrate, where the conductive pad on the component is an alignment mark and the conductive pad on the substrate is a reference mark.

6. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the contact array is a set of conductive pads on the component for external interfacing.

7. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the ACM layer is laminated on the component and is configured to allow the component to be detached from the substrate.

8. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the ACM is laminated on a surface region of the substrate.

9. The electronic assembly of claim 1 further comprising at least one thermal membrane configured to provide thermal dissipation for the component.

10. The electronic assembly of claim 1 further comprising an alignment chain coupling the conductive pads of a group of components with matching conductive pads of the substrate over the ACM layer in a serial continuous conductive path.

11. The electronic assembly of claim 10, wherein the group of components can be further divided into a number of smaller groups of components to form multiple alignment chains in the electronic assembly.

12. The electronic assembly of claim 10, wherein the alignment chain is configured to diagnose positional and conduction status for the group of components on the substrate over the ACM layer.

13. The electronic assembly of claim 10 further comprising a set of access regions for monitoring integrity of the alignment chain.

14. The electronic assembly of claim 1 further comprising a protective structure configured to hold the component in place on the substrate.

15. The electronic assembly of claim 14, wherein the protective structure comprises one or more covers having an inner surface configured to match a height profile for the component placed on the substrate.

16. The electronic assembly of claim 14, wherein the protective structure comprises a housing to hold the component and the substrate in place, the housing comprising: a top cover comprising a set of top notch; anda bottom cover comprising a set of bottom notch, the bottom notch configured to couple to the top notch to hold the housing together.

17. The electronic assembly of claim 14, wherein the protective structure comprises a clamshell housing for holding the component and the substrate, the clamshell housing comprising: a top plate coupled to a top notch;a bottom plate coupled to a bottom notch, the bottom notch configured to be coupled with the top notch; anda clamp configured to be applied to hold the top plate and the bottom plate together.

18. The electronic assembly of claim 1, further comprising at least one fixture configured to facilitate placement of the component using an anisotropic conducting membrane as an interface layer.

19. The electronic assembly of claim 18, wherein the fixture comprises a plurality of openings matching a physical outline of the component being placed on the substrate.

20. The electronic assembly of claim 18, wherein the fixture comprises one or more interconnect layers with interconnect circuitry to facilitate routing of signals between the component and the substrate.

21. The electronic assembly of claim 18, wherein the fixture comprises a plurality of embedded passive components.

22. The electronic assembly of claim 8, wherein the fixture is embossed on a surface of the substrate.

23. The electronic assembly of claim 18, wherein the fixture is coupled onto a surface of the substrate by an anisotropic conductive membrane.

24. The electronic assembly of claim 18, wherein the fixture is coupled and cured onto a surface of the substrate by an anisotropic conductive paste.

25. The electronic assembly of claim 18, wherein the fixture is soldered onto a surface of the substrate by a solder paste.

26. The electronic assembly of claim 18, wherein the fixture is mechanically coupled to an aligning surface of the substrate by incorporating a set of mounting holes to match a set of mounting cylinders to hold the fixture in place on the substrate.

27. The electronic assembly of claim 18, wherein the fixture is mechanically coupled to an aligning surface of the substrate by incorporating an indent at a surface of the substrate to hold the fixture in place on the substrate.

28. The electronic assembly of claim 18, wherein the fixture comprises a set of conductive pads configured to align with a set of conductive pads at the substrate for detecting placement integrity of the fixture on the substrate.

29. The electronic assembly of claim 28, further comprising an alignment chain coupling the conductive pads coupled to conductive pathways at the fixture with the conductive pads coupled to conductive pathways at the substrate over an anisotropic conductive material.

30. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the electronic assembly is a memory module, comprising: one or more memory devices on the substrate, wherein the memory devices receive signals over a memory bus for accessing the one or more memory devices;at least one fixture (comprising a set of openings) configured to position the one or more memory devices on the substrate using an anisotropic conducting material as an interface layer; anda protective structure to hold the one or more memory devices on the substrate.

31. The electronic assembly of claim 30, further comprising one or more logic devices that receive control signals over a memory bus for access the one or more logic devices.

32. The electronic assembly of claim 30, wherein the memory devices are selected from one of the followings: dynamic random access memory device;static random access memory device;flash memory device;electric erasable programmable memory device;programmable logic device;ferromagnetic memory devices; andany combination of above.

33. The electronic assembly of claim 30, further comprising an alignment chain of for diagnosing the placement integrity of the memory devices.

34. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the component may comprise a plurality of components.

35. The electronic assembly of claim 34, wherein components of the plurality of components may be positioned on one or more surfaces of the substrate.

36. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises a plurality of substrates.

37. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the ACM layer comprises an anisotropic conducting membrane.

38. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the ACM layer comprises an anisotropic conducting paste.

39. A method for assembling an electronic assembly, comprising: coupling an anisotropic conducting material (ACM) layer onto a surface of a substrate; andpositioning a component over the ACM layer such that a contact array of the component is in alignment with a corresponding land pattern on the substrate to form the electronic assembly.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising placing a thermal membrane on top of the component to dissipate heat and to provide mechanic support for the component on the substrate within a protective structure.

41. The method of claim 39 further comprising housing the electronic assembly within a protective structure.

42. The method of claim 39 further comprising testing the electronic assembly to determine if the component and substrate are properly aligned.

43. The method of claim 42 further comprising repositioning the component if the component and substrate are not properly aligned.

44. The method of claim 39 further comprising aligning and coupling a fixture to the substrate.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein the aligning comprises aligning at least one alignment mark of the fixture to at least one reference mark of the substrate.

46. The method of claim 44 wherein the aligning comprises aligning at least one mounting hole of the fixture to at least one mounting cylinder of the substrate.

47. The method of claim 44 wherein the coupling comprises curing and press heating the fixture to the substrate.

48. The method of claim 39 wherein positioning the component comprises aligning at least one alignment mark of the component with at least one reference mark of the substrate.

49. An electronic assembly, comprising: an anisotropic conducting material (ACM) layer coupled onto a surface of a substrate; andmeans for positioning a component over the ACM layer such that a contact array of the component is in alignment with a corresponding land pattern on the substrate in the electronic assembly.

50. An electronic assembly in a stacked configuration, comprising: a plurality of substrates;a plurality of fixtures comprising placement openings;a plurality of ACM membranes; anda plurality of ACM interconnected components at the placement openings.

51. The electronic assembly of claim 50, wherein the ACM membrane, the substrate, the fixture, and the ACM interconnected components placed at the placement openings of the fixture form a MFS (Membrane-Fixture-Substrate) building block, and are configured so that a plurality of MFS building blocks are stacked in cascade coupled with interconnect elements.

52. The electronic assembly of claim 51, wherein the interconnect element is a conduction pathway connecting from a top surface to a bottom surface of the component.

53. The electronic assembly of claim 51, wherein the interconnect element is a planner passive comprising a set of conduction pathways connecting from a top surface to a bottom surface of the planner passive.