Patent Application
20230317536
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of package assemblies, and in particular package assemblies that include multiple dies within a mold material.
Continued reduction in end product size of mobile electronic devices such as smart phones and ultrabooks is a driving force for the development of reduced size system in package components.
Embodiments of the present disclosure may generally relate to systems, apparatus, and/or processes directed to packages that include multiple dies within the package, and in embodiments where those multiple dies are coupled with one or more bridges within the package. The package may be fully or partially encapsulated with a mold material, with one or more grooves in the mold material to reduce failure in the package during operation. In embodiments, the package may have any number or configuration of components. Embodiments may not be limited to grooves in the molded portion of a package, but may also include groves in a side of a substrate, a dielectric layer, a mold layer, and/or any other component or material in a package.
In embodiments, the grooves in the mold material of the package may also be referred to as slots or cuts. In embodiments, the grooves facilitate greater flexibility within the body of the package as it experiences thermo-mechanical stress during operation. The greater flexibility of the package will reduce stresses that may be placed on internal components of the package, such as but not limited to, chips or bridges, as well as stresses that may be placed on interconnects of the package that are coupled to a substrate. These stresses would otherwise not be mitigated in a legacy rigid body package.
Legacy packages integrating more functions within the package to, in part, achieve more affordable costs. As a result, previous monolithic die integration approaches are now moving towards a disaggregation approach, where smaller dies are connected with bridges within a package. This trend, however, is leading to packages that have a greater footprint, which creates more challenges during production and assembly of these larger packages. For example, the challenges of these legacy packages may be due to thermal-mechanical stress during the lifetime of the package operation. In addition, warpage of the package may be caused by using multiple materials, for example silicon dies, dielectric, and substrates, that have different coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) that introduce different stresses during operation.
These legacy packages, in comparison to a monolithic system-on-a-chip, are built as chiplets using multiple dies, or may be built with fan-out technology, and often in combination with a silicon interposer, a redistribution layer (RDL) interposer, and/or substrates. Due to the rigidness of buildups of these legacy packages, they are highly sensitive to warpage at a later assembly process. In addition, they are also at risk of cracking during the assembly process, as well as during operation. Legacy approaches to mitigate this warpage include using thicker dies, larger pads or solder bump dimensions on interconnects, and/or using special materials within the package, such as a special molding compounds. As a result, with these legacy packages, failures on interfaces within and on the outside of the package will occur. Cracks within the package and through different layers may be introduced, as well as line damage within the package.
Legacy package manufacturing techniques may include using expensive non-reusable carrier systems to reduce warpage. In addition, extensive development time is being spent on designing optimized stack up of materials within the package to improve a total CTE in order to avoid built-in stress and pre-tensions within the package. These legacy optimizations result in higher package costs and/or higher time to market. These limitations in legacy implementations particularly regarding warpage within buildups prevent an increase in the size of packages. These limitations also restrict using the package in harsher environmental conditions that may exacerbate strain or stress within the package.
In embodiments described herein, the rigidness and stability of a package is modified so that the package can experience a greater degree of flexibility and thus can be bent and internal package stress can be reduced. In embodiments, this flexibility may be accomplished by grooving, or slotting, a side of the package using mechanical sawing techniques and/or laser grooving techniques to reduce the rigidness of the package and to subsequently reduce the warpage of the package, for example during board assembly.
In embodiments, the grooves may take a number of different shapes and dimensions. In non-limiting embodiments, the grooves may be formed as a continuous line, as dashed and/or dotted lines, or as a sequence of dot shapes when viewed top-down. In addition, the width and/or depth of the grooves may be varied depending upon the architecture of the package or the architecture of various components within the package.
In embodiments, during the mechanical sawing phase, the dies and/or bridges within the package may be protected with additional metal layers within the package. In embodiments, the grooves may be filled with various types of material to create additional electrical contacts and/or electrical contact areas, for example to provide a power supply to components within the package. Other material may be used to provide electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding for components within the package, or to provide thermal isolation between dies or other components within the package.
In embodiments, because the overall package structure is more flexible, the built-in stress and the risk of package cracks is reduced. In addition, due to the resulting lower warpage of the package, stress on interconnects, such as the stress on solder balls and the risk of solder ball fatigue, is reduced. Embodiments will increase the robustness and longevity of the package.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout, and in which is shown by way of illustration embodiments in which the subject matter of the present disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of embodiments is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A and/or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A, B, and/or C” means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C).
The description may use perspective-based descriptions such as top/bottom, in/out, over/under, and the like. Such descriptions are merely used to facilitate the discussion and are not intended to restrict the application of embodiments described herein to any particular orientation.
The description may use the phrases “in an embodiment,” or “in embodiments,” which may each refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the present disclosure, are synonymous.
The term “coupled with,” along with its derivatives, may be used herein. “Coupled” may mean one or more of the following. “Coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact. However, “coupled” may also mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other, but yet still cooperate or interact with each other, and may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact.
Various operations may be described as multiple discrete operations in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the claimed subject matter. However, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent.
As used herein, the term “module” may refer to, be part of, or include an ASIC, an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality.
Various Figures herein may depict one or more layers of one or more package assemblies. The layers depicted herein are depicted as examples of relative positions of the layers of the different package assemblies. The layers are depicted for the purposes of explanation, and are not drawn to scale. Therefore, comparative sizes of layers should not be assumed from the Figures, and sizes, thicknesses, or dimensions may be assumed for some embodiments only where specifically indicated or discussed.
Legacy package 100a may be coupled with the substrate 110 via interconnect 112. In implementations, the interconnect 112 may be a solder interconnect. The interconnect 112 may be electrically and physically coupled with the dies 102 by way of copper pillars 114, that may connect with the dies 102 using a pad 116. In implementations, the bridge 104 may be electrically and/or physically coupled with the dies 102 by copper pillars 118 that may connect with the dies 102 using a pad 120.
Note that with legacy package 100a, an overall width of the package 122 may be quite large, and areas of the package 124 may extend beyond the interconnect 112. In addition, internal areas of the package 126 may extend between gaps in the interconnect 112. During manufacturing and/or operation of the legacy package 100a, different CTEs of different components of the legacy package 100a, for example the dies 102, the bridge 104, and/or the copper pillars 114, 118, may cause internal stresses within the package. In addition, stresses and/or deformation that occur within the substrate 110 may put added stress on the interconnect 112, and may cause stress fracture decoupling, or solder fatigue, at locations 112a, 112b. This may occur, for example, if the mold material 106 is too rigid and is not able to partially deform with any deformation 110a of the substrate 110.
Legacy package 100b is a perspective view of a package that may be similar to legacy package 100a, with a plurality of dies 102, which may be referred to as chiplets, coupled with bridges 104 that are within a mold material 106 on a substrate 107. In embodiments, the plurality of dies 102 may be part of a multi-die fanout stack up (not shown). Note that the mold material 106 in legacy package 100b is shown as transparent. In some implementations, substrate 107 may be similar to substrate 110 of legacy package 100a. Legacy package 100c is a cross section side view of a portion of legacy package 100b. Although legacy package 100b shows just four dies 102, it should be appreciated that other legacy packages may contain substantially more dies and have a substantially larger footprint. As the footprint of such legacy packages grow, the issue of strain and stress within the legacy package, as well as with interconnects such as interconnects 112 that couple the legacy package to a substrate 110, will greatly increase.
In embodiments, grooves 230, 232 may be formed in the mold material 206. In embodiments, the grooves 230, 232 may be referred to as slots. In embodiments, the grooves 230, 232 may be of an arbitrary width and may have an arbitrary or variable depth. In addition, as shown, the groove 232 of package 200a1, a cross-section side view of package 200a, has a rectangular shape. However, in other embodiments, the groove 232 may another shape, such as trapezoidal, curved, or any other shape.
As shown, the grooves 230, 232 are substantially perpendicular to each other and are placed between one or more of the dies 202. In addition, groove 232 is shown as extending down toward and proximate to a surface of the bridge 204. In other embodiments, not shown, the grooves 230, 232 may be placed at other locations within the mold material 206, and do not have to be perpendicular to each other. In embodiments, the grooves 230, 232 do not need to be in a straight line, nor do they need to run continuously from edge of the mold material 206 to another edge of the mold material 206.
In embodiments, grooves 332, 334 may be formed into the mold material 306 between the dies 302. As shown in package 300b, a top-down view of package 300a, a groove 320 is formed that is substantially perpendicular to grooves 332, 334. In embodiments, the grooves 320, 332, 334 may be sawn, or may be laser drilled. In this embodiment, groove 332 is sawn from a top edge of the mold material 306 down to a location proximate to the bridge 304a. Groove 334 is sawn from a top edge of the mold material 306 down to a surface of the bridge 304b and exposing the surface of the bridge 304b. In some embodiments, groove 334 may extend partially into the bridge 304b. In subsequent steps, the groove 334 may be filled with an electrically conductive material (not shown) that electrically couples with the bridge 304b. In embodiments the electrical coupling may provide power to the bridge 304b.
Note that in embodiments, a protector 462 may be coupled with a side of the bridge 404. The protector 462 may be subsequently used to protect the bridge 404 from damage when grooves, for example grooves 320, 332, 334 of
Diagram 506 shows grooves implemented as a series of dotted lines, which may be similar to vias. Diagram 508 shows grooves implemented in multiple lines, for example in side-by-side columns of dotted lines. It should be appreciated that these are a very small sample of the broad range of groove shapes and characteristics that may be used in various embodiments. In addition grooves themselves may be not linear, but may be curved, S shaped, or may have some other complex pattern. In addition, the grooves may have varying widths and/or varying depths. Also, the grooves may be positioned anywhere within a package or within a the mold material of the package, and not necessarily between any particular components, for example between dies, or above a bridge.
At block 702, the process may include providing a plurality of dies. In embodiments, the plurality of dies may be similar to dies 202 of
At block 704, the process may further include at least partially encapsulating the plurality of dies in a mold material. In embodiments, the mold material may be similar to mold material 206 of
At block 706, the process may further include forming one or more grooves in the mold material, the one or more grooves extending from a first side of the mold material toward a second side of the mold material opposite the first side of the mold material. In embodiments, the grooves may be similar to grooves 230, 232 of
It should be appreciated that although process 800 refers to a mold material, a substrate, a dielectric, or any other physical feature that may be part of a package may have one or more grooves cut within it to provide flexibility for the package.
In an embodiment, the electronic system 800 is a computer system that includes a system bus 820 to electrically couple the various components of the electronic system 800. The system bus 820 is a single bus or any combination of busses according to various embodiments. The electronic system 800 includes a voltage source 830 that provides power to the integrated circuit 810. In some embodiments, the voltage source 830 supplies current to the integrated circuit 810 through the system bus 820.
The integrated circuit 810 is electrically coupled to the system bus 820 and includes any circuit, or combination of circuits according to an embodiment. In an embodiment, the integrated circuit 810 includes a processor 812 that can be of any type. As used herein, the processor 812 may mean any type of circuit such as, but not limited to, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a graphics processor, a digital signal processor, or another processor. In an embodiment, the processor 812 includes, or is coupled with, a grooved package, as disclosed herein. In an embodiment, SRAM embodiments are found in memory caches of the processor. Other types of circuits that can be included in the integrated circuit 810 are a custom circuit or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), such as a communications circuit 814 for use in wireless devices such as cellular telephones, smart phones, pagers, portable computers, two-way radios, and similar electronic systems, or a communications circuit for servers. In an embodiment, the integrated circuit 810 includes on-die memory 816 such as static random-access memory (SRAM). In an embodiment, the integrated circuit 810 includes embedded on-die memory 816 such as embedded dynamic random-access memory (eDRAM).
In an embodiment, the integrated circuit 810 is complemented with a subsequent integrated circuit 811. Useful embodiments include a dual processor 813 and a dual communications circuit 815 and dual on-die memory 817 such as SRAM. In an embodiment, the dual integrated circuit 810 includes embedded on-die memory 817 such as eDRAM.
In an embodiment, the electronic system 800 also includes an external memory 840 that in turn may include one or more memory elements suitable to the particular application, such as a main memory 842 in the form of RAM, one or more hard drives 844, and/or one or more drives that handle removable media 846, such as diskettes, compact disks (CDs), digital variable disks (DVDs), flash memory drives, and other removable media known in the art. The external memory 840 may also be embedded memory 848 such as the first die in a die stack, according to an embodiment.
In an embodiment, the electronic system 800 also includes a display device 850, an audio output 860. In an embodiment, the electronic system 800 includes an input device such as a controller 870 that may be a keyboard, mouse, trackball, game controller, microphone, voice-recognition device, or any other input device that inputs information into the electronic system 800. In an embodiment, an input device 870 is a camera. In an embodiment, an input device 870 is a digital sound recorder. In an embodiment, an input device 870 is a camera and a digital sound recorder.
As shown herein, the integrated circuit 810 can be implemented in a number of different embodiments, including a package substrate having a grooved package, according to any of the several disclosed embodiments and their equivalents, an electronic system, a computer system, one or more methods of fabricating an integrated circuit, and one or more methods of fabricating an electronic assembly that includes a package substrate having a grooved package, according to any of the several disclosed embodiments as set forth herein in the various embodiments and their art-recognized equivalents. The elements, materials, geometries, dimensions, and sequence of operations can all be varied to suit particular I/O coupling requirements including array contact count, array contact configuration for a microelectronic die embedded in a processor mounting substrate according to any of the several disclosed package substrates having a grooved package embodiments and their equivalents. A foundation substrate may be included, as represented by the dashed line of
The following paragraphs describe examples of various embodiments.
Example 1 is a package comprising: a first die and a second die; a mold material surrounding a first die and a second die; and a groove in the mold material, the groove extending from a first side of the mold material toward a second side of the mold material opposite the first side.
Example 2 may include the package of example 1, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein the first die and the second die are in a first plane, and wherein at least a portion of the groove is between the first die and the second die with respect to a second plane that is perpendicular to the first plane.
Example 3 may include the package of example 2, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein the at least a portion of the groove is between the first die in the second die.
Example 4 may include the package of example 2, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, further comprising a component that physically and electrically couples with the first die and with the second die.
Example 5 may include the package of example 4, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein the component is a bridge.
Example 6 may include the package of example 4, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein the at least a portion of the groove extends from the first side of the mold material to a location proximate to a surface of the component.
Example 7 may include the package of example 4, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein the groove is filled with a selected one or more of: a dielectric, a thermal conductor, a thermal insulator, or an electromagnetic insulator.
Example 8 may include the package of example 4, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein the at least a portion of the groove extends from the first side of the mold material to the component, wherein the groove is at least partially filled with an electrically conductive material, wherein the electrically conductive material is electrically coupled with the component.
Example 9 may include the package of example 4, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein the groove extends from a first edge of the mold material to a second edge of the mold material, wherein the first edge of the mold material and the second edge of the mold material are substantially perpendicular to the first side of the mold material.
Example 10 may include the package of example 1, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein the groove may be a selected one or more of: a continuous trench or an intermittent trench.
Example 11 may include the package of example 1, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein the first die and/or the second die are electrically coupled with one or more solder balls at a side of the package.
Example 12 is a package comprising: a plurality of dies; a mold material surrounding the plurality of dies; a plurality of grooves in the mold material, each of the plurality of grooves extending from a first side of the mold material toward a second side of the mold material opposite the first side; and wherein each of the plurality of grooves at least partially separate a first of the plurality of dies from a second of the plurality of dies.
Example 13 may include the package of example 12, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein the plurality of dies are in substantially a same plane.
Example 14 may include the package of example 12, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, further comprising one or more bridges that are electrically and physically coupled with at least a subset of the plurality of dies, wherein the one or more bridges are within the mold material.
Example 15 may include the package of example 14, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein at least some of the plurality of grooves extend from the first side of the mold material to a location proximate to a surface of at least one of the one or more bridges.
Example 16 may include the package of example 14, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein at least some of the plurality of grooves extend from the first side of the mold material to a surface of at least one of the one or more bridges.
Example 17 may include the package of example 16, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, further comprising an electrically conductive material within the at least some of the plurality of grooves, wherein the electrically conductive material electrically couples with the at least one of the one or more bridges.
Example 18 may include the package of example 12, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein at least some of the plurality of grooves are substantially perpendicular to each other.
Example 19 may include the package of example 12, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein the plurality of grooves include a first portion of the plurality of grooves is a continuous trench, and a second portion of the plurality of grooves is an intermittent trench.
Example 20 may include the package of example 12, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein at least some of the plurality of grooves are not linear, with respect to a plane of the first side of the mold material.
Example 21 may include the package of example 12, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein the plurality of grooves are located based upon an arrangement of the plurality of dies within the mold material.
Example 22 is a method comprising: providing a plurality of dies; at least partially encapsulating the plurality of dies in a mold material; and forming one or more grooves in the mold material, the one or more grooves extending from a first side of the mold material toward a second side of the mold material opposite the first side of the mold material.
Example 23 may include the method of example 22, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, further comprising filling the formed one or more grooves with a material.
Example 24 may include the method of example 22, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein after the step of providing a plurality of dies, further comprising physically and electrically coupling one or more bridges to at least some of the plurality of dies; and wherein forming one or more grooves in the mold material further comprises forming one or more grooves in the mold material, wherein at least a portion of the formed one or more grooves is between a first die in a second die of the plurality of dies, and wherein the at least a portion of the formed one or more grooves is above at least one of the one or more bridges.
Example 25 may include the method of example 22, or of any other example or embodiment described herein, wherein forming one or more grooves in the mold material further includes forming one or more grooves in the mold material using a selected one or more of: sawing or laser grooving.
Various embodiments may include any suitable combination of the above-described embodiments including alternative (or) embodiments of embodiments that are described in conjunctive form (and) above (e.g., the “and” may be “and/or”). Furthermore, some embodiments may include one or more articles of manufacture (e.g., non-transitory computer-readable media) having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed result in actions of any of the above-described embodiments. Moreover, some embodiments may include apparatuses or systems having any suitable means for carrying out the various operations of the above-described embodiments.
The above description of illustrated embodiments, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. While specific embodiments are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the embodiments, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize.
These modifications may be made to the embodiments in light of the above detailed description. The terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the embodiments to the specific implementations disclosed in the specification and the claims. Rather, the scope of the invention is to be determined entirely by the following claims, which are to be construed in accordance with established doctrines of claim interpretation.
