Advances in integrated circuit (“IC”) packaging techniques allow designers to fabricate IC packages that continue to decrease in size and increase in power density. For such endeavors, fabricating packages comprising more than one die may often prove advantageous, especially if each performs a different function that may be exploited in a particular application.
Electrically coupling multiple dies in an IC package can be accomplished using wirebonds, wherein one or more wires are bonded to two dies, thereby electrically coupling the dies. However, the use of wirebonds may present substantial manufacturing costs. Additionally, to ensure proper functionality, at least some wirebonds may be required to have at least a certain minimum length. This minimum length requirement is problematic to designers trying to decrease IC package size while increasing power density. Furthermore, each wirebond carries some degree of undesirable inductance that may be detrimental to IC performance, particularly in high-speed applications. Alternatives to such wirebonding techniques include soldering flip chips to a lead frame of a package. However, various such alternatives may limit the number of interconnects that may be implemented within a package of a particular size.
The problems noted above are solved in large part by a method for coupling a substrate interconnect to a substrate pad, attaching at least two dies to said substrate interconnect to electrically connect together said dies, and coupling at least one lead to each of the dies.
For a detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:
Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular system components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, various companies may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to. . . . ” Also, the term “couple” or “couples” is intended to mean either an indirect or direct electrical connection. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct electrical connection, or through an indirect electrical connection by way of other devices and connections. Additionally, the terms “die” and “chip” or “dies,” “dice” and “chips” may be used interchangeably.
The following discussion is directed to various embodiments of the invention. Although one or more of these embodiments may be preferred, the embodiments disclosed should not be interpreted, or otherwise used, as limiting the scope of the disclosure, including the claims. In addition, one skilled in the art will understand that the following description has broad application, and the discussion of any embodiment is meant only to be exemplary of that embodiment, and not intended to intimate that the scope of the disclosure, including the claims, is limited to that embodiment.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment, a technique is presented herein in which a substrate is used to interconnect multiple dies in an IC package. IC packages comprising multiple dies may generate a considerable amount of heat. Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention may comprise thermally coupling a heat “slug” to one or more of the dies to enhance heat dissipation.
In at least some embodiments, the inter-die substrate interconnect 204 may comprise one or more active circuits (not shown) that can serve any purpose (i.e., as defined by an IC designer) in the package 198. For example, such an active circuit may comprise a digital input/output circuit. The circuit may also comprise radio frequency passive circuit elements such as inductors, filters, caps, etc. The active circuit also may be used to help isolate a low voltage analog circuit from a high voltage analog circuit. Any accelerometer, magnetic field, or other sensor may be placed on one of the dies 200, 202, and/or the substrate interconnect 204.
Each of the dies 200, 202 also may be coupled to at least one lead 208, 210 and, if desired, additional leads 214, all by way of pads 219. In some embodiments, at least one of a plurality of dies may be independent of any direct connections to any of the leads 208, 210, 214. The IC package 198 of
The IC package 198 may comprise package epoxy 221. The heat slug 212 may be encompassed within the package epoxy 221 or exposed through the package epoxy 221. Because the leads 208, 210, 214 are formed pointing upward (i.e., away from the substrate pad 206 and toward the heat slug 212), the configuration of
In applications requiring heat slugs external to a package (e.g., high power dissipation applications) or heat slugs that radiantly dissipate heat in the package, the leads 208, 210, 214 may be formed pointing downward (i.e., away from the heat slug 212 and toward the substrate pad 206), as shown in
Referring again to
The above discussion is meant to be illustrative of the principles and various embodiments of the present invention. Numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.