This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-98875, filed on May 14, 2015, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The embodiments discussed herein are related to a multilayer board and a method of manufacturing a multilayer board.
With the advance of information processing techniques, developments of multilayer boards in smaller sizes and with higher performances for use in electronic equipment such as servers are now in progress. A typical multilayer board is formed by alternately stacking insulating layers and wiring layers. The vertically adjacent wiring layers are connected to each other by use of conductive vias.
Methods of manufacturing such a multilayer board include a bonding method, a build-up method, and so forth. In any case, however, the wiring and the conductive vias are formed by a plating process. Though the plating process has been well established from a technical perspective, this process needs several hours for forming each wiring layer, thus leading to prolonged production time of the multilayer board. Further, the plating process also has a problem of environmental pollution caused by disposal of a waste plating solution.
To avoid these problems, there are proposed methods of forming wiring and conductive vias without using the plating process.
One of the proposed methods is a method of forming a conductive via by using conductive paste. This method is designed to form the conductive via by filling a via hole in an insulating layer with the conductive paste, and therefore does not use the plating process for forming the conductive via.
Moreover, in order to form wiring on the conductive via, it is preferably to pattern a copper foil on the insulating layer. Accordingly, the plating process is not used for forming the wiring.
It is to be noted that techniques related to this application are disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publications No. 11-204942 and No. 2009-152496.
According to one perspective of a following disclosure, a multilayer board includes: a plurality of insulating layers made of a thermosetting resin and stacked on one another, each insulating layer being provided with a via hole; a plurality of wiring each formed between the insulating layers and including an inclined side surface; and a conductive via made of a cured product of conductive paste filled in the via hole and connecting the vertically adjacent wiring to each other. Here, orientations of the inclined side surfaces are alternately changed from the wiring to the wiring.
The object and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention.
Matters considered by the inventor of this application will be described prior to description of embodiments.
As mentioned previously, in order to reduce production time of a multilayer board and to prevent environmental pollution, it is desired to manufacture wiring and conductive vias without using a plating process.
To manufacture the multilayer board, a single-sided copper-clad base material 3 is first prepared by attaching a copper foil 2 onto one of principal surfaces of an insulating layer 1 as illustrated in
Then, dry film resist 4 in the shape of wiring is attached onto the copper foil 2.
Next, as illustrated in
Since the wet etching progresses isotropically, each side surface 2s of the wiring 2a is inclined as illustrated in a dotted circle. In particular, the etching progresses laterally at a portion near a surface 2b of the wiring 2a to be exposed to an etchant for a longer period. As a consequence, a direction n of a normal line of the side surface 2s is directed obliquely downward.
After the wet etching is completed, the dry film resist 4 is peeled off.
Subsequently, as illustrated in
Next, a process illustrated in
First, each via hole 1a is filled with metal powder which is prepared by blending copper powder, tin powder, and bismuth powder. Here, the metal powder does not contain any binder. Accordingly, the metal powder takes the form of non-viscous powder.
As described above, since the via holes 1a are bottomed in this example, it is possible to prevent the metal powder from running down the via holes 1a without having to provide a special jig for closing the bottoms of the via holes 1a.
Thereafter, conductive vias 6 are formed by heating and alloying the metal powder.
Subsequently, as illustrated in
Here, the copper foil 2 is formed on the entire surface of the lowermost insulating layer 1 by omitting the process of
Then, as illustrated in
Thereafter, the copper foils 2 and 7 are patterned by wet etching and are thus formed into wiring 2a and 7a.
Thus, a basic structure of a multilayer board 9 of this example is obtained.
In this example, since each side surface 2s of the wiring 2a between the insulating layers 1 is inclined due to the process of
Meanwhile, in the above-described method of manufacturing the multilayer board 9, the plating process is not used for forming the wiring 2a or the conductive vias 6. For this reason, as compared to the case of using the plating process, this method may reduce time for forming the wiring 2a and the conductive vias 6, and also prevent environmental pollution caused by disposal of a plating solution.
Moreover, since the via holes 1a are formed into the bottomed shape, it is possible to prevent the metal powder to form the conductive vias 6 from running down the via holes 1a in the process of
Furthermore, since the thermoplastic resin is adopted as the material for the insulating layers 1, it is possible to soften and simultaneously integrate the insulating layers 1 together by the heating as illustrated in
However, the thermoplastic resin tends to have a high dielectric constant and is therefore disadvantageous for speeding up signals flowing on the wiring 2a. For example, a dielectric loss tangent of the liquid crystal polymer used as the material for the insulating layers 1 in this example is as high as about 0.003, which makes it difficult to speed up the signals.
Moreover, in this method, the wiring 2a is formed on one of the principal surfaces of each insulating layer 1 in the process of
Now, an embodiment of the invention will be described below.
In this embodiment, the following measures take place to speed up signals flowing on wiring of a multilayer board.
First, as illustrated in
A thermosetting resin having a lower dielectric loss tangent than that of the thermoplastic resin is available. Such a thermosetting resin is advantageous for speeding up signals flowing on wiring. In this embodiment, epoxy resin having a dielectric loss tangent of about 0.002 is used as the thermosetting resin.
Various additives may be added to the epoxy resin in accordance with electrical characteristics such as the dielectric constant needed in the first insulating layer 20. For example, the dielectric constant of the first insulating layer 20 is further reduced by adding Teflon (registered trademark) to the epoxy resin. Thus, it is possible to further speed up the signals.
Meanwhile, polyphenylene oxide (PPO) or the like may be added to the epoxy resin.
Although a thickness of the first insulating layer 20 is not limited to a particular thickness, the thickness is set in this example in a range from about 30 μm to 100 μm, for instance.
Then, a first metal foil 23 provided with a protection film 22 is disposed on one principal surface 20a side of the first insulating layer 20. The first metal foil 23 is a copper foil, for instance, and has a thickness in a range from about 12 μm to 35 μm.
The protection film 22 has a function to prevent the powdery epoxy resin from scattering from the uncured first insulating layer 20, and also serves as a substitute for a printing plate for filling conductive paste in a later process. Another protection film 22 is provided on the other principal surface 20b side of the first insulating layer 20. In this example, a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) film having a thickness in a range from about 12 μm to 50 μm is used as the protection film 22.
Next, as illustrated in
Thereafter, the first insulating layer 20 is heated with a not-illustrated heater built in the jig 26 while applying a pressure of about 5 kg/cm2 from the jig 26 to the first insulating layer 20.
The heating temperature is set to about 130° C. which is lower than a temperature to bring about complete cross-link of the first insulating layer 20.
By setting the temperature as mentioned above, it is possible to slightly cure the principal surfaces 20a and 20b while leaving the major part of the first insulating layer 20 uncured, and thus to pressure bond the first metal foil 23 and the protection films 22 to the principal surfaces 20a and 20b. Note that the above-described state of the first insulating layer 20 in which the principal surfaces 20a and 20b are cured while the major part of the first insulating layer 20 is left uncured will be hereinafter also referred to as a semi-cured state.
Next, as illustrated in
As an oscillator of the laser beam L, an oscillator of YAG laser or CO2 laser is available, for example. Moreover, an output of the laser beam L is set to such an intensity which does not cause an opening in the first metal foil 23. As a consequence, one open end 20x of each via hole 20v is closed with the first metal foil 23.
Subsequently, as illustrated in
The above-described process for removing the residues is called desmearing.
In this embodiment, since the first insulating layer 20 is in the uncured state as described above, the residues are also in the uncured state which may be easily removed. For this reason, the residues may be removed by conducting a dry process as described above without using an alkaline solution for removing hard residues which are completely thermally cured. As a consequence, it is possible to prevent environmental pollution by the alkaline solution.
Next, as illustrated in
The material for the conductive vias 27 is not limited to a particular material. In this embodiment, the conductive paste for the conductive vias 27 is prepared by kneading the uncured thermosetting resin, copper powder, tin powder, and bismuth powder together.
Meanwhile, the thermosetting resin for the conductive vias 27 is not limited to a particular resin. In this embodiment, thermosetting epoxy resin which is the same as that for the first insulating layer 20 is adopted as the aforementioned thermosetting resin. Thus, the conductive vias 27 stick well to the first insulating layer 20, whereby the conductive vias 27 are less likely to be peeled off the first insulating layer 20.
Furthermore, since the via holes 20v are bottomed, it is possible to prevent the conductive vias 27 in the form of the paste from leaking out of the via holes 20v without having to use a special jig for closing the bottoms of the via holes 20v.
Thereafter, as illustrated in
Here, the epoxy resin in the conductive vias 27 is not yet thermally cured and is therefore in the form of the paste.
Subsequently, as illustrated in
Then, the first metal foil 23, the first insulating layer 20, and the second metal foil 29 are clamped in a vacuum with a jig 31, and the first insulating layer 20 is heated with a not-illustrated heater built in the jig 31 while applying a pressure of about 30 kg/cm2 to the first insulating layer 20.
The heating temperature is set to about 200° C. which is a temperature to bring about complete cross-link of the first insulating layer 20. Thus, the first insulating layer 20 is thermally cured.
Meanwhile, since the thermosetting resin is used as the material for the conductive vias 27 in this embodiment as described above, the conductive vias 27 may also be thermally cured simultaneously with the thermal curing of the first insulating layer 20. Thus, it is possible to omit a process of thermally curing the conductive vias 27 alone.
When the conductive vias 27 are thermally cured by the heating as described above, the materials included in the conductive vias 27, namely, the copper powder, the tin powder, and the bismuth powder are alloyed. Accordingly, the conductive vias 27 are formed of a cured product which includes the alloy of these materials, and the thermosetting resin.
Thereafter, as illustrated in
Then, as illustrated in
According to this method, the wiring 23a and 29a may be formed simultaneously on the principal surfaces 20a and 20b of the first insulating layer 20, respectively. Thus, it is possible to reduce the number of processes as compared to a case of forming the wiring 23a and the wiring 29a separately.
Here, if it is not important to reduce the number of processes, then the metal foil may be left on the entire surface of any of the principal surfaces 20a and 20b of the first insulating layer 20 by forming the dry film resist 32 on the entire surface of any of the first metal foil 23 and the second metal foil 29.
In the meantime, since the wet etching progresses isotropically, each of side surfaces 23s and 29s of the wiring 23a and 29a is inclined with respect to the corresponding principal surface 20a or 20b as illustrated in dotted circles. Directions of inclination are different between the cases of the wiring 23a and the wiring 29a. For example, a direction n1 of a normal line of each side surface 23s is directed obliquely downward in the case of the wiring 23a exposed to an etchant from below, whereas a direction n2 of a normal line of each side surface 29s is directed obliquely upward in the case of the wiring 29a exposed to the etchant from above.
Meanwhile, the wiring 23a is connected to the wiring 29a by using the conductive vias 27. Here, the upper wiring 29a is in contact with entire surfaces of upper surfaces 27x of the conductive vias 27. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce resistance between each conductive via 27 and the wiring 29a. Likewise, since the lower wiring 23a is in contact with entire surfaces of lower surfaces 27y of the conductive vias 27, it is possible to reduce resistance between each conductive via 27 and the wiring 23a as well.
After the wet etching is completed, the dry film resist 32 is peeled off.
Next, a process illustrated in
First, a second insulating layer 33 and a protection film 34 are stacked in this order on the other principal surface 20b of the first insulating layer 20.
The second insulating layer 33 is an uncured thermosetting resin sheet having a thickness in a range from about 30 μm to 100 μm. In this example, the epoxy resin having the same thermosetting property as that of the first insulating layer 20 is used as the material for the second insulating layer 33.
Meanwhile, the protection film 34 has a function to prevent the powdery epoxy resin from scattering from the uncured second insulating layer 33, and also serves as a substitute for a printing plate for filling conductive paste in a later process. The protection film 34 is a PET film having a thickness in a range from about 12 μm to 50 μm, for example.
Then, the second insulating layer 33 is heated with a not-illustrated heater built in a jig 36 while applying a pressure of about 5 kg/cm2 from the jig 36 to the second insulating layer 33. Thus, the second insulating layer 33 is semi-cured, and the first insulating layer 20 and the protection film 34 are pressure bonded to two surfaces of the second insulating layer 33, respectively.
Next, as illustrated in
As with the process of
Subsequently, as illustrated in
As with the process of
Next, as illustrated in
Thereafter, the protection film 34 is peeled off the second insulating layer 33.
Next, as illustrated in
Although the number of stacked layers is not limited to a particular value, the total number of the stacked layers of the first insulating layers 20 and the second insulating layers 33 is set in a range from ten layers to seventy layers in this embodiment.
Here, regarding the lowermost first insulating layer 20, the first metal foil 23 is left on the entire principal surface 20a of the first insulating layer 20 without etching the first metal foil 23 in the process of
Moreover, regarding the uppermost first insulating layer 20, the second metal foil 29 is left on the entire principal surface 20b of the first insulating layer 20 without etching the second metal foil 29 in the process of
Next, as illustrated in
Then, the second insulating layers 33 are heated to a temperature of about 200° C. with a not-illustrated heater built in the jig 40 while applying a pressure of about 30 kg/cm2 from the jig 40 to the first insulating layers 20 and the second insulating layers 33.
Thus, each of the second insulating layers 33 is completely thermally cured, and the second insulating layers 33 and the first insulating layers 20 are pressure bonded to one another. Further, each wiring 23a and the corresponding wiring 29a are connected to each other through the conductive vias 37.
At this time, the first metal foil 23 and the second metal foil 29 are formed on the entire surfaces of the lowermost and uppermost first insulating layers 20, respectively. Thus, the pressure from the jig 40 may be evenly applied to the respective first insulating layers 20 via the metal foils 23 and 29.
Subsequently, as illustrated in
Then, as illustrated in
Next, as illustrated in
Openings 45a are formed in the solder resist 45 on the wiring 23a and 29a, and solder bumps are bonded to the wiring 23a and 29a in the openings 45a in a later process.
Thus, a basic structure of a multilayer board 50 of this embodiment is finished.
In the multilayer board 50, the wiring 23a and 29a is formed simultaneously on the two surfaces of each first insulating layer 20. Accordingly, the directions n1 and n2 of the normal lines of the side surfaces 23s and 29s of the wiring are directed obliquely downward and obliquely upward, respectively. As a consequence, orientations of the side surfaces 23s and 29s of the wiring 23a and 29a are alternately changed.
Meanwhile, according to the above-described embodiment, the plating process is not used for forming the wiring 23a and 29a and the conductive vias 27 and 37. Thus, it is possible to reduce the production time of the multilayer board 50 as compared to the case of using the plating process. In addition, this embodiment does not generate a waste plating solution which would cause environmental pollution.
Furthermore, the thermosetting resin is adopted as the material for the first insulating layers 20 and the second insulating layers 33 of the multilayer board 50. As the thermoplastic resin used therein, a thermosetting resin such as a liquid crystal polymer having a lower dielectric loss tangent than that of a thermoplastic resin is available. Thus, it is possible to speed up signals flowing on the wiring 23a and 29a.
In addition, since the wiring 23a and 29a is formed simultaneously on the two principal surfaces 20a and 20b of each first insulating layer 20 in the process of
In the above-described embodiment, the first insulating layers 20 each provided with the two layers of the wiring 23a and 29a are stacked on one another. As a consequence, the multilayer board 50 includes an even number of layers of the wiring 23a and 29a.
In contrast, this embodiment is configured to manufacture a multilayer board having an odd number of wiring layers as described below.
To form an odd number of wiring layers, a cross-sectional structure illustrated in
However, in this embodiment, the wiring 29a and the second insulating layer 33 are formed on the uppermost first insulating layer 20, and an additional first metal foil 23 is provided on the aforementioned second insulating layer 33.
Thereafter, a basic structure of a multilayer board 51 of this embodiment illustrated in
By providing the additional first metal foil 23 on the uppermost layer as illustrated in
Accordingly, it is possible to supply not only the multilayer board including the even number of layers of the wiring 23a and 29a but also the multilayer board including the odd number of layers of the wiring. Thus, it is possible to respond to a need of a customer who uses an odd number of the wiring layers.
All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for the pedagogical purposes of aiding the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to further the art, and are not to be construed as limitations to such specifically recited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority and inferiority of the invention. Although one or more embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it should be understood that the various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2015-098875 | May 2015 | JP | national |