NSF Award
9901674
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will focus on the next generation of electronic packaging which requires the replacement of discrete passives with embedded devices to achieve the necessary gains in component density, performance, and cost reductions. Of the three passive components, resistors, inductors, and capacitors, it is capacitors that are used in the highest quantities and have received the smallest amount of integration research. Current capacitive materials for MCM-L substrate lack the dielectric, physical, and chemical properties required for future performance improvements. In the Phase I work, a new polyimide-barium titanate polyamic acid was developed which exhibited an order of magnitude improvement in capacitance, with the ability to form either a positive or negative resist. This Phase II program will qualify this material to compete with current discrete mounted chip capacitors at reduced cost to the circuit board fabricator. Polymer synthesis methods will be fine-tuned to further increase the dielectric constant of the base polyamide. Production level deposition and photo patterning facilities at Sandia National Laboratories will be utilized to determine the ultimate line pattern resolution of the material. To assure compatibility with commercial production processing methods, TPL will work with engineers from Allied Signal Laminate Systems to qualify the new materials to OEM specifications.<br/>The electronics industry is growing 3-4 times faster than global and U.S. gross domestic product. The market for MCM-L containing embedded capacitance is expected to grow at between 20 and 30% annually over the next 10 years. This market is driven by high insertion costs for discrete capacitors (75% of total component cost), need for improved performance, and diminishing board space. Sales of unpopulated circuit board stock are projected to be over $6B for 1998 in the North American market alone. In 8 years time, projections are that 25% of this market will include embedded capacitance at a total of $3-4B annually.
