System disruptions
We are currently experiencing disruptions on the search portals due to high traffic. We are working to resolve the issue, you may temporarily encounter an error message.
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Fabrication Process for On-Board Geometries Using a Polymer Composite-Based Selective Metallization for Next-Generation Electronics Packaging
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering, Embedded Internet Systems Lab. Department of Information Technology & Electrical Engineering, University of Oulu, 90570 Oulu, Finland.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8774-9433
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering, Embedded Internet Systems Lab.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6055-3198
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering, Embedded Internet Systems Lab.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4133-3317
2021 (English)In: Processes, ISSN 2227-9717, Vol. 9, no 9, article id 1634Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Advancements in production techniques in PCB manufacturing industries are still required as compared to silicon-ICs fabrications. One of the concerned areas in PCBs fabrication is the use of conventional methodologies for metallization. Most of the manufacturers are still using the traditional Copper (Cu) laminates on the base substrate and patterning the structures using lithography processes. As a result, significant amounts of metallic parts are etched away during any mass production process, causing unnecessary disposables leading to pollution. In this work, a new approach for Cu metallization is demonstrated with considerable step-reducing pattern-transfer mechanism. In the fabrication steps, a seed layer of covalent bonded metallization (CBM) chemistry on top of a dielectric epoxy resin is polymerized using actinic radiation intensity of a 375 nm UV laser source. The proposed method is capable of patterning any desirable geometries using the above-mentioned surface modification followed by metallization. To metallize the patterns, a proprietary electroless bath has been used. The metallic layer grows only on the selective polymer-activated locations and thus is called selective metallization. The highlight of this production technique is its occurrence at a low temperature (20–45 °C). In this paper, FR-4 as a base substrate and polyurethane (PU) as epoxy resin were used to achieve various geometries, useful in electronics packaging. In addition, analysis of the process parameters and some challenges witnessed during the process development are also outlined. As a use case, a planar inductor is fabricated to demonstrate the application of the proposed technique.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI, 2021. Vol. 9, no 9, article id 1634
Keywords [en]
surface modification, functionalization, selective metallization, laser assisted fabrication, CBM chemistry, electronics packaging, polymerization, UV laser, polyurethane, challenges
National Category
Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
Research subject
Cyber-Physical Systems
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-87249DOI: 10.3390/pr9091634ISI: 000701946200001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85114992810OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-87249DiVA, id: diva2:1597839
Funder
Interreg Nord
Note

Validerad;2021;Nivå 2;2021-10-04 (alebob);

Funder: European Project: Productive 4.0

Available from: 2021-09-28 Created: 2021-09-28 Last updated: 2021-12-30Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. An SBU fully additive production approach for Board-level Electronics Packaging (SBU-CBM Method)
Open this publication in new window or tab >>An SBU fully additive production approach for Board-level Electronics Packaging (SBU-CBM Method)
2021 (English)Licentiate thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

The worldwide electronics market is focusing on developing innovative technologies that can lead to denser, more resilient, and tighter board-level integration. The consumer electronics market is trending toward miniaturization, with HDI-PCBs dominating. Electronics shrinking and scaling technology is the prime concern of all manufacturers. The PCBA industry is transforming its production practices which can reduce the solder joints, limit the usage of discrete and bulky components, reduce the packaging factor of printed boards by accommodating the maximum number of ICs, minimize the assembly span, optimize the latency, and so on. However, developments in production processes in the PCB manufacturing industry need more attention than those in  Silicon-based (ICs) fabrications. One of the issues in PCB fabrication is utilizing conventional metallization approaches. The majority of manufacturers continue to use standard Copper(Cu) laminates on the base substrate and lithography methods to shape the structures.In recent manufacturing technologies, semi-Additive process (SAP) or modified-SAP (mSAP) methods are being adopted to replace traditional subtractive print-and-etch procedures. To scale down the Lines and Spaces (L\&S) on PCBs comparable to that of IC-level, most smartphone makers use Substrate-like PCB (SLP) using mSAP methods. However, subtractive patterning has been used in the intermediate stages of fabrication in those methods. This thesis demonstrates a fully additive selective metallization-based production approach to bridge this technology gap between IC-level and board-level fabrications. The fabrication process has given the name 'Sequential Build-Up Covalent Bonded Metallisation' (SBU-CBM) method.

This dissertation presents a new approach to Cu metallization using a significant step reducing-pattern-transfer process. The patterning method activates a seed layer of CBM polymer chains on a polymer surface with optimal UV-Laser settings. This surface modification enables a strong Copper (Cu) bonding onto the modified surface by Cu-plating. The suggested approach generated a 2.5D surface pattern using a micrometer via laser ablation and subsequent sub-micrometer laser lithography. Furthermore, the surface characterization of each step involved in the fabrication process is analysed and presented to show the sequential growth of layers on top of each other. To investigate the mechanism of the process at the interfaces, characterizations such as EDS, SEM, and XRD characterizations were performed. This PCB manufacturing method can selectively add metallic layers to the finest feature sizes at considerably lower temperatures. Overall, the thesis has addressed two critical aspects i.e. miniaturization of interconnects at board-level and the feasibility of a fully-additive production approach for electronics packaging.

First, a subtractive method is shown to achieve Copper interconnects with feature size 3.0$\mu$m. This miniaturization corresponds to 70\% reduction in the feature size from 20 $\mu$m to 3 $\mu$m. Next, the proposed additive production process has produced Cu interconnects with feature sizes of 2.5 $\mu$m L\&S and via of diameter 10 $\mu$m. The scaling of the interconnects was achieved by optimizing the process parameters involved in the proposed fabrication recipe.

Second, the sequential build-up (SBU) procedure is adopted to realize the embedded passives with the minimum possible feature size ($<$ 10 $\mu$m). An embedded capacitor and a planar inductor were fabricated. The proposed method can be employed to achieve any desirable pattern on FR-4, and a few of them are shown in the thesis. This additive technique can further be investigated through electrical and reliability assessment to make it an industrially accepted method.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Luleå University of Technology, 2021
National Category
Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
Research subject
Cyber-Physical Systems
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-88609 (URN)978-91-8048-001-7 (ISBN)978-91-8048-002-4 (ISBN)
Presentation
2022-02-25, E632, 10:00 (English)
Supervisors
Available from: 2021-12-30 Created: 2021-12-29 Last updated: 2022-02-10Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Acharya, SarthakChouhan, Shailesh SinghDelsing, Jerker

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Acharya, SarthakChouhan, Shailesh SinghDelsing, Jerker
By organisation
Embedded Internet Systems Lab
In the same journal
Processes
Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 218 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf