Advanced Packaging Concept: Imbedded Component/Die Technology (IC/DT)

Increasing requirements for software defined radios (SDR), such as those developed for Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), call for reduced size, lighter weight hardware in which to implement this next generation radio communication system. Today’s conventional circuit card assembly (CCA) packaging technologies, i.e. plated through-hole (PTH) and surface mount technology (SMT), are struggling to handle the increased heat dissipated by the high power electronic components within the radio’s small form factor. New manufacturing and assembly approaches are required to mitigate the excess thermal energy and meet the size, weight, and power (SWAP) design requirements. Current JTRS radio designs problems are not driven by circuit design capabilities but by an inability to package these circuits within the space constraints. STI Electronics proposes the use of its innovative packaging technology, Imbedded Component/Die Technology (IC/DT), in order to meet the critical design requirements of these size and power constrained radios. IC/DT involves imbedding unpackaged components, also known as bare die, into cavities within the laminate substrate with placement of high power devices directly to an imbedded cooling core. The Phase II effort will include a feasibility analysis of the Multifunctional Information Distribution System for JTRS (MIDS-J) radio’s targeted CCAs, an IC/DT manufacturing and assembly design, and a scaled-prototype to demonstrate IC/DT’s capability of resolving SWAP problems for JTRS radios.