ULTRAHIGH DENSITY LOW-COST MULTICHIP PACKAGING

FOSTER-MILLER PROPOSES TO DEVELOP AN INNOVATIVE MULTICHIP PACKAGING (MCP) APPROACH THAT WILL RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN SILICON PACKING DENSITY AND REDUCTION IN COST COMPARED TO STATE-OF-THE-ART MCP TECHNOLOGIES. THE FOSTER-MILLER APPROACH WILL USE HIGHLY IMPERMEABLE LIQUID CRYSTAL POLYMERS TO ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR A "HERMETIC HOUSING" FOR MULTICHIP PACKAGES. A NOVEL PROCESS IS PROPOSED TO SEPARATE THE THERMAL AND ELECTRICAL PATH IN THE MULTICHIP PACKAGE, AND TO ELIMINATE PROCESSING STRESSES IN THE MULTILAYER INTERCONNECT. FOSTER-MILLER'S APPROACH WILL ELIMINATE THE MOST SEVERE LIMITATIONS OF THE CURRENT CONVENTIONAL THIN FILM MCP APPROACHES AND THE GE OVERLAY APPROACH. IN PHASE I FOSTER-MILLER WILL IDENTIFY A COMPATIBLE PROCESS SEQUENCE TO IMPLEMENT THE PROPOSED APPROACH AND DEMONSTRATE KEY COMPONENTS OF THE APPROACH. BENEFITS OF THIS APPROACH WILL BE DEMONSTRATED BY PERFORMING A QUANTITATIVE PERFORMANCE/COST COMPARISON WITH OTHER MCP TECHNOLOGIES. IN PHASE II, WE WILL TEAM WITH MARTIN-MARIETTA TO DETERMINE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF OUR APPROACH, AND IMPLEMENT IT IN A MILITARY SYSTEM. FABRICATION OF A HIGHER PERFORMANCE, AND LOWER COST SUBSYSTEM WILL ESTABLISH A FIRM BASIS FOR A COMMERCIALLY SUPPORTED PHASE III PROGRAM. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - THE FOSTER-MILLER APPROACH WILL INCREASE THE SILICON PACKAGING DENSITY BY A FACTOR OF TWO, AND DECREASE THE COST, WEIGHT, VOLUME, AND THE THERMAL IMPEDANCE BY AT LEAST A FACTOR OF TWO COMPARED TO THE MOST ADVANCED MCP APPROACHES AVAILABLE. DARPA AND DOD WILL HAVE A POWERFUL MCP TECHNOLOGY TO PACKAGE AIRBORNE AND SPACE BORNE PERFORMANCE. THE COMBINATION OF HIGH PERFORMANCE AND LOW COST WILL GENERATE WIDE-SPREAD COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS OF THIS TECHNOLOGY.