Glass-Core Substrates for RF Heterogeneous Integrated Packages

Abstract

Glass-core substrates with low-loss organic build-up layers are an attractive alternative to conventional multilayer organic laminates and ceramic substrates for millimeter-wave integrated circuit (IC) packages. Under the Department of Defense (DoD) State of the Art (SOTA) Heterogeneous Integrated Packaging (SHIP) Radio Frequency (RF) program, Qorvo and our partners are exploring panel-sized glass-core substrates with fine-pitch multi-layer interconnects on low-loss buildup dielectrics and embedded in-core components for compact RF and mixed-signal microsystems. The suitability of this substrate technology is being evaluated through a series of test vehicles designed to characterize the process capability, RF behavior, and package reliability.