Integrated circuit package with input capacitance compensation

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/714,636, filed Oct. 16, 2012, which is incorporated herein in its entirety.

The present invention relates generally to integrated circuits, and more particularly to an integrated circuit package with input capacitance compensation.

Integrated circuits are typically mounted onto circuit boards that route signals and power to the integrated circuits using conductive traces that are designed to have a desired characteristic impedance. For a single trace, the impedance is typically around 50 ohms whereas the differential resistance for a differential pair of traces is 100 ohms (corresponding to a common-mode resistance of 25 ohms). The conductive traces act as transmission lines for the signals they carry. As is well known in the transmission line arts, signal reflections result if a transmission line drives a load that is not matched to the characteristic impedance of the line. Thus, it is desirable to match the input/output impedance of an integrated circuit to the printed circuit board impedance to prevent these unwanted signal reflections and associated glitches.

For example, a ball grid array (BGA) package 100 is shown in FIG. 1 . BGA package 100 includes a BGA substrate 105 and an integrated circuit semiconductor die 110 . Semiconductor die 110 can be connected to BGA substrate 105 through, for example, wire bonding or flip-chip methods. FIG. 1 illustrates a flip-chip construction in which the active surface of die 110 is “flipped” so that it faces substrate 105 and conducts to substrate 105 through a plurality of flip-chip solder bumps 115 that couple to corresponding pads on the die. In contrast, if the die were wire-bonded, the active surface of the die would face away from the package substrate. Since the active surface of die 110 faces substrate 105 , BGA integrated circuit package 100 may also be denoted as a flip-chip BGA package 100 in that the substrate is flipped with regard to a wire-bonding orientation.

BGA substrate 105 conducts to traces (not shown) on a printed circuit board 120 through an array of solder balls 125 , hence the name “ball grid array.” BGA substrate 105 in turn includes conductive traces to couple a given solder ball 125 to a corresponding flip-chip bump 115 . FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of BGA package 100 to illustrate a plurality of BGA substrate conductive traces 200 . These BGA substrate traces are designed to have the same characteristic impedance as the traces used on circuit board 120 . But the on-die structures such as input/output buffers, termination resistors, and electrostatic discharge (ESD) circuits typically introduce significant amounts of capacitance. Moreover, the pads and associated metallization of BGA substrate 105 also add to this capacitive load. The resulting capacitance introduces an impedance mismatch between the die circuitry and the BGA substrate traces. This mismatch is frequency dependent and thus increases at higher frequencies.

To address this impedance mismatch, it is conventional to use on-die planar inductors. But such die structures use valuable silicon area and thus increase cost. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved impedance matching architectures for integrated circuits.

FIG. 1 is a partially-cutaway perspective view of a ball-grid-array (BGA) integrated circuit package mounted on a circuit board in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the BGA package of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the BGA package substrate of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment in which a high-speed signal trace is formed in an uppermost-metal layer and includes a tapered section.

FIG. 4 is a partially-cutaway top view of the improved BGA package substrate of FIG. 3 .

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an improved BGA package substrate that reduces cross-talk between traces as compared to the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4 .

FIG. 6 is a partially-cutaway top view of the improved BGA package substrate of FIG. 5 .

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of an improved BGA package substrate that reduces cross-talk between traces as compared to the embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6 .

FIG. 8 is a partially-cutaway top view of the improved BGA package substrate of FIG. 7 .

Embodiments of the present invention and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures.

Reference will now be made in detail to one or more embodiments of the invention. While the invention will be described with respect to these embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to any particular embodiment. On the contrary, the invention includes alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, in the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. The invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and principles of operation have not been described in detail to avoid obscuring the invention.

As discussed previously, the pads on ball grid array (BGA) substrate 105 in conjunction with associated circuitry on die 110 have a relatively-high capacitance. Such capacitance represents a low-impedance load to a high-speed signal. In contrast, the traces on circuit board 120 have a relatively-high impedance. To address the impedance mismatch, the BGA substrate traces are modified such that pads on the BGA substrate couple to low-impedance matching trace sections in the BGA substrate that are configured to have a relatively-high inductance. This inductance in combination with the capacitance of the pads and associated circuitry on the die present an impedance-matched load to the signals coming from the circuit board trace.

FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a BGA substrate 300 having these advantageous matching properties whereas FIG. 4 is a top view of BGA substrate 300 . As is known in the arts, BGA substrate 300 includes a plurality of metal layers that are used to form conductive traces. These layers are separated by dielectric layers. In the illustrated embodiments, there are four metal layers L 1 , L 2 , L 3 , and L 4 . However, it will be appreciated that the actual number of metal layers may vary in alternative embodiments. For example, it is conventional to have eight metal layers. Such additional metal layers are not shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 but those of ordinary skill will appreciate that they may be present. These additional metal layers may be specialized to the routing of low-speed signals. In contrast, the structures described herein for layers L 1 , L 2 , and L 3 are specialized for the routing of high-speed signals.

One or more high-speed signal traces 305 are formed in metal layer L 1 . A ground plane 310 is formed in metal layer L 3 . Thus, traces 305 are separated from ground plane 310 by a metal layer L 2 sandwiched between insulating dielectric layers (metal layer L 2 being etched away in the area between traces 305 and ground plane 310 ). This separation between traces 305 and ground plane 310 decreases the capacitance. Trace 305 ends in a relatively-narrow section 315 , which will thus have a relatively-high inductance and a relatively-low capacitance. Each narrow trace section 315 connects to a corresponding pad 320 . As known in the BGA package arts, a solder resist layer 325 includes an opening 330 above each pad 320 to receive a solder bump from a flip-chip die (discussed with regard to FIG. 1 ). Pad 320 connects to circuitry within the flip-chip die that introduces significant capacitance in addition to the capacitance from the pad itself. This is problematic in that the circuit board traces and the BGA package traces are conventionally designed to have some desired impedance such as fifty Ω for a single-ended trace (or a twenty-five Ω common-mode impedance and a one-hundred Ω differential impedance for a differential pair of traces).

In a transmission line, the impedance is proportional to the square root of an inductance/capacitance ratio. Thus, if the capacitance is increased such as through coupling to pad 320 and associated circuitry within the die, the result is a low-impedance load. In contrast, conventional circuit board traces have a relatively higher impedance. If the BGA package substrate trace is used for low-speed signals, the resulting impedance mismatch may be tolerable. This tolerance results from the increased capacitive reactance at lower frequencies. But the transmission of high-speed signals will suffer from this mismatch in that the impedance discontinuity causes the signals to reflect from the discontinuity in addition to passing through the discontinuity. The reflected signal is noise with regard to incoming signals. If a high speed data symbol is reflected due to an impedance mismatch, errors may thus result from the resulting closing of the receive eye. In contrast, the greater spacing between low-speed data signals may be sufficient to accommodate the signal reflections. Thus, whereas a conventional unmatched signal trace may be sufficient for low-speed signals, that lack of impedance matching will be unacceptable for high-speed signals that are driven into a low-impedance load such as pads 320 .

To address this impedance mismatch and accommodate higher-speed signal transmission, it is conventional to introduce windows in the ground plane below the pads. In this fashion, the pad capacitance is reduced. But the ground plane windows introduce design complications and costs and may be insufficient to address the capacitive load connected to the package pads. In contrast, relatively-narrow trace section 315 is displaced by a plurality of metal layers and dielectric layers from the ground plane and thus has reduced capacitance as compared to conventional traces used in conjunction with ground windows (although ground windows may also be included with the embodiments disclosed herein). At the same time, the relatively-narrow width of trace section 315 provides an appreciable inductance. This higher inductance counteracts the high capacitance (and thus low impedance) for the load introduced by pad 320 . Narrow trace section 315 is thus matched to the relatively high impedance of circuit board traces.

Narrow trace section 315 has too little capacitance to couple directly to the circuit board traces. Thus, each narrow trace section 315 couples to a tapered section 335 that gradually broadens to match a relatively-wide trace section 340 . Wide trace section 340 has an inductance/capacitance ratio so as to be impedance matched to the relatively high-impedance traces on the circuit board. Tapered section 335 eliminates or reduces the impedance discontinuity that would otherwise exist between trace sections 315 and 340 . Each wide trace section 340 couples through a corresponding via 345 to the underlying circuit board through a solder ball as discussed with regard to FIG. 1 .

Although traces 305 may be configured as microstrip with regard to ground plane 310 , better electromagnetic performance is achieved by configuring them as co-planar waveguides. Thus, traces 305 are surrounded by a ground shield 350 formed in the metal layer L 1 . In addition, other ground shields may be formed in intervening metal layers such as a ground shield 355 formed in metal layer L 2 . A plurality of vias 360 couple shields 350 and 355 to ground plane 310 . The resulting co-planar waveguide (CPW) configuration minimizes cross-talk between traces 305 . In contrast, the electromagnetic field lines in a microstrip configuration are more spread out, which leads to higher cross-talk between the traces. It will be appreciated, however, that the improved BGA circuit board substrate disclosed herein is not restricted to a CPW embodiment but also includes microstrip and stripline configurations. For example, in less-congested designs cross-talk is reduced in that the traces can be adequately separated. But for a congested design having numerous traces, cross-talk becomes more problematic in that the spacing between traces must be reduced.

Cross-talk between traces can be further reduced as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 . FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a BGA package substrate 500 in which a trace section 510 is formed on metal layer L 2 as opposed to the metal layer L 1 trace section 340 discussed with regard to FIGS. 3 and 4 . Narrow trace sections 315 and tapered sections 335 are formed in metal layer L 1 as also discussed with regard to substrate 300 . An individual trace 515 is thus formed from a trace section 315 , a tapered section 335 , and a trace section 510 . Metal layer L 2 is closer to ground plane 310 so that the electromagnetic field lines are more tightly coupled between each trace section 510 and ground plane 310 (for a given trace width, traces in metal layer L 2 will have a higher capacitance and lower inductance as opposed to traces in metal layer L 1 ). In contrast, the spread of the electromagnetic field lines would be wider in embodiments in which trace sections 340 are formed in metal layer L 1 . Because of this tighter coupling, there is thus reduced cross-talk between traces 515 . A via 505 couples each tapered section 334 to its corresponding trace section 510 . Not only is cross-talk reduced between traces 515 but the density can be increased as well due to this lower cross-talk. Traces 515 are arranged within ground shields 350 and 355 as discussed with regard to substrate 305 .

If there are sufficient metal layers available, another embodiment to reduce cross-talk even further is illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 with regard to a BGA substrate 705 . As compared to substrate 500 of FIGS. 5 and 6 , one or more traces 700 are formed in metal layer L 2 in BGA substrate 705 . To minimize cross-talk, traces 700 are shielded by ground shields 350 and 355 as discussed with regard to substrate 300 . Each trace 700 includes a load-matched trace section 710 with enhanced inductance to balance the capacitive load for pad 320 (as well as associated circuitry on the die). To provide this enhanced inductance, a ground plane 720 is formed in metal layer L 4 . Thus, just like trace section 315 , trace section 710 is separated from its ground plane by a plurality of intervening dielectric layers and metal layers (where the metal has been etched in the metal layer portion(s) intervening between the signal trace and the ground plane). In this fashion, the capacitance is reduced, and the relatively-narrow width for trace section 710 provides a relatively-high level of inductance. This same width can be used for a board-matched trace section 725 because a secondary ground plane 730 is formed in metal layer L 3 .

There is thus greater capacitance between trace section 725 and secondary ground plane 730 as opposed to the capacitance between load-matched trace section 710 and ground plane 720 . This greater capacitance leads to a board-matched impedance despite trace section 725 having the same width in one embodiment as load-matched trace section 710 . A tapered section 735 softens the transition between sections 710 and 720 and reduces reflections accordingly. Metal layer L 3 may also form another ground shield 740 . Because trace 700 is shielded by ground shields in metal layers L 1 , L 2 , and L 3 , cross-talk is minimized. Moreover, the density of traces 700 may be increased accordingly.

It will be appreciated that the techniques and concepts discussed herein are not limited to the specific disclosed embodiments. The appended claims encompass all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.