MMIC Packaging & Testing

EERF 6396
Microwave Design & Measurements
Dr. R. E. Lehmann
 Singulated Die Packaging

Waffle Pack Blue Tape Gel Pack

KGD (Known Good Die) may be delivered with DC autoprobe summary for each chip.
Tape and Reel
RF Packaging & Assembly

• Packages • Assemby
– Plastic – Environmental
– Ceramic – Solder
– Metal – I/O Connections
– PGA – Substrates
– BGA – Multi-chip
– Multi-chip modules
 Microwave Module Assembly & Test
1. Substrate attachment
– Use epoxy or solder to hold down the substrates, but it must be conductive to join the
ground planes.
2. Component attachment
– Use solder or epoxy, but process temperature may be limited by what happened in the
substrate attachment step.
3. Wirebond
– Typically gold wires or ribbons are used, as opposed to aluminum wires which are used in
assembling silicon components.
4. Inspection
– Some one has to check your work! Inspection can use microscope, X-ray or sonic scan.
5. Electrical test
– Supply bias voltage(s), RF test, and tune, if necessary.
6. Sealing
– Laser or resistance welding is used to attach a lid. This is followed by hermeticity check,
usually fine and gross leak tests.
7. Environmental stress screening
– Could include temperature cycling or shock, or vibration or a combination of these.
8. Final electrical test
– Verify that your module does what it is supposed to...according to final test spec.
9. Final inspection
– Ready to ship!
Metal & Ceramic Packages

• Metal package with microstrip

feedthroughs

• Ceramic package with metal base

Types of Packages

• Pin Grid Array (PGA)

• Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC)

Ball Grid Array (BGA) Package

Ref: http://global.kyocera.com/prdct/semicon/semi/lsi_pkg/?page=10
 Common Solders
Solder Ratio Melting Comments
Point (C)
Lead-Tin 60/40 188 Common solder; requires
(PbSn) flux
Indalloy #7 50/50 210 Good low temp solder;
(InPb) Indalloys come in a wide
range of temperatures
Gold-Tin 80/20 280 Good solder for ICs;
(Au/Sn) requires no flux
Gold- 88/12 356 High temp solder for
Germanium eutectic die attach
(Au/Ge)
Solder/Temperature Stack-up
Layer Solder Temp (C)
MMIC
AuSn Solder 280C
Metal Package
Indalloy #7 Solder 210C
Module Housing
Indalloy #7 188C
Sub-assembly
 Thermal Properties

Material Thermal Conductivity (W/mK) CTE (x 10-6)

CuW 180 6.0
Cu 398 17.0
Si 125 3.5
GaAs 55 5.8
Al2O3 17 6.8
Kovar 17 5.5
 Thermal Issues
• Thermal resistance (or conductivity)
– Transistor or IC
– Solder or conductive epoxy
– Substrates
– Package
• Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE)
– Match CTE as much as possible
– Important for thermal cycling concerns
 Environmental Stress Tests
• Temperature cycling
– Commercial: 0°C to 85°C
– Industrial: −40°C to 100°C
– Automotive: −40°C to 125°C
– Extended: −40°C to 125°C
– Military: −55°C to 125°C
• HAST = Highly Accelerated Stress Test
– 85-85 environmental test
• 85oC and 85% relative humidity
• Non-hermetic packages
 Wire Bonding

Ref: http://waferdicingusa.com/packaging.html
 High-speed Wire Bonding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6-iuT_o8f00
MMIC DC & RF Testing
 Semiconductor Wafer
• Process Control Monitor (PCM)
or Test Coupon (5 places)

- RF & DC measurements
- Capacitance
- Resistivity
- Hall Mobility
 On-wafer Test
• DC
– Transistor Current-Voltage (IV) parameters
• Imax, Idss
• Vpo, Vbr
• Gm
– Capacitor measurements
• Open/short
• pF/mm2 value on PCM
– Resistor measurements
• Resistivity (ohms/square) on PCM
 On-wafer RF Test
• PCM Tests
– RF Transistor
• S-parameters
– RF Test structures
• S-parameters
• MMIC Tests
– S-parameters
– Pulsed power for PAs
– Noise figure for LNAs
 G-S-G
RF On-wafer Pads
(Coplanar Waveguide – CPW)
G

G-S

S S

G G
 RF Calibration
• SOLT
– Short-Open-Load-Thru
– Used in lab with coax (very accurate)
– Hard to achieve calibration standards on wafer
• LRM
– Line-Reflect-Match
– Broadband
– Requires line delay and match resistance standards that must be
precisely known
• LRRM
– Line-Reflect-Reflect-Match
– Open circuit reflect measurement
– Short circuit reflect measurement
• TRL
– Thru-Reflect-Line
– Uses multiple transmission lines as measurement standards
– Very accurate on-wafer calibration technique
RF On-wafer Probe Station
 RF Probe Station

Ref: Microwaves101.com
Ref: Cascade Microtech data sheet
TriQuint chip with G-S-G probe
pads
TriQuint chip with G-S RF probe
pads
 RF Foundry On-wafer Testing
Financial Considerations

• RF testing costs money!

• Options:
– Full 100% DC & RF testing
– 100% DC and RF sample testing
– PCM testing only
• Smaller the die (chip size) the longer it
takes to test a complete wafer.