Characterization of DuPont 9K7 LTCC Material System for RF/Microwave Packaging Applications

摘要

DuPont is introducing novel Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) system (9K7). The 9K7 ceramic tape dielectric represents a major technological advancement for use in high frequency applications in consumer, military, telecommunications and automotive electronic devices. LTCC technology provides circuit designers with the ability to further miniaturize high density interconnect circuit designs, and the 9K7 system now provides circuit designers and LTCC fabricators the ability to design and build high frequency circuits using electronic materials that are improved over other commercial tape systems, owing to its superior dielectric properties as well as improved process capability. In this work, the new low loss dielectric LTCC systems consisting of glass ceramic tape, gold, and silver conductors are examined to evaluate the effects of chemistry, processing conditions, processing latitude, microstructure and dielectric and transmission properties. Results of Microwave/High Frequency characterization to evaluate transmission losses on typical interconnect structures such as Microstrip, Coplanar Waveguide (CPW), and Stripline are also reported Microwave performance improvement resulting from lower surface roughness compared to legacy LTCC systems are studied in detail.