Advances in Ceramic Chip Carriers and Multilayer Substrate Technologies

Multilayer ceramic packages are produced by co-firing layers of alumina tape and refractory metal into a monolithic structure. This processing technique has been used to produce millions of dual-in-line packages. The versatility of the system permits a number of different packaging approaches to be used. It offers the advantage of no glass interface for high reliability and maximum hermeticity. Small ceramic chip carriers are being manufactured now to house uartz crystals where leak rates of less than 10-14 cc of He/second are achieved.