Flexible Chip-First Millimeter-Wave Packaging Using Multiple Dielectrics

This article focuses on improving the robustness of fully additive manufactured packaging solutions for application-specific, millimeter-wave (mm-wave) system integration. We demonstrate two new chip-first packaging approaches that expand on the state-of-the-art by incorporating multiple dielectric materials. Our strategies not only exploit the flexibility and adaptability of the chip-first approach, but also offer solutions to potential die–dielectric adhesion problems that previous chip-first approaches encountered. To demonstrate our solution, we package 0- and 3-dB attenuators in a fully additive process to characterize the RF performance of the interconnect strategy with improved dielectric adhesion. These interconnects were measured up to 50 GHz and yield losses comparable to, or smaller than, previously demonstrated AM packages. Our approaches provide flexible, mm-wave-capable, and broadband packaging solutions for next-generation packaging technologies for high-stress and high-temperature applications.