Electrical Performance of a 32-I/O HTCC Alumina Package for High-Temperature Microelectronics

Abstract

A high-temperature cofired ceramic (HTCC) alumina material was previously electrically tested at temperatures up to 550°C and demonstrated improved dielectric performance at high temperatures compared with the 96% alumina substrate that we used before, suggesting its potential use for high-temperature packaging applications. This article introduces a prototype 32-input/output (I/O) HTCC alumina package with platinum conductor for 500°C low-power SiC-integrated circuits. The design and electrical performance of this package, including parasitic capacitance and parallel conductance of neighboring I/Os from 100 Hz to 1 MHz in a temperature range from room temperature to 550°C, are discussed in detail. The parasitic capacitance and parallel conductance of neighboring I/Os of this package in the entire frequency and temperature ranges measured do not exceed 1.5 pF and 0.05 μS, respectively. SiC-integrated circuits using this package and a compatible alumina circuit board have been successfully tested at 500°C for more than 3,736 h continuously, and at 700°C for more than 140 h. Some test examples of SiC-integrated circuits with this packaging system are presented.