NON-ORIENTED WIRE IN ELASTOMER ELECTRICAL CONTACT
A method and apparatus for interconnecting an electronic module to a substrate through resilient wire conductors in an interposer arrangement. A carrier layer of insulating material with an array of apertures, arranged to align with both the electrical pads on an electronic module and electrical contacts on a substrate, each hold, for example, a resilient wadded wire connector. Each connector extends through the aperture provided and beyond the upper and lower surfaces of the carrier layer. Each resilient wadded wire connector and aperture is encapsulated with a elastomeric insulating material sufficiently deformable so as to allow said resilient wadded wire connector to deform upon application of a normal force from each side tending to depress the connector into its aperture. The encapsulation prevents loss or smear of a wadded wire connector when handling.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic packaging. More particularly, the present invention relates to electronic interposers used in electronic packaging to make electrical connection of electronic modules to printed wiring boards, and the like.
2. Background and Related Art
Compression connectors, such as those employed in land grid array (LGA) connections, are well known in the art. Typical LGA compression connections employ an interposer to connect a single chip or multiple chip module (MCM) to a printed wiring board (PWB). The MCM generally comprises multiple integrated circuits or chips assembled into a subsystem the size of traditional single chip packages. The single chip or MCM may be connected to the PWB through the interposer with the chip module circuit pads making contact with the array of connection points extending from one surface of the interposer and the PWB circuit pads making contact with the array of connections extending from the other surface of the interposer. Compression forces are employed to hold the chip module and PWB against the interposer.
Various forms of interposers have been designed to facilitate the LGA connection of the single chip or MCM to the PWB. One of the considerations in designing interposers is to create a structure that will accommodate the thermal mismatch between chip module and PWB. Another consideration in designing interposers is to create a structure that will accommodate differences in topography between the mating surface profiles and mating conductor of the chip module and PWB.
Interposer layers of both substantially rigid and relatively resilient insulating materials have been employed for this purpose. In using such materials, a variety of conductor interconnect structures have been employed in the prior art to electrically connect the contacts or pads on one surface of the interposer to the corresponding contacts or pads on the other surface of the interposer. One form of conductor interconnect structure employed is designed to be resilient or deformable. As such, the deformable conductor can move to accommodate, for example, the CTE dimensional mismatch between the chip module and PWB.
One example of a resilient or deformable conductor used in rigid or semi-rigid layers of insulating material is the resilient wadded-wire connector, sometimes also known as the “fuzz-button” type connector or the connector made by CINCH Connectors, Inc. under the trademark CIN::APSE. An example of such type of connector is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,890. The interposer in such arrangements typically comprises a substantially rigid interposer layer of plastic having a plurality or array of apertures with each aperture further having disposed thereon a deformable, randomly configured, resilient conductor material for connecting a MCM, for example, to a PWB. The resilient conductors of wadded wire are typically held by friction within a plastic layer.
Such wadded-wire button or connector arrangements have proven to be reliable once assembled but have been found somewhat difficult to handle beforehand without causing damage to, or displacement of, the wadded-wire button connector. Contact with the wadded-wire button connectors in handling may result in missing button connectors or pulled/smeared button connectors. Since the connectors are typically retained in the interposer layer by friction, they are prone to being pushed or pulled from position. In addition, handling may result in smearing a button connector wherein handling contact with the connector causes a portion of the wadded-wire to become unwadded and free of the aperture wherein it may extend across the surface of the interposer material and short to the wadded-wire button connector of an adjacent aperture.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved electronic package.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for connecting an electronic module to a substrate therefor.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an improved interposer structure for connecting an electronic module to a substrate, such as, a PWB.
It is yet still a further object of the present invention to provide a resilient wadded-wire button connector interposer structure with the connectors encapsulated within a compliant or deformable elastomeric insulator material to thereby increase reliability of the interposer structure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a rigid/semi-rigid or resilient interposer insulating layer with an array of apertures containing wadded-wire connectors encapsulated with a compliant elastomeric insulating material sufficient to retain and contain the wound wadded-wire but yet which elastomeric may be sufficiently soft to deform and allow the wadded-wire to protrude therethrough under compression between electronic module and substrate.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an improved LGA connector for connecting an electronic module, such as a single chip or MCM module, to a substrate, such as a PWB. The LGA connector comprises at least one carrier layer of dielectric insulating material having an array of apertures each holding randomly wound wadded-wire connectors. The connectors are encapsulated with a compliant eleastomeric material, preferably having a relatively low modulus, to retain and contain the wadded wire so as to protect the wires from being pulled or lost. The elastomeric material may be sufficiently soft so that the wadded-wire member protrudes through the elastomeric material during activation of the compressive force used to make a compression-type connection of the electronic module to the substrate. Alternatively, a laser or the like may be employed to oblate the elastomeric material in the contact region to expose the wadded wire.
The carrier layer of insulating material may comprise material that is a rigid/semi-rigid insulator or a flexible insulator. Multiple layers of combinations of such material may also be employed. Instead of randomly wound wadded-wire, a tubular wire structure may be used for the conducting member. In such an arrangement, the tube would preferably be oriented on its side with the plane of the wire loops leaning somewhat to provide a linear force versus deflection characteristic.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
With reference to the prior art arrangement shown in
The elastomeric polymer encapsulating material may be any of a variety of elastomeric polymer materials. For example, the encapsulating polymer material may be an elastomeric silicone, such as, SYLGARD No. 182 made by Dow Corning or an elastomeric epoxy, such as, Epo-Tek No. 310 made by Epoxy Technology. The elastomeric encapsulating material may also be sufficiently thin, soft and deformable so as to allow the contact tips of the wadded-wire connectors to punch through the material and thereby expose the contact tips. As can be seen, the contact tips are thus the loops and leads of the wadded-wire at the interface surfaces to the electronic module and substrate, respectively. The modulus of each elastomeric material would typically be less than 5000 psi and, preferably, less than 2000 psi.
The rigid/semi-rigid insulating carrier layers 25A and 25B in
The encapsulated wadded-wire conductor arrangement of
It should be understood that bottom portion 59B of mold block 52B is removable to facilitate removal of the cast part. Thus, with removal of bottom portion 59B of mold block 52B, the cast part may be pushed out without damage. After removal of the cast part from mold block 52B, the upper half mold block 52A may be readily removed from the cast part. It is clear, however, that both mold block 52A in
It is also clear that removable portion, such as bottom portion 59B of mold block 52B, may be used to facilitate assembly of parts before casting. Thus, after separating the removable bottom portion 59B from block 52B, wadded wire buttons may be inserted into the cavities 53B from below, through apertures in the insulating carrier layer and into the cavities 53A of the upper block half 52A. This can be seen more clearly with reference to
In
Alternatively, prior to positioning the top mold half and bottom mold half together, wadded-wire conductors 51 may be positioned in apertures 53 of insulating carrier layer 55 where they are held in place by friction. The mold halves may then be positioned over the wadded-wire connectors 51 so that the connectors are positioned in apertures 53A and 53B. Liquid elastomeric polymer material is then poured into mold throat/mold layer regions 58A/58B and cured.
It should be understood that the mold arrangements described herein are merely examples of ways in which the wadded-wire connectors may be encapsulated. It is clear that there are any of a variety of ways in which an rigid/semi-rigid and flexible insulating carrier layer with encapsulated wadded wire connectors may be fabricated.
In the arrangement of
Again, the elastomeric polymer material used for encapsulation may be sufficiently soft and thin along the flat interfacing surface of the elastomeric encapsulations such that when the interposer of
The interposer arrangement of
The carrier layer 35B of the interposer arrangement of
It should be understood that in any of the interposer arrangements shown in FIGS. 2A-C, FIGS. 3A-C and FIGS. 4A-B, that fewer or more layers may be employed in the insulating carrier layer without departing from the spirit of the invention. Included in these layers may be electrically conductive layers to provide shielding or reference planes as well as point to point wiring as known in the printed circuit wiring board art to electrically connect selected wadded wires contacts. In addition, multiple layers of the same or different materials may be employed consistent with the encapsulation of the wadded-wire conductors, as described herein.
FIGS. 4A-B show a further interposer arrangement wherein the insulating carrier layer includes a molding channel/runner for encapsulating the wadded-wire connectors. Thus, insulating carrier layer 45 in FIGS. 4A-B may comprise a rigid/semi-rigid insulating material, similar to that shown in FIGS. 2A-B. Molding channel/runner 46 is shown as a through cut in the top portion of insulating carrier layer 45, as shown in
It can be seen that the molding channel/runner 46 shown in FIGS. 4A-B acts to feed one row of apertures 43 in insulating carrier layer 45. In practice, however, to encapsulate an array of wadded wire conductors held in the apertures of an insulating carrier layer, it is clear that there would be a molding channel for each row or column of apertures. Alternatively, both rows and columns of molding channels intersecting at apertures in the carrier layer could be employed. The mold blocks shown in
Compressive force applied to module 73 and backing layer 80 on substrate 77 acts to clamp the arrangement together. A typical clamping force is one that would provide an upward normal force of at least about 30 grams against conductive pads 76 and a downward normal force of at least 30 grams against conductive contacts 78. The clamping force may also act to force the loops and leads of wadded-wire connectors 71 through the flat skin surface of elastomeric encapsulation region 79 at each interface with pads 76 and contacts 78 to make electrical contact therewith. In addition, the wadded-wire connectors 71 may deform themselves within the encapsulation as elastomeric encapsulation regions 79 deform under compressive force.
The overall resilience of the flexible carrier layer 75, deformable elastomeric encapsulation regions 79 and resilient wadded-wire connectors, as shown in
The advantages of employing an elastomeric encapsulated wadded-wire connector, in addition to its ability to deform, reside in the fact that there is resilient metal-to-metal contact at the opposing interfaces of the interposer. In addition, the contact is multi-pointed, through loops and leads, with one continuous conductor. By encapsulating the wadded-wire connectors, the connectors are captivated such as to prevent them from falling out and the loops and leads of the connector be not exposed to possible pulls and snags to smear the connector.
It will be understood from the foregoing description that various modifications and changes may be made in the preferred embodiment of the present invention without departing from its true spirit. It is intended that this description is for purposes of illustration only and should not be construed in a limiting sense. The scope of this invention should be limited only by the language of the following claims.
Claims
1-3. (canceled)
4. The interconnecting structure as set forth in claim 21 wherein the modulus of said elastomeric insulating material is less than 2000 psi.
5. (canceled)
6. The interconnecting structure as set forth in claim 21 wherein said elastomeric insulating material is selected from the group including epoxy and silicone elastomers.
7-13. (canceled)
14. The interconnecting structure as set forth in claim 22 wherein the modulus said elastomeric insulating material is less than 5000 psi.
15. A method of forming an interposer for connecting an electronic module to a substrate therefor, comprising the steps of:
- providing an array of apertures in at least one layer of insulating material having an upper and lower surface with respective ones of said array of apertures extending from said lower surface to said upper surface and arranged to be aligned with electrical pads on an electronic module and electrical contacts on a substrate therefor,
- positioning in each of said respective ones of said array of apertures a resilient material conductor randomly wound to form a resilient wadded wire connector that extends through the aperture therefor beyond said upper and lower surface; and
- forming around each said resilient wadded wire connector extending beyond said upper and lower surface and the aperture therefor an elastomeric insulating material to encapsulate each said resilient wadded wire connector and allow said resilient wadded wire connector to deform under pressure extending to force said connector into said aperture.
16. The method as set forth in claim 15 wherein said elastomeric insulating material at least at the distal portion of each said resilient wadded connector extending beyond said upper and lower surface is sufficiently soft and thin so as to allow said reslient wadded wire connector to break through said elastomeric insulating material under said pressure.
17. The method of claim 15 including the step of ablating said elastomeric insulating material from said distal portion of each said resilient wadded wire conductor extending beyond both said upper and lower surface to expose a position of said wadded wire connector.
18. The method as set forth in claim 15 wherein said step of forming around each said resilient wadded wire connector said elastomeric insulating material includes extending said elastomeric insulating material beyond each said wadded wire connector and the aperture therfor to form a layer of elastomeric insulating material on said lower and upper surface.
19. The method as set forth in claim 15 including the step of positioning said interposer between an electronic module and substrate therefor so as to align each encapsulated resilieiht wadded wire connector extending beyond said upper surface with a corresponding one of said electrical pads on said electronic module and each encapsulated wadded wire connector extending beyond said lower surface with a corresponding one of said electrical contacts on said substrate.
20. The method as set forth in claim 19 including the step of applying a compression force to said electronic module and said substrate to cause each said resilient wadded wire connector to make electrical contact with a corresponding one of said electrical pads on said electronic module at said upper surface and with a corresponding one of said electrical contacts on said substrate at said lower surface.
21. An electronic module to substrate interconnecting structure, comprising:
- at least one layer of insulating material having opposing surfaces and an array of apertures formed therethrough to each of said opposing surfaces;
- a plurality of wound wadded wire connectors formed to provide deformable resilient electrical conductors with individual ones of said conductors disposed within respective ones of said apertures of said array of apertures of said at least one layer of insulating material so that distal portions of said resilient electrical conductors extend beyond said opposing surfaces of said layer of insulating material with said distal portions including loops and leads; and
- elastomeric insulating material disposed around each of said deformable resilient electrical conductors and corresponding ones of said apertures holding said conductors to encapsulate said electrical conductors, said elastomeric insulating material forming a thin soft layer over said loops and leads with said layer being sufficiently thin and soft so as to allow said loops and leads to extend therethrough under compression thereof.
22. A substrate to electronic module mounting and interconnecting structure, comprising:
- a substrate having a top surface;
- a plurality of electrical contacts on said substrate top surface;
- an electronic module having a plurality of electrical pads for respective electrical connection to said plurality of electrical contacts on said substrate top surface;
- an interposer layer of insulating material having an upper and lower surface and an array of apertures extending from said upper surface to said lower surface with respective ones of said array of apertures positioned to be aligned with respective ones of said plurality of electrical contacts on said substrate top surface and said plurality of electrical pads on said electronic module, each of said respective ones of said array of apertures having disposed therein a deformable resilient electrical conductor of randomly wound wire to form a wadded wire connector extending through said apertures and beyond said upper surface and said lower surface, each said wadded wire connector encapsulated with an elastomeric polymer insulating material to retain said wire connector and with said elastomeric insulating material around the distal portion of each said wadded wire connector extending beyond said upper surface and said lower surface being sufficiently thin and soft so as to allow said wadded wire connector to extend therethrough under compression force to make electrical contact between said electrical pads on said electronic module and said electrical contacts on said substrate; and
- means to apply compression force to clamp said electronic module to said substrate wherein each said encapsulated wadded wire conductor makes electrical connection between said electronic module and substrate.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 22, 2004
Publication Date: Dec 22, 2005
Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation (Armonk, NY)
Inventors: William Brodsky (Binghamton, NY), William Buchler (Owego, NY), Benson Chan (Vestal, NY), Michael Gaynes (Vestal, NY)
Application Number: 10/873,037