Embedding active components inside printed circuit board (PCB) - a solution for miniaturization of electronics

The continuous miniaturization of the electronics sets new requirements for the substrates, component packages and assembly technologies. Traditionally, the passive and active components are mounted on the surface of the PCB using SMA technology. The component size, I/O pitch and line width of the PCB's has been deceasing rapidly during past years. With traditional technologies, it is more difficult to increase the packaging density any more. This has increased interest toward embedding passive and active components inside the substrate. In this paper, the third generation manufacturing process to embed active components inside organic substrate is presented. In the integrated module board (IMB-R) technology, active components are integrated inside an organic substrate, e.g. the printed circuit board (PCB) structure. The manufacturing process allows for an entire product or some of its functional parts to be embedded inside the substrate. The process combines high-density PWB manufacturing, component packaging/assembly and the fabrication of the interconnection into one single manufacturing process flow. The interconnections of the IC's are done simultaneously using electroplating process. The technology enables high interconnection density with good reliability. Also, the IMB technology enables so-called "all-layer-assembly" where the whole three dimensional volume of the module (not only the surfaces) is used for component assembly.