Component Carrier and Method of Manufacturing the Same

Abstract

The present invention relates to a component carrier having a stack including at least one electrically insulating layer structure and/or at least one electrically conductive layer structure, a component embedded in the stack and having a curved surface portion, and a conductive contact element in contact with the curved surface portion of the embedded component. The present invention also relates to a method of manufacturing such a component carrier.

Claims

1. A component carrier, comprising: a stack comprising at least one electrically insulating layer structure and/or at least one electrically conductive layer structure; a component embedded in the stack and having a curved surface portion; and a conductive contact element in contact with the curved surface portion of the embedded component.

2. The component carrier according to claim 1, wherein the conductive contact element is an electrically and/or thermally conductive contact element.

3. The component carrier according to claim 1, wherein the curved surface portion is convex.

4. The component carrier according to claim 1, wherein the curved surface portion is concave.

5. The component carrier according to claim 1, wherein the curved surface portion corresponds to an electric connection area of the component.

6. The component carrier according to claim 1, wherein the component is a passive component.

7. The component carrier according to claim 6, wherein the passive component is an ohmic resistance or a capacitor.

8. The component carrier according to claim 1, wherein an outermost electrically conductive layer structure of the stack has a through-hole through which the contact element extends, wherein the contact element has a lateral extension being larger than a diameter of the through-hole.

9. The component carrier according to claim 1, wherein both opposing main surfaces of the embedded component are contacted by a respective conductive contact element for providing electrical and/or thermal conduction between two opposing contact elements via the curved portion of the component.

10. The component carrier according to claim 1, wherein a part of the conductive contact element has a curved, in particular convex, shape.

11. The component carrier according to claim 10, wherein the part of the conductive contact element having the convex shape is not in contact with the curved surface portion.

12. The component carrier according to claim 10, wherein another part of the conductive contact element, which other part is in contact with the curved surface portion, has a concave shape.

13. The component carrier according to claim 10, wherein the part of the conductive contact element having the convex shape faces away from the embedded component.

14. The component carrier according to claim 10, wherein the part of the conductive contact element having the convex shape is in contact with at least one of the at least one electrically insulating layer structure.

15. The component carrier according to claim 1, comprising at least one of the following features: the component carrier comprises at least one component being surface mounted on and/or embedded in the component carrier, wherein the at least one component is in particular selected from a group consisting of a power semiconductor component, in particular a power transistor chip, an electronic component, an electrically non-conductive and/or electrically conductive inlay, a heat transfer unit, a light guiding element, an energy harvesting unit, an active electronic component, a passive electronic component, an electronic chip, a storage device, a filter, an integrated circuit, a signal processing component, a power management component, an optoelectronic interface element, a voltage converter, a cryptographic component, a transmitter and/or receiver, an electromechanical transducer, an actuator, a microelectromechanical system, a microprocessor, a capacitor, a resistor, an inductance, an accumulator, a switch, a camera, an antenna, a magnetic element, a further component carrier, and a logic chip; wherein at least one of the electrically conductive layer structures of the component carrier comprises at least one of the group consisting of copper, aluminum, nickel, silver, gold, palladium, and tungsten, any of the mentioned materials being optionally coated with supra-conductive material such as graphene; wherein the electrically insulating layer structure comprises at least one of the group consisting of resin, in particular reinforced or non-reinforced resin, for instance epoxy resin or Bismaleimide-Triazine resin, FR-4, FR-5, cyanate ester, polyphenylene derivate, glass, prepreg material, polyimide, polyamide, liquid crystal polymer, epoxy-based build-up film, polytetrafluoroethylene, a ceramic, and a metal oxide; wherein the component carrier is shaped as a plate; wherein the component carrier is configured as one of the group consisting of a printed circuit board, a substrate, and an interposer; wherein the component carrier is configured as a laminate-type component carrier.

16. A method of manufacturing a component carrier, wherein the method comprises: providing a stack comprising at least one electrically insulating layer structure and/or at least one electrically conductive layer structure; embedding a component in the stack, the component having at least a curved surface portion; forming a recess in the stack to thereby expose at least part of the curved surface portion of the component; and filling the recess at least partially with conductive material to thereby form a conductive contact element extending up to the curved surface portion of the component.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the recess is formed using a laser.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the laser is a CO.sub.2 laser or a UV laser.

19. The method according to claim 16, wherein the recess is formed by laser drilling so that reflection of the laser beam at the exposed curved surface portion forms pockets extending laterally beyond a through-hole in an outermost patterned electrically conductive layer structure.

20. The method according to claim 16, wherein the recess is formed with a curved, in particular convex, shape in a part of the recess being in contact with at least one of the at least one electrically insulating layer structure.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0040] FIG. 1 illustrates a component carrier according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0041] FIG. 2 illustrates improved heat dissipation provided by the component carrier shown in FIG. 1.

[0042] FIG. 3 illustrates a sequence of steps during manufacture of a component carrier according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

[0043] The illustrations in the drawings are schematically presented. In different drawings, similar or identical elements are provided with the same reference signs.

[0044] FIG. 1 illustrates a component carrier 1 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0045] The component carrier 1 may be shaped as a plate. The component carrier 1 may be configured as one of the group consisting of a printed circuit board, a substrate, and an interposer. The component carrier 1 may be configured as a laminate-type component carrier.

[0046] The component carrier 1 comprises a stack 2 comprising at least one electrically insulating layer structure (not shown in detail) and/or at least one electrically conductive layer structure (not shown in detail).

[0047] The at least one electrically insulating layer structure of the component carrier 1 may comprise at least one of the group consisting of resin, in particular reinforced or non-reinforced resin, for instance epoxy resin or bismaleimide-triazine resin, FR-4, FR-5, cyanate ester, polyphenylene derivate, glass, prepreg material, polyimide, polyamide, liquid crystal polymer, epoxy-based build-up film, polytetrafluoroethylene, a ceramic, and a metal oxide.

[0048] The at least one electrically conductive layer structure of the component carrier 1 may comprise at least one of the group consisting of copper, aluminum, nickel, silver, gold, palladium, and tungsten, any of the mentioned materials being optionally coated with supra-conductive material such as graphene.

[0049] The component carrier 1 further comprises a component 3 embedded in the stack and having curved surface portions 4, 5. As shown, the curved surface portions 4, 5 are convex. In other embodiments, the curved surface portions may be concave. The component 3 is preferably a passive component, such as a resistor or a capacitor forming part of or constituting a filter. The curved surface portions 4, 5 may constitute electric and/or thermal connection areas of the component 3.

[0050] The component carrier 1 further comprises conductive contact elements 6, 7, 8, 9 extending through the stack 2 such that they are in contact with the curved surface portions 4, 5 of the component 3. The conductive contact elements 6, 7, 8, 9 are thermally and/or electrically conductive and may thus serve to conduct electrical current and/or heat to and away from the component 3. The conductive contact elements 6, 7, 8, 9 have an anchor-like shape providing a parabolic contact surface with the curved surface portions 4, 5.

[0051] The component carrier 1 with the above mentioned configuration exhibits improved contact stability and (thermal and electrical) conductivity between the contacting areas 4, 5 of the component and the conductive contact elements 6, 7, 8, 9. This is indicated in FIG. 2 by arrows 10 and 11 which show paths of heat dissipation from the component 3 within the stack 2 of the component carrier 1. The improvement in heat conductivity as compared to standard via connections is around 30%.

[0052] In addition to the improved thermal properties, the component carrier 1 with conductive contact elements 6, 7, 8, 9 on both sides of the structure allows for four-terminal sensing when the component 3 is a resistor or other impedance.

[0053] It is explicitly stated that other embodiments may have conductive contact elements on only one side of the component carrier. In other words, some embodiments may only have conductive contact elements 6, 7 while other embodiments may only have conductive contact elements 8, 9 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0054] FIG. 3 illustrates a sequence of steps or states A, B, C during manufacture of a component carrier 1 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. In step A, a laser 12, such as a CO.sub.2 laser or a UV laser, is operated to drill a hole through an outermost conductive layer structure 13 of the stack of the component carrier 1 and thereby form a recess 14 above the curved surface portion 4 of the embedded component in the stack. Once the hole 14 is deep enough to expose the curved surface 4 of the embedded component 3, the laser beam will be reflected by the exposed curved surface 4. This leads to a lateral extension of the recess as shown in step B such that the resulting recess 15 has a larger lateral extension than the diameter of the hole initially drilled through the outermost conductive layer structure 13. Then, in step C, conductive material is filled into the recess to form conductive contact element 6. As shown, the contact surface between the curved surface portion 4 and the conductive contact element 6 has a parabolic shape. This provides a stable contact and a large contact surface area.

[0055] As shown as well in FIG. 3, a part of the conductive contact element 6 has a convex shape. More specifically, the part of the conductive contact element 6 having the convex shape is not in contact with the curved surface portion 4. However, another part of the conductive contact element 6, which other part is in contact with the curved surface portion 4, has a concave shape. As shown as well, the part of the conductive contact element 6 having a convex shape faces away from the embedded component 3. Advantageously, the part of the conductive contact element 6 having the convex shape is in contact with isolating material of the electrically insulating layer structure. As a result, the contact element 6 may be reliably anchored within the component carrier with proper adhesion thanks to the increased contact area. The conductive contact element 6 may thus be anchored with respect to surrounding electrically insulating material.

[0056] It should be noted that the term comprising does not exclude other elements or steps and the article a or an does not exclude a plurality. Also, elements described in association with different embodiments may be combined.

[0057] Implementation of the invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments shown in the figures and described above. Instead, a multiplicity of variants is possible which use the solutions shown and the principle according to the invention even in the case of fundamentally different embodiments.