Magnetic Inlay With Electrically Conductive Vertical Through Connections for a Component Carrier

Abstract

A magnetic inlay includes a magnetic matrix and a plurality of electrically conductive vertical through connections extending vertically through the magnetic matrix. Further, a component carrier including the magnetic inlay and a method of manufacturing said magnetic inlay are described.

Claims

1. A magnetic inlay, comprising: a magnetic matrix; and a plurality of electrically conductive vertical through connections extending vertically through the magnetic matrix.

2. The magnetic inlay according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of electrically conductive vertical through connections are arranged in a pattern of rows and columns.

3. The magnetic inlay according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the electrically conductive vertical through connections is a through hole filled partially or entirely with a metal, in particular copper.

4. The magnetic inlay according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the electrically conductive vertical through connections is a hollow lining which is filled at least partially with an electrically insulating material, in particular a resin.

5. The magnetic inlay according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the electrically conductive vertical through connections is a circular cylindrical through hole filled at least partially with electrically conductive material.

6. The magnetic inlay according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the electrically conductive vertical through connections is a frustoconical through hole filled at least partially with electrically conductive material.

7. The magnetic inlay according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic matrix continuously fills a volume between and around the plurality of electrically conductive vertical through connections.

8. The magnetic inlay according to claim 1, comprising a hole in the magnetic matrix between a first group and a second group of the plurality of electrically conductive vertical through connections.

9. The magnetic inlay according to claim 1, further comprising: at least one horizontally extending electrically conductive trace on one of or on both opposing main surfaces of the magnetic matrix.

10. The magnetic inlay according to claim 9, wherein the at least one horizontally extending electrically conductive trace and at least one of the electrically conductive vertical through connections are electrically coupled with each other.

11. The magnetic inlay according to claim 10, further comprising: at least one pad electrically coupling the at least one horizontally extending electrically conductive trace and at least one of the electrically conductive vertical through connections.

12. The magnetic inlay according to claim 10, wherein the at least one horizontally extending electrically conductive trace and the at least one of the electrically conductive vertical through connections are connected to form at least one winding, in particular a plurality of windings, more particularly a coil.

13. The magnetic inlay according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic matrix comprises at least one of the group consisting of a rigid solid, and a paste.

14. The magnetic inlay according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic matrix comprises one of the group which consists of: electrically conductive, electrically insulating, partially electrically conductive and partially electrically insulating.

15. The magnetic inlay according to claim 1, wherein a relative magnetic permeability μr of the magnetic matrix is in a range from 2 to 10.sup.6 , in particular 20 to 80.

16. The magnetic inlay according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic matrix comprises at least one material of the group consisting of a ferromagnetic material, a ferrimagnetic material, a permanent magnetic material, a soft magnetic material, a ferrite, a metal oxide, a dielectric matrix, in particular a prepreg, with magnetic particles therein, and an alloy, in particular an iron alloy or alloyed silicon.

17. A component carrier, comprising: a stack comprising at least one electrically conductive layer structure and/or at least one electrically insulating layer structure; and a magnetic inlay assembled to the stack, the magnetic inlay including a magnetic matrix and a plurality of electrically conductive vertical through connections extending vertically through the magnetic matrix.

18. The component carrier according to claim 17, further comprising at least one of the following features: wherein the magnetic inlay is embedded in the stack; wherein the magnetic inlay is surface mounted on the stack; wherein the at least one electrically conductive layer structure is electrically coupled with at least one of the electrically conductive vertical through connections; wherein the at least one electrically conductive layer structure electrically coupled with at least one of the electrically conductive vertical through connections form a coil structure; wherein the component carrier is configured as one of the group consisting of an inductor, a transformer, a wireless charger, a power converter, a DC/DC converter, an AC/DC inverter, a DC/AC inverter, an AC/AC converter, and a current sensor.

19. A method of manufacturing a magnetic inlay, the method comprising: providing a magnetic matrix; and forming a plurality of electrically conductive vertical through connections extending vertically through the magnetic matrix.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising: forming a plurality of through holes in the magnetic matrix, and at least partially filling the through holes with electrically conductive material, in particular wherein the method comprises forming at least one through hole by drilling, in particular by laser drilling or mechanically drilling.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0067] FIG. 1 shows a side view of a component carrier with an embedded magnetic inlay according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

[0068] FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG. 4 show respective top views of the magnetic inlay according to exemplary embodiments of the disclosure.

[0069] FIG. 5 shows a transformer with the magnetic inlay according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

[0070] The illustrations in the drawings are schematically presented. In different drawings, similar or identical elements are provided with the same reference signs.

[0071] Before, referring to the drawings, exemplary embodiments will be described in further detail, some basic considerations will be summarized based on which exemplary embodiments of the disclosure have been developed.

[0072] According to an exemplary embodiment, a simulation of the magnetic properties i) permeability, ii) inductance value, and ii) inductance density, in relation with each other, has been performed. The results of the simulation are shown in Table 1 below. It can be clearly seen that the high permeability (due to a high amount of magnetic material) that is achieved by the magnetic inlay, results in especially high and advantageous inductance and inductance density values. These are significantly higher than in the conventional approaches.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Permeability [μ] 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Inductance [nH] 6.41 11.2 16.1 20.8 25.6 30.5 35.3 40.1 Inductance density [nH/mm.sup.2] 11.24 19.64 28.23 36.47 44.88 53.47 61.89 70.3

[0073] According to an exemplary embodiment, magnetic particle sizes in the magnetic inlay are bigger (which means more magnetic material as well) than in prior art magnetic material and thus, a higher permeability is achieved. A higher inductance in turn enables a higher output efficiency.

[0074] FIG. 1 shows a component carrier 200 according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. The component carrier 200 comprises a layer stack 210 with electrically conductive layer structures 204 and electrically insulating layer structures 202. The center of the component carrier 200 constitutes an insulating core structure 202 (e.g., fully cured resin such as FR4 ) that is covered above and below by insulating resin (prepreg) layers 160. Electrically conductive through connections 250 in the form of vias extend through the core structure 202 and the resin layers 160 to thereby electrically connect a first (top) main surface with an opposite second (bottom) main surface of the component carrier 200. In this example, the vias 250 are implemented as copper-plated through holes filled with an insulating material (e.g., resin). On the top side and of the bottom side, respectively, the vias 250 comprise a pad structure 204 to enable an easy electric connection.

[0075] The magnetic inlay 100 is embedded in the central core structure 202 of the component carrier 200 and is surrounded by the resin material 160. The magnetic inlay 100 can be placed into a (pre-manufactured) cavity in the core structure 202 of the component carrier 200 and can then be embedded (encapsulated) using the resin material 160, e.g., in form of a prepreg. Alternatively, the magnetic inlay 100 can already be surrounded by the resin material 160 and can then be placed in this manner into the cavity. An adhesive resin may be used in order to stick the magnetic inlay to the cavity sidewalls.

[0076] The magnetic inlay 100 comprises a magnetic matrix 110, being a massive magnetic structure with preferably large magnetic particles. This enables an especially high inductance with a relative magnetic permeability p.sub.r in a range from 20 to 10.sup.6.

[0077] Vertically arranged through connections have been already drilled through the magnetic inlay 100 and have been plated with copper in order to provide the electrically conductive through connections 150. In the example shown, the electrically conductive through connections 150 include a surface 151 lined with a metal, e.g., copper and are filled with insulating material 155 (e.g., a resin). Each electrically conductive through connection 150 comprises a horizontally extending electrically conductive trace 120 on one of the opposing main surfaces of the magnetic inlay 100/ the component carrier 200. The electrically conductive traces 120 and the electrically conductive vertical through connections 150 are hereby electrically coupled with each other. The inlay 100 further comprising pads 125 that electrically couple the electrically conductive traces 120 and the electrically conductive vertical through connections 150. The electrically conductive traces 120 and the electrically conductive vertical through connections 150 are connected in order to form a plurality of windings. Such a coil-like structure provides an advantageous inductance value.

[0078] Further, the electrically conductive traces may also be electrically conductive layer structures 204 of the component carrier 200 that are electrically coupled with the electrically conductive vertical through connections 150 of the magnetic inlay 100 to thereby form the coil structure.

[0079] The component carrier 200 and the magnetic inlay 100, respectively, comprise an extension of main direction along the x-axis. A further extension of main direction is along the y-axis but cannot be seen in this 2 D image. An orientation parallel to these extensions of main direction (e.g., the layer stack 210 ) is considered as being horizontal. Perpendicular to the main directions, there is a height extension along the z-axis. An orientation parallel to the height direction (e.g., the vias 250 and the electrically conductive vertical through connections 150 ) is considered as being vertical.

[0080] FIG. 2 shows a top view of the magnetic inlay 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. It can be seen that the plurality of electrically conductive vertical through connections 150 are arranged in a pattern of rows and columns. The magnetic matrix 110 continuously fills a volume between and around the plurality of electrically conductive vertical through connections 150. Further, in this example, the electrically conductive vertical through connections 150 are completely filled with electrically conductive material (copper) 156.

[0081] FIG. 3 shows a top view of the magnetic inlay 100 according to a further exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. In this example, the electrically conductive vertical through connections 150 are provided as a plurality of holes (e.g., five holes) in an essentially oval form, i.e., as slits.

[0082] FIG. 4 shows a top view of the magnetic inlay 100 according to a further exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. In this example, two electrically conductive vertical through connections 150 are electrically conductively connected by an electrically conductive trace 120 arranged on a first main surface of the magnetic inlay 100. These electrically conductive vertical through connections 150 can be further electrically connected to additional vertical through connections 150 by further traces on a second main surface of the magnetic inlay 100, being opposed to the first main surface (shown as dotted lines).

[0083] FIG. 5 shows a transformer 300 with the magnetic inlay 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. The magnetic inlay 100 comprises a hole 111 in the center and the structure of FIG. 4 arranged at the sides of the hole 111, respectively. In other words, the hole 111 in the magnetic matrix 110 is situated between a first group and a second group of the plurality of electrically conductive vertical through connections 150. Because electrically conductive traced 120 and electrically conductive vertical through connections 150 are connected, respectively, to form a plurality of windings, transformer coils can be obtained for proving an efficient transformer device.

[0084] It should be noted that the term “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps and the use of articles “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. Also, elements described in association with different embodiments may be combined.

[0085] 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 variants use the solutions shown and the principle according to the invention even in the case of fundamentally different embodiments.

REFERENCE SIGNS

[0086] 100 magnetic inlay [0087] 110 magnetic matrix [0088] 111 hole [0089] 120 electrically conductive trace [0090] 125 pad [0091] 150 electrically conductive vertical through connection [0092] 151 surface (metal, copper) [0093] 155 electrically insulating material [0094] 156 electrically conductive material [0095] 160 resin layer, prepreg [0096] 200 component carrier [0097] 202 electrically insulating layer structure [0098] 204 electrically conductive layer structure [0099] 210 stack [0100] 250 component carrier via [0101] 300 transformer