We have developed a high-density wiring interposer for 10 Gbps signal propagation using a photosensitive polyimide. We optimized the basic properties of the photosensitive polyimide film and the lift-off process for the metal layer using an image-reversal-patterned negative photoresist for the fabrication of the interposer. We experimentally confirmed that the high-density wiring interposer could be fabricated using the polyimide and gold multilayered structure. Fine metal wiring were smoothly covered by the polyimide, as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the cross section of the fabricated balance pair strip line structure.
IntroductionWith the improvement in the operational speed and integration density of LSI chips, high-performance digital electronic systems have been realized. The clock frequency of a CPU-LSI chip exceeds the GHz range. However, to realize a computing system with a higher performnance, the high-speed signal propagation perfornance of not only the LSI chips of computing systems but also LSI packages and interconnects must be improved. To obtain high-speed signal transmission in LSI packages and interconnects, the line impedance should be matched, the wiring material should have a high electric conductivity and the insulating material should have a low relative dielectric constant and low dielectric tangent loss. Figure I shows a diagram of LSI packages and interconnects. Figure 1(a) shows a system on a printed wiring board (SoB) which is made up of LSI chips mounted on a printed wiring board. High-speed signal propagation is limited on the SoB because of wiring length. Therefore, to realize high-speed signal propagation in LSI packages and interconnects, 3D LSI packages using a (a) LSI chip _4 IIIII Prnnted wiring board LSI pacaKage (b) Slchip 7~g-density nterposer LSIlch' g crc-se wiring Lowak organi insulation film Fig. I LSI packages and interconnects are shown. (a) a system on a printed wiring board (SoB) (b) 3D LSI packages by using the high-density interposer.high-density interposer, as shown in Fig. 1(b), are expected. This high-density interposer is composed of micron-sized wirings and low-k organic insulation films for high-speed signal propagation.Polyimide is one of the most stable organic polymers because it has a decomposition temperature exceeding 400 'C. Good electric properties of a high breakdown voltage (more than I MV/cm) and a low relative dielectric constant sr (less than 3) have already been achieved. Therefore, polyimide is extensively used, particularly in electronic packaging and LSI passivation layers. Additionally, by conferring photosensitivity to polyimide, it is possible to simplify the patterning process. The resulting photosensitive polyimide becomes the insulation layer after undergoing a conventional photolithographic process, without the dry-etching process. However, a conventional photosensitive polyimide, which is based on the polyimide precursor of polyamic acid, does not realize micron-sized fine patterns because of the pattern shrinkage...