Active solid-state devices (e.g. – transistors – solid-state diode – Housing or package – For plural devices
Reexamination Certificate
2003-04-16
2004-08-10
Potter, Roy (Department: 2822)
Active solid-state devices (e.g., transistors, solid-state diode
Housing or package
For plural devices
C257S693000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06774483
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a semiconductor assembly with a semiconductor module, in which unpackaged semiconductor chips are connected directly to a board substrate, the semiconductor assembly integrating the semiconductor module by a module holder.
Previous electronics boards loaded with integrated circuits include the actual printed circuit board, usually a flat board with conductor tracks that is produced from synthetic resin with integrated glass fibers and to which the integrated circuit components are applied individually or in a stacked form, these components having not only the actual, metallic semiconductor chip but also packages. The semiconductor chips are electrically connected to the board by connecting elements on the packages, such as contact feet or contact balls, with corresponding contact areas of the conductor tracks. In the course of the progressive miniaturization of components or the steadily increasing integration density of components in a given surface area of a printed circuit board (for example, in the data processing sector), the restrictions with regard to the usability of customary packaged semiconductor devices are also increasing, however. This is particularly marked in the case of semiconductor modules, for instance, DRAM, SDRAM, or RAMBUS memories, because only given maximum sizes are available for these on account of specifications arising from efforts by the manufacturers of data processing systems to achieve standardization.
Main memory modules are generally inserted in edge connectors provided for them on so-called main boards, which, likewise, contain the processor and the electronic components for activating peripheral devices. Such memory modules include a small board. Mounted on the small board are the individual memory devices, which are attached on the board by their packages and are electrically connected to conductor tracks located on the board. The boards in the memory modules have at one edge a contact strip, at which the conductor tracks are led to the outside and with which the board can be pushed into the edge connectors of main boards. These connections are standardized to ensure any desired exchangeability of memory modules on different main boards. In the case of other electronic equipment, such as integrated equipment or controllers, similar sets of requirements exist for memory devices or other components. For instance, extender modules with a functionality extending an item of equipment, for example, a modem or an I/O board, can be inserted into slots provided for them, the modules having a similar construction to the memory devices described above.
In all these cases, the space available for the insertion modules is limited because the width is limited to a maximum value by the edge connector and further requirements of the equipment manufacturers and the height is usually limited to a maximum value by further components mounted on top, or by air circulation problems etc. With previous integration techniques of packaged semiconductor components on such memory modules, limits of integration density are encountered even if the board substrates are loaded with components on both sides. The high number of individually packaged semiconductors located on customary memory modules also increases the probability of defects of a corresponding module, either directly during manufacture or in later operation. For the purpose of further increasing the integration density, it would, therefore, be desirable to introduce a concept by which the spatial limitations of previous approaches are overcome and with which the capability of eliminating defects is improved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a semiconductor assembly with a semiconductor module that overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type and that applies the metallic semiconductor chips to a board substrate directly, that is, without previously accommodating them in a package, and leading the contacts of these semiconductors to the outside at one edge by conductor tracks.
With the foregoing and other objects in view, there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a semiconductor assembly, including at least one semiconductor module having a board substrate having conductor tracks, an edge, and at least one contact strip with connection contact areas electrically connected to at least some of the conductor tracks, the at least one contact strip disposed at the edge, and at least one unpackaged semiconductor chip mounted on the substrate and electrically connected to at least some of the conductor tracks, and a module holder having a plug-in connector to be electrically connected to other components, the plug-in connector having electrical contacts, at least one mating contact strip removably receiving the at least one contact strip for electrically connecting the at least one contact strip, and electrical conductors disposed between the contact areas of the at least one semiconductor module and the electrical contacts of the plug-in connector for electrically connecting the contact areas of the at least one semiconductor module and the electrical contacts of the plug-in connector.
With the objects of the invention in view, there is also provided a semiconductor assembly, including at least one semiconductor module having a board substrate having conductor tracks, electrical contacts, an edge, and at least one contact strip with connection contact areas electrically connected to at least some of the conductor tracks, the at least one contact strip disposed at the edge, and at least one unpackaged semiconductor chip mounted on the substrate and electrically connected to at least some of the conductor tracks through the electrical contacts, and a module holder having a plug-in connector to be electrically connected to other components, the plug-in connector having electrical contacts, at least one mating contact strip removably receiving the at least one contact strip for electrically connecting the at least one mating contact strip to the at least one contact strip, and electrical conductors disposed between the contact areas of the at least one semiconductor module and the electrical contacts of the plug-in connector for electrically connecting the contact areas of the at least one semiconductor module and the electrical contacts of the plug-in connector.
An unpackaged semiconductor chip is to be understood for the purposes of the invention as meaning the platelet of a semiconductor, with the incorporated integrated circuit, obtained directly after wafer processing. The invention is based on Board on Chip—Backside Protect (BOC BSP), which was developed by Infineon AG and was originally developed to manufacture “ball grid array” components.
The semiconductor module has a board substrate with conductor tracks and one or more unpackaged semiconductor chips mounted on the substrate, which are connected to conductor tracks on the substrate by electrical contacts. The substrate has at one edge at least one contact strip with connection contact areas, which are connected to at least some of the semiconductor tracks. A board substrate is to be understood here for the purposes of the invention as meaning any preferably sheet-like formation that is capable of being provided with conductor tracks and of receiving the unpackaged semiconductor chips. Conductor tracks are to be understood as meaning flat metal strips that extend on or in the board substrate and serve for conducting electrical signals from and to the various electronic components on the board substrate. An unpackaged semiconductor chip is to be understood as meaning a semiconductor, for example, an integrated circuit, in which the metallic chip is not surrounded by a package. It is, consequently, the chip as obtained immediately after individual separation and, possibly, subsequent treatment of the individual elements of the wafer. Such a semiconductor chip generally
Högerl Jürgen
Syri Erich
Greenberg Laurence A.
Infineon - Technologies AG
Mayback Gregory L.
Potter Roy
Stemer Werner H.
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