Apparatus and methods for packaging dielectric resonator antennas with integrated circuit chips

• US 20070164420A1
• Filed: 01/19/2006
• Published: 07/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pfeiffer, Ullrich, Liu, Duixian, Gaucher, Brian, Zwick, Thomas, Chen, Zhi
• Granted Patent: US 7,504,721 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 257/691
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2223/6677 for antenna, e.g. antenna included within housing of semiconductor device antennas per se H01Q
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/16225 the item being non-metallic, e.g. insulating substrate with or without metallisation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/16245 the item being metallic
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48091 Arched
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48247 connecting the wire to a bond pad of the item
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/5227 Inductive arrangements or effects of, or between, wiring layers other inductive arrangements H01L23/645
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/16 the devices being of types provided for in two or more different main groups of groups H01L27/00 - H01L33/00, or in a single subclass of H10K, H10N, e.g. forming hybrid circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00014 the subject-matter covered by the group, the symbol of which is combined with the symbol of this group, being disclosed without further technical details
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/09701 Low temperature co-fired ceramic [LTCC]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/15311 being a ball array, e.g. BGA
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/3011 Impedance
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/3025 Electromagnetic shielding
• CPC Class Codes: H01P 7/10 Dielectric resonators
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2283 mounted in or on the surface of a semiconductor substrate as a chip-type antenna or integrated with other components into an IC package
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/0485 Dielectric resonator antennas

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are provided for integrally packaging antenna devices with semiconductor IC (integrated circuit) chips, wherein IC chips are packaged with dielectric resonators antennas that are integrally constructed as part of a package molding (encapsulation) process, for example, to form compact integrated radio/wireless communications systems for millimeter wave applications.

Claims

1. An electronic apparatus, comprising:

an IC (integrated circuit) chip; and

a DRA (dielectric resonator antenna), wherein the IC chip and DRA are integrally packaged together in a chip-scale scale package.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the integrated DRA comprises a core dielectric resonator formed of a first dielectric material, and a dielectric shell formed of a second dielectric material surrounding the core dielectric resonator.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first dielectric material has a first dielectric constant and the second material has a second dielectric constant, wherein the first dielectric constant is greater than the second dielectric constant.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the core dielectric resonator and dielectric shell are formed by injection molding.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the dielectric shell is molded to form a package cover.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the IC chip is mounted to a package frame and wherein the core dielectric resonator is stacked on an active surface of the IC chip and wherein an antenna feed network is integrally formed on the IC chip.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising a package substrate, wherein the IC chip is mounted to a first region of the substrate and wherein the core dielectric resonator is mounted to a second region of the substrate adjacent the first region and wherein an antenna feed network is formed on a surface of the substrate between the first and second regions.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the DRA is formed of stacked layers of different dielectric materials.

9. An electronic package apparatus, comprising:

a package frame;

an IC (integrated circuit) chip mounted to the package frame, the IC chip having an antenna feed network formed on an active surface thereof;

a dielectric resonator antenna stacked on the active surface of the IC chip and aligned to a portion of the feed network; and

a package cover.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the dielectric resonator antenna is formed by injection molding using a first dielectric material.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the package cover is an encapsulation material that is formed by injection molding using a second dielectric material, wherein the second dielectric material surrounds the first dielectric material.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first dielectric material has a first dielectric constant and the second dielectric material has a second dielectric constant, wherein the first dielectric constant is greater than the second dielectric constant.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the dielectric resonator antenna has at least one surface that interfaces with air or a vacuum.

14. An electronic package apparatus, comprising:

a package substrate;

an IC (integrated circuit) chip mounted to a first region of the package substrate;

a dielectric resonator antenna stacked on a second region of the package substrate adjacent the first region;

a feed network formed on the package substrate between the first and second regions; and

a package cover.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the dielectric resonator antenna is formed by injection molding using a first dielectric material.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the package cover is an encapsulation material that is formed by injection molding using a second dielectric material, wherein the second dielectric material surrounds the first dielectric material.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first dielectric material has a first dielectric constant and the second dielectric material has a second dielectric constant, wherein the first dielectric constant is greater than the second dielectric constant.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the dielectric resonator antenna has at least one surface that interfaces with air or a vacuum.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the dielectric resonator antenna is formed of stacked layers of different dielectric materials.

20. A method for constructing an electronic package apparatus, comprising integrally packaging an IC chip and DRA (dielectric resonator antenna) together in a chip-scale package.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein integrally packaging comprises:

mounting the IC chip to a package frame; and

forming a dielectric resonator antenna to be in electrical communication with the IC chip through an antenna feed network; and

forming a package cover.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein forming the dielectric resonator antenna comprises forming a core dielectric resonator using injection molding.