Development of High-Quality LTCC Solenoid Inductor using Solder ball and Air Cavity for 3-D SiP

In this paper, a high-quality low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) solenoid inductor using a solder ball and an air cavity on a silicon wafer for three-dimensional (3-D) system-in-package (SiP) is proposed. The LTCC multilayer solenoid inductor is attached using Ag paste and solder ball on a silicon wafer with the air cavity structure. The air cavity is formed on a silicon wafer through an anisotropic wet-etching technology and is able to isolate the LTCC dielectric loss which is equivalent to a low k material effect. The electrical coupling between the metal layer and the LTCC dielectric layer is decreased by adopting the air cavity. The LTCC solenoid inductor using the solder ball and the air cavity on silicon wafer has an improved Q factor and self-resonant frequency (SRF) by reducing the LTCC dielectric resistance and parasitic capacitance. Also, 3-D device stacking technologies provide an effective path to the miniaturization of electronic systems.