Abstract:
A peripheral electronic system for an electronic device including a motherboard having multiple individual electrically connected vertically stacked modules, at least one of which is a circuit board assembly including active and/or passive electronic components embedded therein with the components being electrically connected by conductive traces to provide desired operating function. The peripheral electronic system further includes an electrical connector array on an exposed surface of the composite structure to provide electrical connections between the peripheral electronic system and the motherboard.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     The present application is based on and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/552,143, filed on Mar. 11, 2004, entitled EMBEDDED POWER MANAGEMENT CONTROL CIRCUIT, the entire contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates broadly to compact assemblies of semiconductor electronic systems, and more particularly, to such systems in which compactness is achieved by embedding active and passive electronic devices in circuit boards of constituent subsystems which are then assembled in vertical stacks. One specific application of this invention is to power management control circuit modules which can be assembled with power converters for use in small, portable electronic devices. Alternatively, the embedded power management control circuit may be modified for use in circuits containing a power transistor device and controller. Such applications include audio class D circuits, half bridge and full bridge motor control applications and lighting circuits. For the purposes hereof, the term “embedded” is to be understood to mean buried within a substrate or carrier.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Portable electronic devices, such as cell phones and computers, need efficient power management control circuits that occupy little volume. Such circuits may include power transistors, integrated circuits, resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, wiring, sensors and comparators.  
         [0004]     Conventional assembly of such power control circuits on printed circuit boards consume excessive volume and area. As functionality increases, the demand for volume reduction becomes increasingly important.  
         [0005]     Use of embedded passive devices, such as resistors and capacitors, is known. By embedding active and/or passive devices in a circuit board, valuable real estate on the surface of the circuit board is conserved for active semiconductor devices.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     An embedded power management control circuit according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises a control board module assembled with an integrated circuit power converter in a vertical stack for attachment to a motherboard of a handheld device. The control board module, including a power transistor such as a field effect transistor (FET), and/or an integrated circuit mounted below the power supply integrated circuit, saving space on the motherboard of the device. Passive devices (e.g., resistors, capacitors and inductors) may also be embedded in the control board module saving additional real estate on the motherboard of the device. For example a circuit containing a MOSFET, IC and passive components may be embedded within a carrier having a land grid array pad arrangement that may be soldered to a mother board. A heatsink may be attached to the assembly in order to increase the heat dissipation to the ambient surrounding the embedded components.  
         [0007]     One object of the present invention is to package a peripheral electronic system for a small portable electronic apparatus in a module which exhibits a small footprint and small volume.  
         [0008]     A more particular object of the invention is to provide such a compact peripheral electronic system which can serve as a power converter and power control module for convenient attachment to a motherboard in a small electronic device such as a cell phone or the like.  
         [0009]     According to a first aspect of the invention, a peripheral electronic system for an electronic device having a motherboard includes a composite structure with a plurality of individual electrically connected vertically stacked modules, at least one of which is comprised of a circuit board assembly including active and/or passive electronic components embedded therein with the components being electrically connected by conductive traces to provide desired operating function, and further includes an electrical connector array on an exposed surface of the composite structure adapted to provide electrical connections between the peripheral electronic system and the motherboard.  
         [0010]     According to a second aspect of the invention, an electronic device includes a peripheral electronic system according to the first aspect, and also a motherboard, with the motherboard and the peripheral electronic system connected together electrically by the electrical connector array.  
         [0011]     According to a third aspect of the invention, a method of assembling a peripheral electronic system for an electronic device including a motherboard and the peripheral electronic system, the method comprising the steps of fabricating a first module in the form of a circuit board including a first group of electronic components embedded therein and electrically interconnected by embedded conductive traces to provide a first part of the functionality of the peripheral electronic system, then encapsulating the circuit board while leaving an exposed electrical connecting structure, fabricating a second module including a second group of electronic components embedded therein which are electrically connected to provide the second part of the functionality of the peripheral electronic system, then encapsulating the second module while leaving an exposed second electrical connecting structure, assembling the first and second encapsulated module in a vertical stack with the first sand second electrical connection structures providing electrical connection between the first and second modules; and providing a third electrical connecting structure on an exposed surface of one of the vertically stacked modules, which is adapted for electrically connecting the assembled modules to the motherboard.  
         [0012]     According to a fifth aspect of the invention, a method assembling an electronic device including a motherboard and a peripheral electronic system, comprises assembling the peripheral electronic subsystem according to the method of the fourth aspect of the invention, and electrically attaching the third connecting structure on the peripheral electronic system to the motherboard. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  illustrates a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIGS. 2A-2F  illustrate cross-sectional views showing a process for embedding active semiconductor devices.  
         [0015]      FIGS. 3A-3I  illustrate a process for embedding passive devices.  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  shows a circuit diagram for one embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  shows a circuit board assembly according to the invention with an attached heat sink.  
         [0018]      FIGS. 6A-6C  show contact pattern layers for one embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0019]     An embedded power management point of load delivery control circuit assembly  10  is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . A control board  14  is interposed between a power integrated circuit  12 , such as a d-c to d-c power converter, and a motherboard  15  of an electronic device. For example, the electronic device may be a small cellular phone, which requires optimal use of the printed circuit board real estate in order to reduce the size of the device.  
         [0020]     The power IC  12  may contain control circuitry for a synchronous buck converter, a control MOSFET, a synchronous MOSFET, over-current/over-voltage protection and over-temperature protection. Alternatively, power IC  12  maybe a power supply module of any other suitable or desired architecture and construction. Embedded passive devices, such as resistors, capacitors and inductors may be added in layers appended to the die surface. Power transistors such as field effect transistors (FETs) are embedded in control board  14  interposed between the power IC and the motherboard.  
         [0021]     A suitable process for assembling control board  14  with embedded active semiconductor devices is shown in  FIGS. 2A-2F , but it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the illustrated process. In  FIG. 2A , an electrically insulating mask layer  22  is applied to a conductive layer  24  which may be conductive surface on a insulating layer  21  of a conventional ball grid array  23  (see  FIG. 1 ) or a land grid array style package. Conductive layer  24  may alternatively be a copper foil of a direct bonded copper (DBC) element, the upper conductive component of an insulated metal substrate (EMS) or a copper foil element used in a printed wiring board. Alternatively the conductive layer may form part of a complex leadframe assembly such as those used in power electronics applications.  
         [0022]     As the next step, as shown in  FIG. 2B , a conductive adhesive  26  is applied to at least a portion of the exposed conductive surface  24  as defined by a mask layer  22  such as a conventional solder mask. The conductive adhesive  26  may be a solder or an electrically conductive epoxy die attach adhesive, or any other suitable or desired material, applied, for example, by screen printing.  
         [0023]     In the next step, as shown in  FIG. 2C , an active semiconductor device  28 , such as a FET or IC, is mounted such that electrical contact is made between electrodes  71 ,  73  on one major surface of the semiconductor device and the conductive adhesive  26 . For example, the semiconductor device may be connected by contact pads on its surface. This surface may contain a solderable metal or metal containing adhesive, an array of solder bumps or an array of metallic or polymeric studs, or any other suitable or desired structure. The other major surface  75  is a metallization on the body of die  77 . For a power device, this may be the back metallization, for an IC, this can be metallization on the electrodes. Likewise , other semiconductor and passive devices such as diodes, MESFETs or IGBT&#39;s, capacitors, resistors or inductors may be mounted and spaced in relationship to device  28 . For example, as shown in  FIG. 8A-8D  a resistor  79  and a second MOSFET  78  device may be placed on the adhesive  26  deposited on the copper foil  24 .  
         [0024]     Then, semiconductor device  28  and spaced devices  78  and  79  may be embedded in an electrically insulating encapsulant  21 , such as a pre-preg adhesive bonding ply or similar adhesive film and a laminated core  23  formed of a dielectric backed copper foil or simply a copper foil may be applied, as shown in  FIG. 2D . The resulting control board  14  module is illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 E. Conductive layer  24  may be etched at  29  to define contacts and wire traces as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 F. Wire traces  25  and pads  27  may be incorporated in laminated core  23  either before or after incorporation in control board  14  by any suitable or desired process, such as by drilling holes, followed by metallization and patterning.  
         [0025]     To add further layers of passive and/or other active semiconductor devices to either surface of the control board, the fabrication process described above in connection with  FIGS. 2A-2F  is repeated, with connections between layers made by metallized vias, as described in more detail below.  
         [0026]      FIGS. 3A-3I  illustrate an example of a process for embedding passive devices in a structure such as control board  14 .  FIG. 3A  illustrates an embedded IC device  30 , for example, a control IC, with contact pads  31  on one of its surfaces. In  FIG. 3B , a passivation layer  33  is shown applied over contact pads  31 . A portion of the passivation layer  33  is then removed, such as by etching, to expose at least some of the contact pads  31  (see  FIG. 3C ). Next a metallization layer  50 , for example in the form of electroplated copper, is applied to the surface of IC  30  over contact pads  31 , as shown in  FIGS. 3D , and patterned by etching, to produce conductive pattern tracks  35  as shown in  FIG. 3E . Other suitable processes for creating the pattern tracks shown in  FIG. 3E  include vapor deposition, sputtering or screen printing.  
         [0027]     Alternatively, a nonmetallic, conductive pattern may be used in place of the patterned metallization layer. For example, an electrically conductive paste may be printed on the surface to form the desired contact pattern  35  and subsequently cured.  
         [0028]     Next, passive components  32 ,  34  may be deposited on or between the tracks of contact pattern  35 , such as by screen printing a resistive paste  32  or a dielectric paste  34  for resistors and capacitors, respectively. Similarly an inductor may be formed by a spiral pattern in copper layer  50 .  
         [0029]     An electrically insulating material having a high dielectric constant, such as a polymer/ceramic composite is printed on the surface of a first electrically conductive contact and a second electrically conductive contact is positioned opposite of the first electrically conductive contact sandwiching the electrically insulating material between the two conductive contacts.  
         [0030]     In  FIG. 3G , a second passivation layer  37  is applied, and portions of the passivation are removed to reveal pattern tracks  35  and contacts  31  for the underlying passive components  32  and  34 , and IC  30 . Subsequent steps of plating and etching and/or printing may be used to build up additional layers of passive electronic components as required. Additional layers of passivation and conductive traces may be applied to build up and form a pad grid array  39  having electrically conducting contact pads  36  separated by an insulating grid  38 , as shown in  FIG. 3I . This pad grid array  39  may be used with balls of solder in a conventional ball grid array for connecting the integrated circuit  30  and passive components  32 ,  34  with another circuit board or a semiconductor device, as shown in  FIG. 1 , for example.  
         [0031]     The resulting three-dimensional structure of active and passive components, when electrically connected to an external circuit such as motherboard  15 , can be used to provide embedded power management control with minimum utilization of motherboard area.  
         [0032]     As an example of an embedded semiconductor device constructed according to the principles of this invention,  FIG. 4  shows a circuit diagram of a control board  14  including an IC  40  which functions as a half-bridge gate driver, and one or more embedded MOSFET or IGBT devices  6  and  7  of which control the current flow between the positive and negative DC rails (DC+ and DC− or GND) and the output node  125  connected to a motor. Also included are an embedded bootstrap capacitor  41 , a bootstrap resistor  43  and a diode  45  which forms part of the bootstrap circuit required to drive the high side MOSFET  121 , and embedded resistors  101 - 106  which control the current into and out of the gates of the power devices  6  and  7 . It should be noted that the circuit diagram is intended to be a generic one that represents a typical half bridge. Resistors  101  through  106  may not be present on all driver circuits. One terminal of each of the resistors  101  through  103  are connected to the gate of the high side device  7 . The opposite terminals of each resistor are connected to individual pins on the control IC  40 . Resistors  104  through  106  are connected in a similar configuration but to the gate of the low side device  6 . Bootstrap capacitor  41 , bootstrap resistor  43  and diode  45  are electrically connected to the half-bridge gate driver integrated circuit  40  by integrated wire traces, contact pads and ball grid arrays.  
         [0033]     In one application, by connecting embedded bootstrap capacitor  41  in parallel with an electrolytic tank bootstrap capacitor (not shown), capacitor  41  can act as a fast charge tank for the gate charge only and the electrolytic tank capacitor keeps the voltage ripple (ΔV BS ) across the parallel bootstrap capacitors within acceptable limits. Alternatively, embedded bootstrap capacitors  41  may be used without an electrolytic tank capacitor if the limitations of using only ceramic or polymer/ceramic capacitors as the bootstrap capacitor  41  are acceptable.  
         [0034]     Selecting the value of bootstrap capacitor  41  is known to limit duty-cycle and on-time of the power MOSFETs, because the charge on the bootstrap capacitor  41  must be refreshed periodically. Specific sizing of bootstrap capacitors  41  is known in the art, as described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/696,711, filed Oct. 29, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,859,087, issued Feb. 22, 2005. The capacitance size of an embedded bootstrap capacitor  41  is defined by the area, thickness and dielectric constant of the insulating layer, for example. Thus, the embedded bootstrap capacitor  41  may be sized and the dielectric constant selected such that the embedded capacitor  41  or capacitors meet the requirements for a bootstrap capacitor  41  of the power management control device  10 .  
         [0035]     Wiring traces and wiring contacts may be provided by the embedding process described above such that embedded capacitor  41  is electrically coupled, along with as a bootstrap capacitor for an integrated power management control circuit including completing the bootstrap circuit, as shown in  FIG. 4 .  
         [0036]     The MOSFETs  6 ,  7  of  FIG. 4  may be any power transistor. For example, an insulating gate bipolar transistor IGBT, such as IRGP30B120K(D), and IRG4PH30K(D) manufactured by International Rectifier Corporation may be used. Preferably, the MOSFETs embedded in the control boards are a Flip FET or FETKY devices which may be mounted using automated pick and place equipment. Alternatively, these devices may be any MOSFET with a suitable surface contact that may be attached to tracking layer  24 .  
         [0037]     A heat sink ( 150 ) may be attached to one or more surfaces of control board  14 . Preferably, the thermal resistance between the heat sink and the heat-generating devices such as diodes  120 - 123  and power transistors  6 ,  7  is reduced by making thermal pathways to the embedded heat-generating devices. For example, thermal pathways may be provided by placing heat-generating devices near one of the surfaces of the control board, by using thermally conductive materials to conduct heat from the surface of the heat-generating device or both. The heat sink may be used for both embedded and non-embedded heat-generating devices.  FIG. 5  illustrates a heat sink  150  sandwiched between a control board  152  and another non-embedded device  154 .  
         [0038]      FIGS. 6A-6C  are examples of three possible contact pattern layers that maybe used to couple embedded passive electronic components such as resistors  43  and  101 - 106 , diodes  45 ,  120 ,  122  and capacitor  41 . For example, the process described in connection with  FIGS. 3A-3I  may be used to build up embedded passive components connected by the contact pattern shown in  FIGS. 6A and 6B . The contact layer of  FIG. 6A  is disposed above the contact layer shown in  FIG. 6B , which is disposed above the contact layer shown in  FIG. 6C . In one example, high side voltage V EH  is coupled to a first wire trace segment  70 , as shown in  FIG. 6B . The first wire trace segment  70  is coupled to a second wire trace segment  72  by a third wire trace segment  71 , the third segment being disposed on the contact layer shown in  FIG. 6A . By coupling these segments  70 ,  71 ,  72  in this manner, these wire traces  70 ,  71 ,  72  avoid making electrical contact with another wire trace segment  73 , which is shown in  FIG. 6B . Thus, an embedded power management control circuit  10  may be coupled to embedded passive devices by a three-dimensional network formed by coupling a plurality of contact pattern layers, each disposed at least partially above the other. In one example, stacking each of the contact layers  31 ,  33 ,  35  disposes each layer directly above the other, providing a circuit board surface no larger than that required for the active semiconductive devices that are to be mounted on the control board  14 , such as a power integrated circuit  12 . By limiting the area of the control board  14 , valuable real estate on the surface of the motherboard (not shown) is conserved.  
         [0039]     Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.