Abstract

Laminated multichip modules (MCM-L) are used widely by the electronic packaging industry owing to low cost and availability of mature printed wiring board technology. Lately, the thrust has been towards higher density circuitry to achieve compactness and better performance. This has led to the use of finer lines and spacings, smaller drilled holes and buried vias in MCM-L laminates, raising concerns about certain failure mechanisms such as conductive filament formation.

The paper aims at discussing conductive filament formation and its impact on the reliability of MCM-L. Experimental studies are presented for MCM-L laminates to study the effect of critical design parameters of this failure mechanism.