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Ultra-Thin Substrate with Integrated ESD Protection

November 15, 2016 by Power Pulse1595211359

During a press conference at last week's electronica 2016 trade fail in Munich, TDK Corporation presented a product road map for its CeraPad™, a new ultra-thin ceramic substrate that features integrated ESD protection within its multilayer structure and eliminates the need for discrete ESD components. The innovative substrate meets the demands for maximum miniaturization coupled with the best ESD protection and thus enables highest degree of ESD integration in sensitive applications.

CeraPad’s ESD strength of up to 25kV is more than three times higher than the standard 8kV of state-of-the-art Zener diodes. Moreover, the ceramic substrate features a high thermal conductivity of 22W/mK that is more than three times better than that of conventional carriers, even though it is significantly slimmer with a thickness of just 300µm to 400µm. Depending on customer requirements, the CeraPad contact pads can be designed for both standard SAC (Sn/Ag/Cu, 260 degrees C) reflow processes and eutectic bonding (AuSn, 320 degrees C).

The new technology is especially well-suited for LED applications where the number and density of LEDs per unit continues to grow. CeraPad enables customized chip-scale packages (CSP) for standard LED elements from CSP1515 down to CSP0707. A further advantage is CeraPad's low coefficient of thermal expansion (6 ppm/mK), which is almost identical to that of LEDs. As a result, there is nearly no mechanical stress between substrate and LED when temperature changes.

Similar to printed circuit boards, CeraPad’s multilayer technology can be leveraged to design a kind of integrated circuit by interconnecting the internal redistribution layers with vias. As a rule, today’s matrix LEDs consist of several dual LEDs connected in series. By contrast, the new CeraPad module now enables for the first time a new kind of LED matrix array with up to hundreds of LED light points that can be individually controlled. Application designers will be able to use this technology to create innovative high resolution and safety-relevant light effects in the smallest of spaces, for example in multiple LED flashes in smartphones or in adaptive headlights in cars.

With CeraPad TDK offers attractive customer-specific packaging solutions that address the future challenges of rising IC sensitivity, giving customers a promising new way to focus on light design and increasing the light efficiency of LEDs. Main applications of CeraPad are expected to include: LED systems in automobile headlights and smartphone flashes, and automotive ECUs, smartphones and tablets.