AMETEK Electronic Components and Packaging manufactures “hermetic” electronic packages which are containers for semiconductor microcircuit devices. The electronic package is used to provide a “protective housing” for thick and thin film substrates onto which hybrid circuitry and semiconductor devices have been mounted. The electronic package protects delicate semiconductor circuitry against environmental conditions and provides thermal solutions such as heat sinks. The electronic package also provides an “interconnect” between the nanoscale integrated circuits wirebonded to the interior of the package and the large scale pins, leads or pads on the exterior of the package. Thus the electronic package provides a “hermetic interconnection” between the semiconductor device inside and the printed wiring board or socket.
AMETEK offers both glass-to-metal seal and ceramic-to-metal seal technology to its customers. Depending on the application, weight, thermal solution and material requirements, AMETEK can help you design a package using one of these technologies to best meet your requirements.
Glass-to-Metal Seal Packages
Traditional glass-to-metal seal packages include:
Ceramic-to-Metal Packages, including Power Surface Mounts
AMETEK offers ceramic-to-metal packages, including the use of ceramic feedthroughs, Power Surface Mount technology and high temperature cofired ceramic (HTCC) technology.
- Custom Flatpacks
- Custom Pin Grid Array Packages
- Custom Infrared Headers
- *Power Surface Mounts (Catalogue Designs)
- Custom CNC Machined Housings with Feedthrough
- Custom Multichip Modules
- Custom RF Housings
- Custom Fiber Optic Packages
* For our surface mount technology, AMETEK Electronic Components and Packaging developed and patented a true power surface mountable device. This design is a very low thermally resistive, highly efficient, small, hermetic,
Power Surface Mount.
High Temperature Cofired Ceramic Packages
General Ceramics product line has advanced the ceramic industry by introducing the latest HTCC designs in applications requiring robust ceramic seals.
This capability has provided design solutions in applications requiring a more robust seal, which previously used only glass to metal seal technology.
Ceramic packages exceed the design barriers of glass to metal seal packages due to superior hermetic performance in high stress environments requiring a robust seal. Ametek’s HTCC process uses ceramic wafers (tape), starting from ceramic powders blended using a proprietary Aluminum Oxide formula. High conductivity thick film metalization inks are custom blended using tungsten and molymanganese. This technology is capable of providing multiple ceramic layers in a variety of thicknesses. Designs using up to 74 layers have been produced; however, a practical upper limit is 25. The layer process uses high pressure and heat to laminate the tape layers prior to "co firing" the metalization and ceramic at temperatures in excess of 1500 degrees Celsius. The result is a strong, monolithic high temperature cofired ceramic structure.
Some of the benefits discovered from use of high temperature cofired ceramic packages include:
- A more robust hermetic seal for higher assembly yield.
- A coplanar wirebond surface for “automatic” wirebonding.
- Cofired ceramic packages allow higher lead pull strength for improved assembly yield, and higher lead density, allowing lead spacing as low as 0.020 inch centerline (versus 0.050 inch for glass seal technology).
- Due to a need for high vacuum integrity and miniaturization of I/O terminals, infrared applications need HTCC feedthroughs to provide design solutions for next second generation fiber optic telecommunication packages, night vision, seeker and fire-control systems. A similar design approach has also been qualified for phased array radar MMIC modules.
- Ceramic packages and ceramic feedthroughs designed for 25 and 50 ohm controlled impedance signals up to 50 GHz are possible.
AMETEK is the largest and most technologically advanced provider with the broadest range of products and design services.