SBIR Phase I: Nanoparticles Based Embedded Passive Capacitors (nCAPTM) for Enabling Advance Microelectronics Manufacturing

这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)项目将探索应用新型BaTiO3纳米粒子的可行性和优势，并展示利用纳米粒子的静电定向组装制造的嵌入式去耦合电容器(NCAP)。最先进的埋入式电容器大多是含有高介电性材料的微复合材料，例如作为填料分散剂的BaTiO_3在环氧聚合物基质中。分散剂的粒径从几微米到几十微米不等，这限制了嵌入电容器膜的厚度。此外，由于铁电BaTiO3颗粒的随机排列，总体介电常数比高k填充物(数千)更接近聚合物的极低介电常数(约4)。电容器极板之间的电场将介质看作串联的高相和低相，串联的电容器的总体值比任何一个电容器都低。我们建议探索一种独特的静电喷涂(ESC)方法来沉积分散在环氧聚合物中的纳米BaTiO_3颗粒，以用于铁电颗粒的定向(分层)组装。在ESC工艺中，纳米粒子在沉积前充电，以激活纳米粒子在电容器衬底的金属接地板上的定向自组装。在该分层组件中，电场将该排列视为高k相和低k相并行，导致它们的值被相加，并允许更高的整体介电值。例如，如果聚合物相k=4.6(普通FR4)，铁电粉末相k=10,000，则设计的总体介电常数将为5,000-7,000。此外，纳米分散剂陶瓷的使用将有助于将这些复合材料加工成更薄的薄膜。NCAPTM将沉积在金属涂层的环氧聚合物基板上，这是我们的制造合作伙伴杜邦公司的主要兴趣所在，杜邦公司是美国领先的微电子封装材料制造商。在商业上，如果成功，这项NCAP创新将帮助电子封装材料制造商克服目前由于低介电性能而提供的限制。拟议的项目将推动无源器件制造的最先进水平。一个成功的结果将推动向更小、更强大的电子设备发展的趋势。社会影响包括可能的好处，如改进的通信系统、便携式医疗设备和许多其他消费者和战略应用，如生物医学、便携式数据助理和笔记本电脑、无线通信、能量存储等。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will explore feasibility and demonstrateadvantages of the application of novel BaTiO3 nanoparticles based embedded decouplingcapacitors (nCAP) fabricated using electrostatic directed assembly of the nanoparticles. The state-of-the-art embedded capacitors are mostly microcomposites involving high dielectric materials such as BaTiO3 as filler dispersant in the epoxy polymer matrix. The dispersant particle size ranges from few-to-tens of microns, which limits the thickness of the embedded capacitor films. Moreover, due to the random arrangement of ferroelectric BaTiO3 particles, the overall dielectric constant is much closer to the very low value of the polymer (around 4) than the high-k filler (thousands). The electric field between the capacitor plates sees the dielectric as high and low phases in series, and capacitors in series have a lower overall value than either single capacitor. We propose to explore a unique electrostatic spray coating (ESC) method for the deposition of nanosized BaTiO3 particles dispersed in an epoxy polymer for oriented (layered) assembly of ferroelectric particles. In ESC process, nanoparticles are charged before deposition to activate directed self assembly of nanoparticles on metal ground plane of capacitor substrate. In this layered assembly, the electric field would see this arrangement as a high-k and a low-k phase in parallel, resulting in their values being added and allowing higher overall dielectric value. As an example, if the polymer phase were k = 4.6 (common FR4) and the ferroelectric powder phase k = 10,000, the overall dielectric constant of the design would be 5,000-7,000. Also, the use of nanosized dispersant ceramic will assist in processing these composites in thinner films. The nCAPTM will be deposited on metal-coated epoxy polymer substrates, which are of key interest to our manufacturing partner DuPont Corporation, a leading US manufacturer of microelectronics packaging materials.Commercially, if successful, this nCAP innovation will aid manufactures ofelectronics packages materials in overcoming limitations currently offered due to lowdielectric properties. The proposed project will advance the state-of-the-art for the fabrication of passive devices. A successful outcome will further the trend to smaller, more powerful electronic devices. The societal impact includes possible benefits such as improved communication systems, portable medical devices and many other consumer and strategic applications such as biomedical, portable data assistants and laptops, wireless communication, energy storage, etc.