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Application of Embedded Planar

Passives in Medical Electronic Designs

MEPTEC Medical Technology

Conference

September 17-18, 2013

Tempe, AZ

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Agenda

• Background on Embedded Passives

• Drivers for Embedded Planar Passives

• Products and Board Types Utilizing Planar Embedded Passive Technology

• Case Studies: Electrical Performance/EMI Data

• SMT Component Elimination Examples

• Existing and Potential Medical Applications

• Summary

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Background on Embedded

Planar Passives

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Passive

Embedded Components

Formed Placed

Active Capacitors Resistors

Materials are added to the

printed circuit structure to

create the passive element.

The component is placed

on an internal layer then

buried as additional layers

are added.

Source: JISSO International Council, May 2004

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Passive

Embedded Components

Formed Placed

Thin Film Thick Film

Plated

Vacuum

Deposited

Active Capacitors

Copper Clad

Laminates

Thick Film

Unfilled

dielectric

Filled

dielectric

Resistors

Thin Film

Embedded Component Segmentation

Source: TechSearch International

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Product

Description

Sheets of Cu-clad laminate

Very thin, high Dk dielectric

Uses Power-ground innerlayer (distributed capacitance)

for rigid and flex PWBs and IC packages

Singulated (discrete-like) capacitors for

decoupling, filtering and other functions in rigid

and flex PWBs and IC packages

Cap. Density up to 20 nF/in2

Ideal for high frequency decoupling

Eliminates discrete capacitors

Dampens plane resonances

Cu Foil (17-35 um)

Cu Foil (17-35 um)

Embedded Planar Capacitance

Laminate Materials

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Planar Embedded Capacitance: PCB Processing

Board Cross Section

Pattern Capacitors

Planar EC layer

Laminate into PCB

Supply EC Panels to PCB Fab

Cu

^ EC Dielectric

Embedded Planar Resistor Materials

Construction

Resistive coated copper or laminate form

Resistive Layer <1 micron thick

Common dielectrics, glass styles & thickness

COPPER FOIL (17-35 um)

COPPER FOIL (17-35 um)

DIELECTRIC PREPREG

Thin film resistive layer (10-1000 ohms/sq)

Planar Embedded Resistance: PCB Processing

Remove Cu

Ammoniacal etching

solution

Define Width

Apply photoresist

Expose and develop

Remove Cu and NiCr

resistive layer

Cupric chloride etching

solution

Strip photoresist

Define length

Apply photoresist

Expose and develop

Strip photoresist

Photoresist

ED copper foil

Resistive layer

Dielectric

TCR Laminate

(then laminate into board)

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Drivers for Embedded

Planar Passives

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4. Cost

2. Space/Weight

1. Performance

Drivers for Embedded Planar Passives

Surface

Mount Cap Active Device

Embedded Capacitor

Complexity

Cost Discrete

Embedded

3. EMI

- Improved Signal Integrity

- Improved Power Integrity

- Reduced Noise

-SMT component, pads, vias, solder eliminated

-Opens area on external layers for more actives

- Power bus noise is a leading cause of EMI

- Board size/thickness reduction

- Reduced assembly costs

5. Reliability

- Elimination of components/solder joints/vias

Planar EPs: Cost Reducers and Adders

Board

Board Assembly

System/Design

Material costs

PCB processing costs

Potential lower yields

Smaller board sizes

Reduced layer counts

Fewer solder joints/vias

Difficult to alter

embedded materials

Eliminated components

Reduced assembly costs

Improved yields

Fewer design cycles

Faster layouts

Eliminated EMI measures

Improved reliability, service life

Adders Cost

Reducers Cost

Trend…

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Planar Embedded Passives:

Products and Board Types

Main Uses for Planar EP by Board Type

• High Speed Digital/Mixed Signal

– EC: Power Supply Decoupling

– ER: Termination, Pull Up/Pull Down Resistors

• Analog

– EC: Low Pass Filters (incl. RFI Mitigation)

– ER: Low Pass Filters (incl. RFI Mitigation)

• RF

– ER: Power Dividers

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*EC can also be potentially used for DC block/AC coupling , band pass filters, timing

*ER can also be potentially used for power combiners and current limiting

Non-Medical Planar EP Applications

By Market Segment

Computer High-end servers, Supercomputers, Storage

Consumer Electronics

Mobile handheld devices including smartphones, Video,

MEMS sensors including microphones

Chip Packaging

Processors, Memory Modules

Military / Aerospace Aircraft & missile avionics, Radar, Satellites

Telecom Routers, Base stations, Switches

Miniaturization Performance/EMI Component Reduction

Test & Measurement Automated test equipment

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High C/A Needed in MEMS Module

Early design with 2 SMT

components (lid removed)

Later design with Planar EC and

ER replacing SMT components

Planer EP materials have been used in Smartphones since 2005

Over 1 Billion phones shipped with Planar EP materials

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Planar EP Case Studies

Comparison of Power Bus Noise on Board with and

without Planar Embedded Capacitance

Power noise ripple of FR4 board is much higher than ECM board (156 mV vs. 24 mV)

ECM board shows superiority over FR4 on noise reduction in entire bandwidth (10MHz-4GHz)

ECM board noise close to white noise of Spectrum Analyzer in higher frequency over 1.5GHz

Very promising for ECM to improve power supply quality, digital /analog interference in board and board level EMI

-160

-140

-120

-100

-80

-60

-40

-20

0

0.01

0.14

0.26

0.39

0.52

0.65

0.77

0.9

1.03

1.15

1.28

1.41

1.54

1.66

1.79

1.92

2.04

2.17

2.3

2.43

2.55

2.68

2.81

2.94

3.06

3.19

3.32

3.44

3.57

3.7

3.83

3.95

GHz

dBm

3M C-PLY19 (0.75mil)

FR4 (3.54mil)

Power ripple noise comparison in time domain Power noise frequency spectrum comparison

Courtesy of Huawei

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

30

101

172

243

314

385

456

527

598

670

741

812

883

954

1025

1096

1167

1238

1309

1380

1451

1522

1593

1664

1735

1807

1878

1949

Frequency (MHz)

dBuV/m

3M C-PLY19 (0.75mil)FR4 (3.54mil)

Full Wave

Darkroom Radiated Emission Test Result （30MHz - 2GHz ）

Radiated Emission Test in standard full wave darkwave for FR4/ECM board.

Obvious better performance of ECM board from 30M to 2G ( only tested up to 2G)

Board Level EMC Performance Comparison – Test Result

Courtesy of Huawei

Signal Integrity Comparison

of SMT and Embedded Resistor

Embedded resistors provide 30% improvement in SI at 1 Gb/sec due to decreased reflections caused by impedance discontinuities

Courtesy of Applied Laser Technology

50 ohm SMT resistor

50 ohm embedded resistor

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SMT Component Elimination Examples

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Discrete Capacitor Elimination on Telecom Board

Baseline Design (BGA1) Embedded Capacitance Design

(BGA1)

Embedded Capacitance Design

(BGA2)

Baseline Design (BGA2)

VS

VS

Over 600 SMT

decoupling

caps removed

from board

Thin Film Metal Resistor - Increased available PWB surface area

Surface Mounted Embedded

Image courtesy of GMA Manufacturing

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Existing and Future Planar

EP Medical Applications

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Existing Medically Related Use of Planar EPs

• Low pass filters in microphones for hearing aids to meet space/thickness, RFI immunity, SNR requirements

• Decoupling in medical imaging (CT/PET/MRI/Combo) to meet noise, EMC, bandwidth, BER requirements

• Low pass filters in microphones for smartphones, tablets/laptops to meet space/thickness, RFI immunity, EMI, SNR requirements

• Decoupling in supercomputing/cloud computing (Medical/Pharmaceutical Research) to meet noise, EMC, data rate requirements

Existing volume usage primarily limited to expensive high speed

digital and MEMS microphones applications

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Potential Future Use of Planar EP Materials

• MEMS use in medical applications is expected to dramatically increase in the near future

• Applications include sensors, microfluidics (such as Lab on Chip), drug delivery (microneedles) and others

• Sensors is a very large opportunity due to the large number of sensor types needed including chemical, biological, motion, pressure, temperature, acoustic, etc.

• Sensors will be needed for on/internal patient use (implantable, ingestible, wearable) as well as external use

• Many patient based sensors will need to communicate to external devices

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Planar EP Material Advantages in MEMS Sensors

• Planar embedded passive technology is a good solution for many medical MEMS applications since they can typically meet the space/thickness, electrical performance, mechanical /reliability requirements better than SMT solutions

– Extremely thin and flexible (can be flexed/formed/folded)

– Compatible with rigid, flex and rigid-flex PCB fabrication

– Compatible with microvia (laser drilling) technology

– Have extremely low electrical parasitics

– Have tolerance, temperature, voltage and frequency characteristics that are suitable for many applications

– Have very high reliability since components, solder joints and vias are eliminated

– Have good thermal, mechanical and chemical resistance

Examples of Planar EPs with HDI and in Flex

Laser Drilled Microvias in Planar Embedded Capacitance Board

Flex Circuit with Planar Embedded Capacitors

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Combined EC/ER/HDI Board Stack Up

Planar EC, ER and HDI (microvias) utilized together to maximize space reduction and electrical performance on automotive PCB

Signal 3

Signal 1

Signal 2

Ground

Power 1 +

filter caps

Power 2/3 +

filter caps.

Embedded

resistors

Ground

Microvia

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Summary

• Planar embedded passives are a proven technology that offer many benefits over SMT solutions

• Currently planar embedded passives have limited use in high volume medical applications

• MEMS and in particular, MEMS sensors, are expected to increase dramatically in use in medical applications

• Planar embedded passives technology should allow medical MEMS sensors to better meet their requirements and be implemented at a faster rate

Embedded Capacitance

3M

Joel S. Peiffer jspeiffer@mmm.com

651-575-1464

Embedded Resistance

Ticer Technologies

David Burgess

dburgess@ticertechnologies.com

480-223-0891

Contact Information