Thermal management architecture for three-dimensional heterogeneous integrated layers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025210441-A1
Application number	US-202318391070-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 20, 2023
Priority date	Dec 20, 2023
Publication date	Jun 26, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

A three-dimensional heterogeneous integrated (3DHI) package includes: a plurality of electrically interconnected active layers stacked on each other and a cooling block at a lower end of the active layers. Each of the active layers includes a semiconductor element, and at least one of the active layers includes an embedded heat spreader. The cooling block has a plurality of cooling channels formed therein, and the cooling channels do not extend through any of the active layers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A three-dimensional heterogeneous integrated (3DHI) package comprising:
a plurality of electrically interconnected active layers stacked on each other, each of the active layers comprising a semiconductor element, at least one of the active layers comprising an embedded heat spreader; and a cooling block at a lower end of the active layers, the cooling block having a plurality of cooling channels formed therein, wherein the cooling channels do not extend through any of the active layers.

2 . The 3DHI package of claim 1 , wherein at least another one of the active layers comprises an embedded thermal isolator.

3 . The 3DHI package of claim 2 , wherein the embedded thermal isolator comprises an aerogel.

4 . The 3DHI package of claim 3 , wherein the aerogel is a silica aerogel or a silica xerogel.

5 . The 3DHI package of claim 1 , further comprising an uppermost layer at an upper end of the active layers, the uppermost layer having a plurality of cooling channels formed therein, and
wherein the cooling block is in fluid communication with the uppermost layer via interlayer passages extending therebetween, the interlayer passages being spaced from the active layers.

6 . The 3DHI package of claim 1 , wherein the cooling block comprises an inlet and an outlet configured for fluid communication between the cooling channels in the cooling block and a heat exchanger.

7 . The 3DHI package of claim 1 , wherein the embedded heat spreader comprises one or more metals from among copper, tungsten, and molybdenum, one or more high thermal conductivity components from among diamond, silicon carbide, boron nitride, aluminum nitride, silicon, graphite, graphene, carbon nanotubes, boron nitride nanotubes, or a copper-molybdenum-diamond composite material.

8 . The 3DHI package of claim 1 , wherein two of the active layers are a power amplifier layer and a beam forming layer, respectively.

9 . The 3DHI package of claim 8 , wherein each of the power amplifier layer and the beam forming layer have a thickness in a range of 20 μm to 150 μm.

10 . The 3DHI package of claim 8 , wherein the active layers further comprise at least one of a digital signal processing layer or a memory layer.

11 . A radio frequency (RF) front end comprising:
a plurality of electrically interconnected active layers stacked on each other; and an antenna on an upper surface of the active layers, the antenna comprising a plurality of antenna elements on an upper surface thereof to form a phased array antenna, the antenna elements being electrically connected to the active layers via coaxial RF feeds, wherein the antenna comprises a plurality of microchannels in a microchannel layer and a RF dielectric layer between the antenna elements and the microchannel layer, the coaxial RF feeds extending through the microchannel layer.

12 . The RF front end of claim 11 , wherein surfaces of the microchannels are coated with a metal.

13 . The RF front end of claim 11 , wherein the antenna further comprises an RF shielding layer that surrounds a periphery of the coaxial RF feeds.

14 . The RF front end of claim 11 , further comprising a cooling block on a lower surface of the active layer and having a plurality of microchannels therein.

15 . The RF front end of claim 14 , wherein the microchannels in the antenna are in fluid communication with the microchannels in the cooling block via interlayer passages, the interlayer passages extend along the active layers and are closed from the active layers.

16 . The RF front end of claim 11 , wherein the active layers comprise:
a power amplifier layer; and a beam forming layer, wherein at least one of the active layers comprises an embedded heat spreader and at least another one of the active layers comprises an embedded thermal isolator.

17 . The RF front end of claim 16 , wherein the embedded heat spreader comprises one or more metals from among copper, tungsten, and molybdenum, one or more high thermal conductivity components from among diamond, silicon carbide, boron nitride, aluminum nitride, silicon, graphite, graphene, carbon nanotubes, boron nitride nanotubes, or a copper-molybdenum-diamond composite material.

18 . The RF front end of claim 16 , wherein the embedded thermal isolator comprises an aerogel.

19 . The RF front end of claim 16 , wherein the active layers further comprise a digital signal processing layer and a memory layer.

20 . A method of manufacturing a radio frequency (RF) front end, the method comprising:
forming a plurality of active layers, each of the active layers comprising a substrate; stacking the active layers on each other and electrically interconnecting the active layers using through substrate vias; arranging the stacked active layers on a cooling block; and arranging an antenna layer on the active layers opposite the cooling block.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the forming of the active layers further comprises:
etching a bottom surface of at least one of the active layers to form a cavity; and depositing a thermally conductive material into the cavity in the at least one of the active layers.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the thermally conductive material comprises one or more metals from among copper, tungsten, and molybdenum, one or more high thermal conductivity components from among diamond, silicon carbide, boron nitride, aluminum nitride, silicon, graphite, graphene, carbon nanotubes, boron nitride nanotubes, or a copper-molybdenum-diamond composite material.

23 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the forming of the active layers further comprises:
etching a bottom surface of at least another one of the active layers to form a cavity; and forming a porous thermal isolator in the cavity in the at least another one of the active layers.

24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the porous thermal isolator comprises a silica aerogel or a silica xerogel.

Assignees

• Hrl Lab Llc

Inventors

• Roper Christopher
• Nadri Souheil
• Seeholzer Christina M
• Gross Adam
• Martin John H

Classifications

• H10W44/241

  for passive devices or passive elements · CPC title

• H10W44/20

  at high-frequency [HF] or radio frequency [RF] · CPC title

• H10W40/25

  characterised by their materials · CPC title

• H10W90/288

  characterised by arrangements for thermal management of the stacked chips · CPC title

• H10W90/00

  Package configurations · CPC title