KR100880054B1 - Circuit module system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

A flexible circuit is occupied by integrated circuits (ICs) arranged along one or both sides of its main side. The contacts distributed along the flex circuit provide the connection to the ICs. Preferably, the flex circuit is arranged around the edge of the rigid thermally conductive substrate. Thus, it is desirable to position the integrated circuit on one or both sides of the substrate while placing one or two layers of the integrated circuit on one or both sides of the substrate. As an alternative preferred embodiment, the ICs on the side of the flex circuit closest to the substrate are arranged in a window, pocket, or cut region of the substrate. Other embodiments may occupy only one side of the flex circuit, or may remove substrate material to reduce module profile. In a preferred embodiment, the contacts distributed along the flex circuit are configured to be inserted into edge connector sockets found in general purpose computer and server computers (only one example). Preferred substrates are composed of thermally conductive material. In a preferred embodiment expansions from the substrate are expected to reduce thermal module loading and to reduce thermal variations in the integrated circuit of the module during operation.

Description

Circuit Module System and Method {CIRCUIT MODULE SYSTEM AND METHOD}

1 is a side view of a flex circuit designed for use in one module according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a second side view of the flex circuit of FIG.

3 is a cross-sectional view of one module designed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4 is an enlarged view of the region around the substrate edge in a preferred embodiment.

5 is a plan view showing one side of a module designed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a pair of module diagrams that may be used in accordance with the invention.

7 shows an alternative embodiment according to the invention.

8 is another embodiment of the present invention with a clip.

9 is another embodiment view with a thin portion of the substrate.

10 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention.

11 is an alternative preferred embodiment diagram with additional layers of IC.

12 illustrates another alternative embodiment of winding the flex circuit around opposite sides of the substrate.

FIG. 13 illustrates another alternative embodiment of winding the flex circuit around opposite sides of the substrate. FIG.

14 illustrates another alternative embodiment in which the flex circuit is arranged on a substrate.

Figure 15 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the present invention having a CSP on the outer side of the flex circuit.

FIG. 16 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the present invention with a CSP mounted between the flex circuit and the substrate. FIG.

17 illustrates another alternative embodiment.

18 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the present invention with multiple heat-radiating expansions.

FIG. 19 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the present invention with a connector providing selective interconnect arrangement between flex circuit portions on opposite sides of the substrate. FIG.

20 is a detail view in the area indicated by "A" in FIG. 19;

21 and 22 are side views of flex circuits used in one module in accordance with the present invention.

23 is an illustration of a substrate used in an alternative embodiment.

24 is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment using the substrate shown in FIG.

25 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a sectional view of the substrate used in the module shown in FIG. 25; FIG.

Figure 27 is a plan view of another substrate usable in one module in accordance with the present invention.

28 is a partial cross-sectional view of an alternative embodiment.

29 is a cross sectional exploded view of a flex circuit for use in the preferred embodiment according to the invention.

30 is a preferred embodiment diagram.

Figure 31 is a side view of a known technology module devised in accordance with a "planar" strategy.

32 is a schematic map of one embodiment for use in understanding graphically modeled data.

33 is a plan view of a module designed according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

34 is an enlarged view of a module according to a preferred embodiment showing the heat flow.

35 is a diagram of a flex circuit used in an alternative embodiment.

36 is a diagram of sensor signal flow in one embodiment.

37 is an embodiment diagram of a thermal management system designed in accordance with the invention.

38 is another illustration of a thermal management system in accordance with the invention.

39 illustrates another embodiment of a modular year management system in accordance with the present invention.

40 is a two module diagram designed for use in an inventive thermal management system embodiment.

41 is an alternative embodiment diagram used in the thermal management system embodiment of the present invention.

42 is another embodiment according to the invention.

43 is a plan view of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 44 is a side view of an occupied flex circuit used in a module designed to represent multiple instances of an FB-DIMM circuit. FIG.

FIG. 45 is another side view of the flex circuit shown in FIG. 44. FIG.

46 illustrates an alternative embodiment stage with four ranks of IC on each side of the substrate.

47 is a schematic exploded view of impedance discontinuity between two existing FB-DIMMs.

48 is a schematic diagram of some impedance features in an embodiment with two or more AMB.

FIG. 49 is a partial view of an FB-DIMM using a stack and AMB. FIG.

50 is another structural diagram of an FB-DIMM embodiment according to the present invention;

51 is a diagram of another FB-DIMM embodiment of the invention.

52 is a side view of the flex circuit used in one embodiment of the present invention.

53 is a view of a preferred module designed in accordance with the present invention.

54 is a plan view of a low profile FB-DIMM type embodiment according to the invention.

55 is a flex circuit diagram used in the low profile FB-DIMM type embodiment.

56 is a sectional view of a module according to the invention.

57 is a sectional view of another module according to the invention.

The present invention relates to a system and method for manufacturing a high density circuit module.

Memory expansion is one of many areas where high density circuit module solutions can offer space-saving advantages. For example, known dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs) have been used to provide memory expansion for many years. Typical DIMMs include a conventional PCB with memory elements and auxiliary digital logic mounted on both sides thereof. DIMMs are typically mounted in a host computer system by inserting the contact-point edge of the DIMM into the card edge connector. Typically, systems using DIMMs tend to be very limited in profile space for these devices, and conventional DIMM-based solutions generally provide only moderate memory expansion.

As bus speeds increase, fewer devices per channel can be reliably handled with existing DIMM-based solutions. For example, there may be 288 ICs or devices per channel that can be processed using the SDRAM-100 bus protocol on one unbuffered DIMM. Using the DDR-200 bus protocol, approximately 144 devices can be processed per channel. In the DDR2-400 bus protocol, only 72 devices per channel can be processed. This limitation has resulted in the development of fully-buffered DIMMs (FB-DIMMs) that use buffered C / A and data, in which case 288 devices can be handled per channel. With FB-DIMMs, not only capacity is increased, but the number of pins has decreased from 240 in the past to 69 signal pins.

The FB-DIMM circuit solution is expected to provide motherboard memory capacity of up to 192 gigabytes in six channels, consisting of two ranks per DIMM and eight DIMMs per channel using 1 gigabyte DRAM. Such a solution should be applicable to next-generation technologies and should exhibit significant downward compatibility.

 There are several known techniques for improving the limited capacity of DIMMs or other circuit boards. In one method, a small circuit board (daughter card) is connected to the DIMM to provide additional memory space. However, this additional connection may damage the signal integrity of the data signal transmitted from the DIMM to the daughter card, and the module thickness increases due to the additional thickness of the daughter card.

Multiple Die Packages (MDP) can also be used to increase DIMM capacity. This technique increases the capacity of memory elements in a DIMM by including multiple semiconductor dies in a single device package. However, the heat generated by multiple dies requires additional cooling to achieve maximum operating speeds. Moreover, the MDP technique has the problem of increased cost due to yield loss caused by packaging several dies that have not been fully pretested.

Another method for increasing module capacity is stacked packages. Capacity is increased by stacking packaged integrated circuits to fabricate high density circuit modules for mounting on large circuit boards. In some techniques, flex conductors are used to selectively interconnect packaged integrated circuits. Staktek Group L.P, the assignee of the present invention, has developed a significant amount of systems for integrating chip-scale packaging (CSP) devices into a space-saving structure. However, the increased component height of some stacking techniques may result in changes in system requirements such as minimizing space around the circuit board or requiring air-cooled cooling on the host system.

(* "Flex Conductor", "Flex Circuit" means flexible conductor, flexible circuit, and the original language corresponds to flexible conductor, flexible conductor, flexible circuit, flex circuit, etc.)

In general, known methods cause heat generation and management problems. For example, when a conventional FBGA packaging DRAM is mounted on a DIMM, the main thermal path runs through the ball to the core of the multilayer DIMM.

Thus, what is needed is a method and structure for providing high capacity circuit modes in a thermally efficient and reliable design that can be fabricated at a high cost while operating normally at high frequencies but not too large.

Flexible circuitry is filled with integrated circuits arranged along one or both of its sides. The contacts distributed along the flex circuit provide the connection to the IC. The flex circuit is preferably disposed at the edge of the rigid thermally conductive substrate. Therefore, it is preferable to position the integrated circuit on one or both of the substrates in one or two layers of the integrated circuit on one or both of the substrates. As also a preferred alternative, the ICs on the side of the flex circuit closest to the substrate are placed in the cut region, pocket, or window of the substrate. Other embodiments may refine only one side of the flex circuit, or may remove substrate material to reduce module profile. In a preferred embodiment, contacts found along the flex circuit are configured to insert into the edge connector sockets, as found in general purpose and server computers. Preferred substrates are composed of thermally conductive material. In a preferred embodiment the extensions from the substrate are expected to reduce thermal module loading and to help reduce thermal changes between the integrated circuits of the modules in operation.

1 and 2 show both sides of the preferred flex circuit 12, namely the upper side 8 and the lower side 9, which are used to construct a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The flex circuit 12 is made of a plurality of conductive layers supported by one or more flex substrate layers. The entire flex circuit 12 may be flexible or, as can be readily appreciated in the art, the flex circuit structure 12 may be easily adapted and deformed to some requirements shape or bending in some areas. And in some areas can be made rigid to provide a firm and flat mounting surface. The preferred flex circuit 12 has holes 17 (or tabs) used to align the flex circuit 12 to the substrate during assembly.

The ICs 18 on the flex circuit 12 are chip-scale packaged (CSP) memory elements in this embodiment. "Chipscale packaging" or "CSP" means any functional integrated circuit with an array package that provides a connection to one or more die through contacts distributed between the package or the major surface of the die. CSP does not mean lead devices that provide a connection to an integrated circuit within a package through leads appearing from the periphery of the package, such as TSOP.

Embodiments of the present invention can be used as lead devices, CSP devices, or other devices in packaged and unpackaged form. However, if CSP is used, the above definition of CSP should be adopted. As a result, although CSP does not include lead devices, the criteria for CSP should be widely regarded to include various array devices, including die-size or other sizes such as BGA, micro BGA, and flip-chip. Should be considered. One of ordinary skill in the art may determine after reading this disclosure, but some embodiments of the present invention utilize a stack of ICs each arranged as indicated by IC 18 in the illustrated figures. Can be designed.

Multiple IC dies may be included in a package depicted as a single IC 18. In the present embodiment, memory ICs are used to provide a memory expansion board, but this is not a limitation, and various various embodiments incorporate various ICs and other components designed for other main functions in addition to the memory. It may include. These various types include microprocessors, FPGAs, RF transceivers, or other communication circuits, digital logic, and other circuits or systems that can benefit from high density circuit module functionality. The circuit 19 shown between the pair of ICs 18 may be a memory buffer or controller, may be an Advanced Memory Buffer (AMB), or may be considered a microprocessor, logic, or communication element.

1 shows a top surface 8 of the flex circuit 12. On this top surface, ICs 18 arranged in two rows IC _R1 and IC _R2 are mounted. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that mounting ICs 18 in the flex circuit 12 can provide intuitive and efficient manufacturing advantages when the example module 10 is assembled. will be. Other embodiments may vary the number of rows and may have only one row. Contact arrays are arranged between the IC 18 and the circuit 19 to provide conductive pads for interconnection to the IC. An example contact array 11A is shown, in which case an example IC 18 is mounted in the contact array 11A. Between the rows IC _R1 and IC _{R2 of the} IC 18, the flex circuit 12 has two rows C _R1 and C _R2 of the module contacts 20. When the flex circuit 12 is folded in a later view, the top surface 8 of FIG. 1 is presented outside of the module 10. The bottom surface 9 of the flex circuit 12 is shown internally.

FIG. 2 shows two further rows of ICs 18 on the bottom surface 9 of the flex circuit 12, represented by IC _R3 and IC _R4 . Several individual components, such as termination resistors, bypass capacitors, and bias resistors, may be mounted to the top and bottom surfaces 9 and 9 of the flex circuit 12. These individual components are not presented for the sake of simplicity of drawing. The flex circuit 12 may be described with reference to its edge. The two sides PElong1 and PElong2 are long, and the two sides PEshort1 and PEshort2 are short. Other embodiments may use a non-rectangular or square flex circuit 12 and may take other convenient forms to meet manufacturing specifics.

1 shows an example conducting trace 21 connecting rows C _R1 and C _R2 of module contacts 20 to IC 18. Only a few traces have been presented to simplify the drawing. Traces 21 may be connected to vias that may be transferred to other conductive layers of flex 12 in some embodiments having two or more conductive layers. Via 23 is shown as connecting signal trace 25 from circuit 19 on another conductive layer of flex 12, as indicated by dashed trace 25. In a preferred embodiment, the via is the portion that connects the IC 18 of the bottom surface 9 of the flex circuit 12 to the module contacts 20. Traces 21 and 25 may establish other connections between ICs on the top or bottom of flex circuit 12 and may traverse rows of module contacts 20 to interconnect the ICs. Several traces and buyers together establish the interconnect needed to deliver signals to multiple ICs. The invention may be implemented with only a single row of module contacts 20, or the invention may be implemented with a module having an IC on one or both sides of the flex circuit, or only on one side of the module.

3 is a cross-sectional view of a module 10 designed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The module 10 is filled with a CSP 18 having an upper face 18 _T and a lower face 18 _B. The substrate 14 has a side portion 16A shown in the figure of FIG. 3, and a flex circuit 12 is disposed around the side portion 16A. The substrate 14 has first and second sides S1 and S2. The flex circuit 12 is wound around the edge 16A of the substrate 14, which provides a basic form of a common DIMM board shape factor, near the edge 16A of the illustrated embodiment. Pocket portions of the flex circuit 12, formed by winding the flex circuit around the substrate, are fixed or laminated (laminated) to the substrate 14 on both sides of the substrate 14. This part determines factors such as the size and design of the edge connector or computer or expansion board socket into which the module 10 is to be inserted, the length of the module contacts 20, the thickness of the substrate 14, the height of the IC 18, and the like. Considering this, the length may be changed. The space where the flex circuit reaches the IC 18 connection area can be filled with an underfill that is conformal or thermally conductive, left unfilled, or as shown in FIG. It may be occupied by the flex support of (14). In a preferred embodiment, the adhesive 30 is a thermally conductive material, so that it is possible to take advantage of the heat dissipation properties that can be provided by using a suitably selected thermally conductive substrate 14, which is composed of a metal, such as aluminum.

Inner pairs of four ICs 18 are preferably attached to the substrate 14 using a thermally conductive adhesive 30. The adhesive 30 is a thermally conductive material in a preferred embodiment, so that it can utilize the heat dissipation properties that can be provided using a properly selected thermally conductive substrate 14. In the present embodiment, four ICs are attached to the flex circuit 12 as opposing pairs, but this is not a limitation, and more ICs may be connected to other arrangements. For example, they may appear in a zigzag or spaced array. The examples will be explained later. Moreover, although only CSP ICs are shown, other ICs may be used like IC 18. Although memory CSPs are a typical IC 18, other functional ICs may be used.

In this embodiment, the flex circuit 12 has a module contact 20 positioned in such a way as to fit into a side connector or a computer or expansion board socket and to connect to a corresponding contact of the connector or socket. Although module contacts 20 are shown to protrude from the surface of flex circuit 12, this is not a limitation and may have contacts below the surface level of flex circuit 12 and may have contacts of the same height. . The substrate 14 supports the module contacts 20 from behind the flex circuit 12 in a manner configured to provide the mechanical form necessary to insert into the socket. Although the substrate 14 shown has a uniform thickness, this is not a limitation, and in other embodiments the surface or thickness of the substrate 14 may vary. Non-limiting examples of such possible changes appear in later figures. The substrate 14 of the illustrated embodiment is preferably made of a thermally conductive metal material such as aluminum or copper. Substrate 14 may be comprised of other thermally conductive materials, such as, for example, thermally conductive plastics or carbon-based materials. If thermal management is not of interest, materials such as flame retardant type 4 (FR4) epoxy laminates, poly-tetra-fluoro-ethylene (PTFE) may be used in alternative embodiments. In another embodiment, the desirable features from multiple technologies can be combined using FR4 with copper layers on both sides to provide a substrate 14 designed from a familiar material that can provide thermal conduction or ground planes. .

In FIG. 3, module 10 shows thermal expansion 16T. While preferably located at the end of the substrate 14 that is most conveniently disposed, the thermal expansion of the substrate may extend from the main body substrate 14 between the substrate ends. Substrate 14 may show one or more such inflation portions. Thermal expansion 16T may appear from the central axis of the substrate in various directions, and need not be perpendicular to the main body of the substrate, nor need to extend to both sides of module 10. As will be described further, the model of module 10 as shown in FIG. 3 predicts the thermal advantages of module 10 over known planar modules used for memory expansion applications. Thermal expansion 16T provides additional surface area for substrate 14, thus increasing the area where heat flows out of module 10. The main means for this heat flow is convective as the air flow helps to cool the module. However, it will be appreciated that the structure of substrate 14 with thermal expansion 16T is likely to be conductive for various means for heat flow from module 10.

One advantageous way to efficiently assemble the circuit module 10 is as follows. As a preferred method of assembling the module assembly 10, the flex circuit 12 is laid flat and both sides are constructed according to circuit board assembly techniques known in the art. The flex circuit 12 is folded around the end 16A of the substrate 14. The tooling holes 17 can then be used to align the flex circuit 12 to the substrate 14. Flex 12 may be attached or laminated to substrate 14. Moreover, the top surface 18T of the IC 18 may be attached to the substrate 14 in a manner designed to provide mechanical integrity or heat conduction.

4 is an enlarged view of the area around end 16A of an example module 10. The edge portion 16A of the substrate 14 is preferably rounded off for insertion into the edge card connector. While a specific structure of round shape is shown, the edge portion 16A may take other forms designed to match various types of connectors or sockets. The shape and function of the various edge connectors are well known in the art. The thickness of the adhesive 30 and the flex circuit 12 shown can vary and are not drawn to scale for simplicity of the drawings. When assembled with the flex circuit 12 and the adhesive 30, the thickness measured between the module contacts 20 is within the range specified for the bonded connector.

5 is a plan view of a module assembly 10 designed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Module assembly 10 may replace traditional DIMMs that may be used in a variety of coordinated systems. The module assembly 10 has a flex circuit 12 that is wound around the edge 16A of the substrate 14. IC 18 is mounted to flex circuit 12 along the side shown as shown in the previous figure. The module contacts 20 are disposed near the edge 22 of the module assembly 10 for connection to a card edge connector or socket. An additional inflation 16T is shown in FIG. 5 along the upper portion of the illustrated module 10.

6 shows a system 5 using two modules 10 and shows the use of multiple modules 10 in a system 5 according to the invention.

The modules 10 are shown to be inserted into card edge connectors 31 respectively deployed on the circuit board 33. Thus, system 5 may be configured to provide features for memory expansion that are configured to minimize thermal loading of modules 10.

FIG. 7 shows an alternative embodiment of the present invention wherein the substrate 14 includes a flex support 14FS for supporting the flex circuit 12 when switching to the IC convection region. The upper end 16B of the substrate 14 is shown in the module of FIG. 7 without the inflation 16T.

8 shows another embodiment with a clip. In this embodiment, the clip 82 is clipped around the IC 18. The clip 82 is preferably made of metal or other thermally conductive material. Preferably, a trough 84 is configured in the clip 82 that is designed to mate with the end of the substrate 14. Such attachment may be implemented with an adhesive between the clip 82 and the substrate 14, or the IC 18.

9 shows an embodiment with a thinned portion of the substrate 14. In this embodiment, the substrate 14 has a first thickness 1 towards the edge 16A, which is designed to provide a peripheral area or edge support of the module assembly 10 necessary for connection with the edge or other connector. Have A portion 92 of thickness 2 is present on the portion of substrate 14 that corresponds to thickness 1. The narrow width of the portion 92 is designed to narrow the overall width of the module assembly 10 and can close the space spacing of the module assemblies 10 or improve air-cooled airflow in an operating environment.

10 is a cross-sectional view of another preferred embodiment. This figure is a screen looking down from above the module 10. Substrate 14 is optionally tapered at portion 102 below device 19. The device 19 has an exposed die 19D mounted on a substrate. Other embodiments may have other devices having a height greater than the typical IC 18 or packaged or mounted ICs. In this embodiment, the element 19 is taller or thicker than the other ICs 18 that make up the flex circuit 12. The thin portion 102 of the substrate 14 below the device 19 can accommodate additional heights such that the flex circuit 12 remains in a planar state and the top surface of the device 19 is in thermal contact with the substrate 14. Keep contact. Substrate 14 may be fabricated for this embodiment or other similar embodiments, which may be fabricated in a variety of ways, such as being machined or injected into a CNC (computer numerical control) machine. Embodiments similar to this embodiment can provide desirable thermal performance when the device 19 is an FB-DIMM Advanced Memory Buffer (AMB). The device 19 is preferably attached to the substrate 14 with a thermally conductive adhesive.

11 shows another embodiment of the invention with additional layers of ICs 18. A split flex, etc. having layers interconnected with vias in a portion 24 of the flex circuit 12 may be provided to the flex circuit 12. Moreover, two flex circuits can be used and interconnected by inter-pad contacts or inter-flex contacts.

12 shows another embodiment with flex portions wound around the edge of the substrate 14. The flex circuit 12 has a connecting portion 12C wound around the inflation portion 16 _T of the substrate 14. As a preferred method for assembling this embodiment, the illustrated ICs 18 are first mounted in the flex circuit 12. Flex portion 26 associated with IC 18A lies opposite to the substrate. The flex circuit 12 is wound around the edge 16A of the substrate 14. Adhesive lamination or other techniques suitable for attaching the flex 12 and ICs 18A, 18B to the substrate 14 are used. The connecting portion 12C of the flex circuit 12 is wound around the expansion portion 16T. Adhesives can be used to make backside connections between the illustrated ICs 18. Lamination or other bonding and bonding techniques may be used to attach the two layers of flex 12 to each other at flex portion 24. Furthermore, the two layers of flex circuit 12 wound around edge 16A may be interconnected by inter-pad contacts or inter-flex contacts. Flex 12 is rewound around edge 16A and pushes IC 18C into position. The IC 18D is attached to the IC 18E by being located in a back connection.

FIG. 13 shows another embodiment with a flex portion wound around both sides of the substrate 14. The flex circuit 12 has a connection portion 12C wound around the inflation portion 16T of the substrate 14. The connecting portion 12C preferably has two or more conductive layers, and may have three, four, or more conductive layers. Such conductive layers can be beneficial for carrying signals for applications such as FB-DIMMs. This is because FB-DIMMs have fewer DIMM input / output signals than registered DIMMs. However, as with the C / A copy A and C / A copy B (command / address) signals generated by the FB-DIMM AMB, it may have more of the interconnect traces required among the elements on the DIMM. While two sets of module contacts 20 are shown, other embodiments may have only one set.

14 is a cross-sectional view of another alternative embodiment of the present invention. The flex circuit 12 shows the contacts 20 adjacent to both sides 192 of the flex circuit 12. The connection portion 12C of the flex circuit 12 is wound around the inflation portion 16T of the substrate 14. As a preferred method for assembling this embodiment, the illustrated ICs 18 are mounted to the flex circuit 12. The flex circuit 12 is wound around the extension 16T of the substrate 14 and is preferably aligned with the substrate 14 with tooling holes. Portion 24 of flex circuit 12 is preferably laminated to substrate 14.

FIG. 15 is an alternative embodiment diagram of the invention in which ICs 18 are configured along only one side of flex circuit 12.

FIG. 16 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the present invention with CSPs located between the flex circuit and the substrate 14 to form the inside of the flex circuit 12. Z

FIG. 17 shows an alternative embodiment of the present invention through which the flex circuit passes to substrate 14 end 16B opposite contact 20.

18 is a preferred embodiment of the present invention showing a thin substrate 14 having multiple inflation portions 16T and recesses 92.

19 and 20 illustrate an alternative embodiment of the present invention that utilizes the connector 200 to provide selective interconnection between portions 202A, 202B of the flex circuit 12 respectively correlated to sides S1 and S2 of the substrate 14. An example is shown. The connector 200 shown has portions 200B and 200A for interconnection in the cavity 204 of the substrate 14. One example of the connector 200 is a 200024/50027 Molex connector, but various other connectors may be used in embodiments of the invention. The connector 200 shown is disposed in the substrate cavity 204 and will have a first portion 200A and a second portion 200B respectively corresponding to portions 202A, 202B of the flex circuit 12. .

Figure 21 shows a first side with an example contact of a flex circuit designed in accordance with an alternative preferred embodiment of the present invention. 21 is simplified to clarify the principles of the present invention. An embodiment with more ICs 18 has been presented above.

FIG. 22 shows the side 9 of the flex circuit 12 of FIG. 21.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example substrate formed for use with the example flex circuits disclosed in FIGS. 21 and 22. The flex circuit 12 is folded around the substrate 14 shown in FIG. 23, with the IC 18 along the side 9 of the flex circuit 12 and the window 250 arranged along the substrate 14. Located. As a result, the ICs placed along the rows of ICR3 and ICR4 are rearranged in the window 250. It is preferable that a thermally conductive adhesive or glue is used for the upper surface 18T of the IC 18. In this case, it promotes thermal energy flow and even obtains some mechanical advantages. This is only one of the relative arrangements between the ICs 18 on both sides of the substrate 14.

FIG. 24 is a view of the flex circuit 12 combined with the substrate 14 along line A-A in FIG. The ICs 18, which are placed on the second side 9 in the figure, composed of the flex circuits 12 (inside to the module 10), are arranged in the window 250, so that the ICs 18 in row ICR3 are arranged. Top face 18T is placed in close proximity to top face 18T of ICs 18 in row ICR4. Thus, the first and second groups of ICs (CSP in the figure) are located in the cut off region of the first side and the second side of the substrate 14, respectively. In this case, the truncated regions of the substrate 14 exhibit spatial agreement to create the window 250. This figure is not drawn to scale, it merely illustrates the correlation between the elements and the array. This arrangement leads to a profile “P” for module 10 that is much smaller than that implemented without placing IC in window 250 along inner portion 9 of flex circuit 12. The profile "P" in this case is in addition to any adhesive layer 30 used to bond one IC 18 to another IC, so that the distance between the top and bottom surfaces of the IC 18, BGA contact 63 It is a value obtained by adding the diameter x 4 and the thickness x 2 of the flex circuit 12. This profile size will vary depending on whether the BGA contacts 63 are arranged below the surface of the flex circuit 12 to reach a suitable conductive layer or contact that is part of the flex circuit 12.

FIG. 25 illustrates differently the relationship between the flex circuit and the substrate 14 patterned into the cut region. 25 is taken along a line capable of cutting the body of IC 18. In FIG. 25, an IC 18 comprising a row or group ICR3 is provided with a second side 9 of the flex circuit 12 when the module 10 is assembled and the flex circuit 12 is assembled to the substrate 14. ) And a zigzag pattern for the IC 18 including the group ICR4. This zigzag shape provides the effect of providing a mechanical "step" to the IC 18 when coupled to the substrate 14, and also provides the thermal side effect of increasing the contact area between multiple ICs 18 and the substrate. do.

FIG. 26 shows an example substrate 14 used in FIG. 25 before being combined with the flex circuit 12 constructed along the line through window 250 of substrate 14. As shown in FIG. 26, a number of truncated areas or pockets are indicated by dashed lines and represented by 250B3 and 250B4, respectively. Region 250B3 is in this example a pocket, site on one side of substrate 14 that will place IC 18 from ICR3 of flex circuit 12 when substrate 14 and flex circuit 12 are combined. , Or the truncated area. Pocket, site, or truncated regions 250B4 correspond to the site where IC 18 is to be placed from ICR4. In alternative embodiments, there may be more than one row of ICs 18 disposed on a single side of the substrate 14.

Here, the term window may mean a hole passing through the substrate 14 over a span S corresponding to the width or height of the packaged IC 18. Alternatively, it may mean a hole in which the cut regions for each of the two sides of the substrate 14 overlap.

FIG. 27 is a plan view of the substrate 14 shown before FIG. When the cropped regions 250B3 and 250B4 overlap, there is a window through the substrate 14. In some embodiments, cropped regions 250B3 and 250B4 may not overlap, and in yet other embodiments, pockets or cropped regions may exist only on one side of substrate 14. Cropped areas such as 250B3 or 250B4 may be formed in a variety of ways, depending on the substrate 14 material, and are not necessarily "cut" literally, and may be formed by various means, such as molding, milling, or cutting processes. Can be.

28 is an enlarged view of a portion of one preferred embodiment showing the lower IC 18 ₁ and the upper IC 18 ₂ . In this embodiment, the conductive layer 66 of the flex circuit 12 has conductive traces connecting the module contacts 20 to the BGA contacts 63 on the ICs 18 ₁ and 18 ₂ . If desired, multiple layers can be devised in such a way as to implement the bending radius required in the embodiment of bending flex circuit 12 around edges 16A and 16B. It is also true that the assignee has shown that the flex circuit with four conductive layers as needed for the properly implemented end of the substrate 14 can be bent. Holes or vias in the proper location of the flex circuit 12 produce conformal warpage of the flex circuit 12 as needed. The number of layers in a particular portion of flex circuit 12 may be designed to achieve the required connection density, given the particular minimum trace associated with the flex circuit technology used. Some flex circuits 12 may have three, four, five or more conductive layers. These layers are beneficial for carrying signals for applications such as FB-DIMMs. FB-DIMMs may have fewer DIMM input / output signals than registered DIMMs but may have more interconnect traces required between devices on the DIMMs.

In this embodiment, there are three layers of flex circuit 12 between two ICs 18 ₁ and 18 ₂ . Conductive layers 64, 66 represent conductive traces for connecting to the IC and additionally for other discrete components. The conductive layers are preferably metal such as copper or alloy 110. Vias, such as the example via 23, connect the two conductive layers 64, 66 to achieve electrical connection between the conductive layer 64 and the module contacts 20. In this preferred embodiment having a three-layer portion of the flex circuit 12, the two conductive layers 64, 66 can be configured so that one of them has a major area used as the ground plane. The other layer can use the main area as the voltage reference plane. By using multiple conductive layers, it is possible to derive the benefits and the generation of distributed capacitance to reduce noise or bounce effects that can degrade signal integrity at high frequencies. If three or more conductive layers are used, additional conductive layers may be added along with an insulating layer separating the conductive layers.

29 is an exploded view of a cross section of a flex circuit 12 in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention. The flex circuit 12 has four conductive layers 701-704 and seven insulating layers 705-711. The number of such layers is only used in the preferred embodiment, and the number of other layers and the arrangement of the layers may be used. Although a single conductive layer flex circuit 12 may be used in some embodiments, flex circuits having two or more conductive layers have been found suitable for application to more complex embodiments of the invention.

The upper conductive layer 701 and the remaining conductive layers are preferably made of a conductive metal such as copper or alloy 110. In this arrangement, conductive layers 701, 702, and 704 represent signal traces 712 that make several connections by using flex circuit 12. The three layers can also represent the conducting surface for ground, power and reference voltage.

In this embodiment, the inner conductive layer 702 represents traces for connection to various elements mounted on the auxiliary substrate 21. The function of any one of the conductive layers shown may be interchanged with that of another conductive layer. The inner conductive layer 703 represents a ground plane that can be separated to provide a VDD return for pre-register address signals. The inner conductive layer 703 may represent other planes and traces. In this embodiment, the planes of the bottom conductive layer 704 provide VREF and ground in addition to the traces shown.

Insulating layers 705 and 711 are dielectric solder mask layers that may be deposited in adjacent conductive layers in this embodiment. Other embodiments may not have such adhesive dielectric layers. The insulating layers 706, 708, 710 are preferably flex (ie, flexible) dielectric substrate layers made of polyimide. However, any suitable flex circuit can be used in the present invention, and what is shown in FIG. 29 should be considered to be one of the more complex flex circuit structures that can be used as the flex circuit 12.

30 shows an alternative preferred embodiment of the module 10 according to the invention different from the embodiment shown in FIG. 3. That is, instead of the single flex circuit 12 used in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the embodiment of FIG. 30 uses two flex circuits 12A and 12B. Each flex circuit 12A, 12B places ICs 18 on one or both sides 8, 9. Both, or one of the flex circuits 12A and 12B may utilize an auxiliary circuit 19, such as a buffer, sensor, register, AMB, PLL. Modules devised in accordance with the principles of the invention may consist of various ICs such as memory devices, ASICs, microprocessors, video-dedicated microprocessors, RF devices, other logic and FPGAs, and the like. Various embodiments may be identified by various electrical or morphological forms, including registered DIMMs, unregistered DIMMs, SO-DIMMs, SIMMs, video modules, FB-DIMMs (AMBs in combination), PCMCIA modules and cards, and other modules, and the like. Can be designed to implement modules. Some related applications for modules designed in accordance with the present invention include servers, desktop computers, video cameras, televisions, portable communication devices, and the like.

The present invention can be applied to express the repetition of various modules to provide improved thermal performance, and can receive high scores for profile minimization or ease of production. If a video card or other dedicated module containing a microprocessor or computational logic is devised in accordance with the present invention, one or more of the circuits 19 shown may be considered a microprocessor.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 30, each flex circuit 12A, 12B has a module contact 20 positioned in such a manner as to be coupled to the edge connector or socket 31, which connects it to the corresponding contact of the connector. do. The edge connector or socket 31 is typically part of the computer 33.

FIG. 31 shows a conventional DIMM module 11 composed of ICs 18B in a strategy called " planar ". The following diagrams provide a comparison between the example module 11 shown in FIG. 31 and the example module 10 disclosed in FIG. 3 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the diagram, there is less thermal change between the ICs of module 10 (FIG. 3) than found in the module shown in FIG. 31 under the same conditions. The following data was derived by Starktech Group L.P., assignee of the invention using modeling techniques familiar to the art.

The following tables should be interpreted with reference to FIG. 32 illustrates one embodiment of a module 10 that has indicated the location of multiple ICs of an example module 10 to facilitate understanding of the diagrams below of this disclosure. For example, the IC 18 indicated by the specific reference numeral in FIG. 32 is located at position 4 (reference "ST4") of the outer side (reference "0") of the side 1 of the module. Airflow 40 is identified in FIG. 32 and will be quantified in the table below. The position in FIG. 32 identifies the corresponding position of the module 11 which is evaluated in the diagram indicated below with the subscript “B”. The tables are configured to provide a direct comparison between the example module 11 and the example module 10 under the same model conditions. Table 1A is data obtained from the model of the example module 10 (FIG. 3), and Table 1B relates to data obtained from the example module (FIG. 31). As the data plots below show, the models show the substantial differences in all temperatures and temperature variations between the ICs between the model of module 10 designed according to FIG. 3 and the model of module 11 designed according to FIG. Predict. Compared to the values predicted for module 11, thermal condition improvement predictions, including reduced inter-IC temperature change in module 10, will reduce the reversely induced skew variation, which is a thermally conductive substrate 14. Will have a beneficial effect on the timing performance and timing eye tolerances of the modules designed according to FIG. Models that do not exhibit thermal expansion 16T will not exhibit this marked thermal performance improvement, but should only show density and mechanical durability improvements. It is expected that the example modules as shown in Figures 18, 19, 30, etc., will show much more pronounced thermal performance improvement properties. These improvements should be expected by using other substrates of thermally conductive metal materials such as copper or copper alloys. In addition to the metallic material, the substrate 14 may be designed from other thermally conductive materials such as carbon based materials or thermally conductive plastics.

Table 1A relates to thermal data derived from model embodiments devised in accordance with module 10. An example module 10 was modeled using a number of Micron Technologies DDR2 (11X19) devices as IC 18. In this example, both modules 10 were modeled to operate at 10 mm module pitch. Substrate 14 is shown in the structure illustrated by the representation of FIG. 3 and is comprised of aluminum. In this model, airflow 40 was 2 m / sec at 35 degrees Celsius, one of the ICs 18 operating at 0.38 watts per IC, and the remaining rank at 0.05 watts per IC.

Table 1B relates to thermal data for an example module 11 designed according to FIG. 31, operating under the same conditions as modeled in Table 1A.

33 shows a module 10 according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the module 10 is provided with a thermal sensor 191 mounted along the inner portion 9 of the flex circuit 12. In FIG. 33, the side 8 of the flex circuit 12 is shown, but the sensor 191 position will be understood with respect to the outer view of the module 10 provided in FIG. 33. Thermal sensor 191 is thermally coupled to substrate 14 to effect thermal measurements of substrate 14. This arrangement is preferably used in embodiments having a thermally conductive substrate 14 made of copper, nickel, aluminum, carbon-based materials, thermally conductive plastics, or the like. When the IC 18 arranged along the inner side 9 of the flex circuit 12 is thermally connected to the substrate 14, the substrate 14 temperature will correspond to the temperature of the IC 18.

In some embodiments, thermal sensor 191 may be integral to the buffer or register. For example, some FB-DIMM systems may use one or more AMB with integrated thermal sensors. In such a module, one of the AMBs may be mounted along the inner portion 9 of the flex circuit 12 and thermally connected to the substrate 14. This heat reading from the AMB can be used by the host system to indicate the module IC temperature much more accurately than the heat reading from the AMB mounted along the outer part 8.

In an embodiment configured to have two or more DIMM instances in a single module, the thermal sensor mounted along the inner portion 9 of the flex circuit 12 may include one or more DIMM instances mounted along the outer portion 8. The read may be provided to be used for generations. For example, one module may have four DIMM instantiations, two of which are disposed adjacent to the substrate 14, and two of which are spaced apart from the substrate 14 and arranged along the outside of the flex circuit. . Such a module may have two thermal sensors 191 on one of the two sides thermally connected to the substrate 14. Each thermal sensor may provide a read for two DIMM instantiations on the side of the substrate 14. Alternatively, one thermal sensor may provide reads for all four DIMM instantiations.

34 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention. The thermal sensor 191 and one of the ICs 18 are thermally connected to the substrate 14. At this time, it is thermally connected using the thermally conductive adhesive (30). In general, other ICs 18 will be mounted to the flex circuit 12 in addition to the thermal sensor 191. In this embodiment, the IC 18 and the thermal sensor 191 have a similar height or thickness on the flex circuit 12 shown. Other embodiments may be constructed with a thermal sensor having a height greater than or less than IC 18. This height difference can be adjusted by thermally conductive spacers, such as copper or other pieces of metal. This height difference may be adjusted by the filling of the thermally conductive adhesive. This filling is designed to place the IC 18 and thermal sensor 191 to be thermally connected to the substrate 14. Arrow 202 of FIG. 34 shows the heat flow from the IC 18 shown to the substrate 14. Arrow 204 shows the heat flow from substrate 14 toward thermal sensor 191. Arrow 205 shows the heat flow from IC 18 ₁ to IC 18 ₂ . IC 18 ₁ (18 ₂ ) arrangements located opposite each other and spaced apart by the flex circuit are selected from one of the pairs of pairs of ICs 18 ₁ and 18 _{2 that} are on, either of which are either silent or off. There is a tendency to promote heat flow to one.

35 is a view of the inner side 9 of the flex circuit 12 according to another embodiment of the present invention. The thermal sensor 191 is mounted along the inner flex circuit 12, and then the flex circuit 12 is wound around the edge of the substrate 14 to position the side shown at a location adjacent to the substrate. While only one flex circuit is used in this embodiment, in another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 30, two or more flex circuits may be combined with the substrate 14 to form a module. In this embodiment, one or more thermal sensors 191 may be mounted in each flex circuit, or one thermal sensor may be circuitd along both sides of the substrate 14 by thermal connection to the substrate 14. The thermal state for can be measured appropriately.

36 is a block diagram illustrating sensor signals according to an embodiment of the present invention. A block 14 representing the substrate 14 is shown. Arrows 202 and 204 indicate heat flow from IC 2203 to substrate 14 and from substrate 14 to thermal sensor 191. IC 2203 is preferably a group or rank of ICs, but may be a different IC or a single IC. As discussed above, ICs 2203 may have a surface thermally bonded to substrate 14 or may be connected via flex circuits and other ICs. IC 2203 or thermal sensor 191 may be disposed in the cutout portion of substrate 14.

Thermal sensor 191 has a transducer to convert a temperature signal into an electrical signal. Thus, it provides a signal related to the thermal conditions of the module. Thermal sensor transducers are well known in the art. Many of these transducers produce analog voltages or currents that are proportional to the measured temperature. The analog signal is preferably converted into a digital thermal signal 2202 at the output of the thermal sensor 191. Other configurations may be used. For example, the signal 2202 may be an analog signal that is converted for processing elsewhere within the module 10, or in circuitry outside the module 10. Alternatively, a sensor with a digital output may be used.

The column signal 2202 shown is coupled to the monitoring circuit 2204 for four DIMM instantiations 2203. In this embodiment, four instances of a DIMM circuit, such as an FB-DIMM circuit or a registered DIMM circuit, are mounted to the flex circuit in the single module 10. The single thermal sensor shown provides thermal measurements to control and monitor all four instantiations. In other embodiments, signal 2202 may additionally or alternatively be connected to system monitor circuitry or other control circuitry for receiving and processing thermal monitoring signals. Such circuits may be part of the module 10 or may be located as part of the system in which the module 10 is installed.

Two or more thermal sensors 191 may be arranged to monitor the thermal state of the circuitry in module 10. For example, one thermal sensor 191 can supply one thermal measurement signal 2202 for two ranks of ICs. One rank is thermally mounted on each side of the substrate 14. Such an embodiment may be preferably utilized in a system that exhibits changes in thermal conditions from one location to another, or from one IC rank to another. In a system using an FB-DIMM circuit, a DIMM instantiation close to the system memory controller generally has greater signaling through AMB than to perform a DIMM instantiation from the system memory controller. When these DIMM instances are located together in the module 10, the control side advantage of providing separate thermal measurements related to circuitry along the sides of the substrate 14 or related to each DIMM instantiation is Secured.

37 shows another preferred embodiment of the module 10 according to the invention. FIG. 37 shows a module 10 similar to the module of FIG. 3 thermally connected to the chassis or box 24 via a thermal conduit 22. The chassis box 24 functions as a thermal sink for thermal energy from the module 10. Thermal conduit 22 contributes to the thermal connection between substrate 14 and chassis 24. Thermal conduit 22 may be any material that implements heat flow between module 10 and chassis or box 24. It is preferable that the heat conduit 22 is made of a material having some degree of compliance and resistance to compression. This improves thermal path reliability between module 10 and chassis 24, while at the same time reducing the damage applied to module 10. As shown, the thermal conduit 22 is located between the substrate 14 and the chassis 24.

In FIG. 37, the thermal conduit 22 is a spring. However, the thermal conduit can be any of a variety of thermally conductive materials, and the thermal conduit 22 need not be compliant. In some embodiments, the inventive system may implement contact between module 10 substrate 14 and chassis 24 without intermediate thermal conduits. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that thermal conduit 22 is preferred as a compliant intermediate element. Examples of suitable thermal conduit materials include springs, electromagnetic radiation gaskets, thermally conductive materials (Bergquist or other thermally conductive material suppliers).

As a preferred mode, the substrate 14 and module 10 inflation 16T are made of a thermally conductive material such as copper, aluminum, or a metal alloy, or a carbon-based material, thermally conductive plastic, or the like. The use of metallic materials in the substrate 14 presents several additional advantages, including increased strength and thermal management advantages. The thermal expansion 16T is preferably made of a continuous piece with the substrate 14 but is not mandatory, and consequently can be considered part of the substrate 14 in any case. As shown in the cross-sectional view above, some of the ICs are thermally connected directly to the substrate 14, and thus can directly supply thermal energy to the substrate 14. Others of the resident ICs of the module 10 may supply thermal energy to the flex circuit 12, which may be configured to improve thermal conduction into the substrate 14.

38 is a cross sectional view of a system 5 according to the invention. The illustrated system 5 includes a module 10 and a chassis 24 and in the illustrated embodiment includes a thermal conduit 22. Thermal energy from module 10 is transferred to chassis 24 through substrate 14 of module 10. Thermal conduits s 22 participate in thermal conduction between the substrate 14 and the chassis 24. Chassis 24 may be part of a computing system (typically), and may be an expansion or shelf of a larger chassis of a computer system, such as a general purpose PC. As another example, it may be part of a server or larger computer chassis, or may be a metal bulge, seat, or bracket connected to the chassis structure of a small computing device, such as a computing platform of a notebook computer or a dedicated application.

The cross section of FIG. 38 is drawn along the ICs 18 of the module 10 disposed on any of the sides S1 and S2 of the module 10 substrate. In the system 5, the module 10 is inserted into the edge connector 31 located on the board 33. The edge connector 31 is a component familiar to the art, and is generally used for a board 33 such as a motherboard of a computer. There is a minimal amount of thermal energy flow between the module 10 and the board 33 through the edge connector 31 as an inherent matter. However, this heat energy flow through the edge connector 31 does not correspond to the thermal connection notable in the present application.

Substrate 14 is in contact with thermal conduit 22 through thermal expansion 16T. Thermal conduit 22 is a gasket-like material disposed along lower portion 24L of chassis 24. The gasket material of the particular thermal conduit 22 is shown in FIG. 38, but may be an electromagnetic radiation gasket material.

The upper surface 18T of some of the ICs 18 is used in the diagram of FIG. 38 to attach the IC-configured flex circuit 12 to the substrate 14 of the module 10. Thermal glue or adhesive is preferably used for this attachment. Substrate 14 has thermal expansion 16T with a first circumferential edge indicated by 16A and a second limit shown in the FIG. 38 diagram. The thermal expansion portion 16T may be configured in various forms. Alternatively, the substrate 14 may have only the second edge without expansion or without feature shape.

The thermally conductive material of the substrate 14 facilitates the extraction of thermal energy from the CSP of the module. The flex circuit 12 may operate as a heat sink or a heat spreader to assist heat conduction from the ICs 18 and 19. In another embodiment, various features from multiple technologies can be combined with the use of FR4 with copper layers on both sides to provide a substrate 14 designed to utilize the principles of the invention. Other embodiments may combine traditional constituent materials, such as FR4, with the metallic material of the substrate in module 10, while still taking advantage of the present invention while still utilizing conventional connection strategies.

39 shows a system using an alternative embodiment module 10 with auxiliary substrates 21A, 21B. The auxiliary substrates are composed of ICs 18 and may be made of PCB material. Other materials well known in the art may be used. For example, a rigid integral flex structure that provides a flex portion delivered about the main board 14 or extended to the flex edge connector 20, and a mounting location for circuits such as resistors and PLLs, ICs 18, 19, and the like. The auxiliary substrate 21 can be provided by the firmness of the. In the embodiment shown, the auxiliary substrates 21A, 21B are connected to the connector 23, and the connector 23 is connected to the contact 20. The module 10 of the system 5 of FIG. 39 is shown thermally connected with the thermal conduit 22 along the bottom 24L of the chassis 24, which is shown as a shelf expansion of the larger chassis body 24B. .

40 shows an embodiment of a system 5 using two modules 10 to illustrate the use of multiple modules 10 of a system 5 according to the invention.

In the system 5, the thermal extension 16T of the module 10 is thermally connected with the thermal conduit 22 along the bottom 24L of the chassis, which may be an expansion of the large chassis body. In a preferred module, the thermal conduit 22 may be an electromagnetic radiation gasket material and, alternatively, the module 10 may be in direct contact with the chassis portion utilizing the module.

FIG. 41 shows another embodiment of a system 5 including a module 10 that uses few ICs 18. In the module 10 shown, the substrate 14 is made of FR4, but with a copper core, the core 28 and copper layer cooperate with the thermal expansion 16T to shunt the thermal energy to the chassis 24. (26). This configuration makes it possible to use various configuration combinations for the module.

42 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of a thermal management system 5 employing a module 10 inserted into a card edge connector. The module 10 has a deformation (or contour, recess) 15 using the IC 19 to create a space 15S which is an accommodation place of the IC 19. This could be a device with a tall profile, such as a graphics module's graphics engine or a buffer like the AMB's of an FB-DIMM. The substrate 14 does not have to have a uniform thickness, and substrates with thicknesses varying along the contour of the substrate are shown in the figures. Substrate 14 of module 10 in FIG. 42 is in contact with thermal conduit 22 through thermal expansion 16T. Thermal conduit 22 is in contact with chassis 24.

In some embodiments, the large capacity provided may be used to provide multiple DIMM circuits in a single module. For example, components including multiple circuits 19 and ICs 18, represented by AMB, may be combined to create a dual full-buffer DIMM in a single module 10.

43 is a plan view of a module designed to represent two or more instances of an FB-DIMM circuit in a single module 10. Circuit 19 is represented by AMB. Modules 10 comprised of a single FB-DIMM can be easily implemented using the principles of the invention.

44 shows the side 8 of the flex circuit 12 with the first field and the second field F1, F2. Each field F1, F2 has one or more mounting contact arrays for the CSP 11A. Contact arrays, such as array 11, are disposed below IC 18 and circuit 19. One example contact array 11A is shown as an example IC 18 to be mounted in contact array 11A.

Field F1 of side 8 of flex circuit 12 is filled with a plurality of first CSP ICs _R1 and a plurality of second CSP ICs _R2 . The second field F2 of the side 8 of the flex circuit 12 is filled with a plurality of first CSP ICs _R1 and a plurality of second CRP ICs _R2 . The indicated multiple CSPs are called "ranks". Between the rank ICR2 of the field F1 and the rank ICR2 of the field F2 is shown a number of module contacts assigned to the two rows C _R1 and C _R2 of the module contact 20. When the flex circuit 12 is folded, the side 8 shown in FIG. 44 is presented to the outside of the module. The opposite side 9 of the flex circuit 12 is inside the module 10, so that the side 9 is closer than the side 8 to the substrate 14 on which the flex circuit 12 is disposed. . As shown, other embodiments may have other numerical ranks and may have multiple CSP combinations that are connected to implement an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 45 is a side 9 view of the flex circuit 12 showing the other side of the flex circuit shown in FIG. The side 9 of the flex circuit 12 is filled with multiple CSPs 18. The side 9 has fields F1 and F2, each containing one or more mounting contact array sites for the CSP. If shown, multiple contact arrays are included. Each field F1 and F2 includes two multiple ICs identified in FIG. 3 as IC _R1 and IC _R2 in the preferred embodiment shown. Thus, each side of flex circuit 12 has two fields F1 and F2, each field comprising a plurality of ranks of CSP IC _R1 and IC _R2 . If the ICs 18 are identified according to the tissue identifications specified in FIGS. 44 and 45, later in FIG. 46, it will be seen that F1 and F2 are placed on different sides of the substrate 14 in the completion module 10. . The grouping of ICs 18 shown in FIGS. 44 and 45 is not forcibly presented by the invention, but merely serves as an exemplary organizational strategy to aid in understanding the invention. In addition to the buffer 19 shown on the side 8 of the flex circuit 12, various individual components such as termination resistors, bypass capacitors, bias resistors and the like can be used.

FIG. 44 shows an example conductive trace 21 for connecting row CR2 of module contacts 20 to IC 18. There are numerous such traces in a typical embodiment. Traces 21 may be connected to a via which may be transferred to another conductive layer of flex circuit 12 in some embodiments with two or more conductive layers. In a preferred embodiment, the vias connect the ICs 18 on the side 9 of the flex circuit 12 to the module contacts 20. An example buyer 23 is shown. Traces 21 may implement other connections between the ICs on either side of the flex circuit 12 and may interconnect the ICs across rows of module contacts 20. Various traces and buyers can implement the interconnections needed to carry data and control signals between various ICs and buffer circuits.

46 is a cross sectional view of a module 10 designed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The module 10 is filled with ICs 18 having an upper surface 18T and a lower surface 18B. The substrate or support structure 14 has first and second circumferential edge portions 16A, 16B, which appear as ends in the figure of FIG. 46. The board | substrate or support structure 14 has 1st, 2nd side part S1 and S2. Flex 12 is wound around circumferential edge 16A of substrate 14.

In a typical FB-DIMM system using multiple FB-DIMMs, each AMB from one FB-DIMM to another FB-DIMM circuit may be considered as three impedance discontinuities represented by D1, D2, D3 in the system of FIG. Spaced apart. 47 includes two modules 10F and 10S and includes a connection representation between the two modules. Discontinuity D1 represents the impedance discontinuity represented by the connector-socket combination associated with the first module 10F. Discontinuity D2 represents the impedance variation exhibited by the connection between the connector socket of the second module 10S and the connector socket of the first module 10F. Discontinuity D3 represents the discontinuity represented by the connector-socket combination associated with the second module 10S. AMB is a new buffer technology for server memory that includes a number of pass-through logic, data bus interface, deserialization and decoding logic functions for clock writing and reading and internal serialization functions, and clock functions. It is common to include features. The function of the AMB is to distinguish the difficult features of the FB-DIMM module. After reading this specification, it will be understood how to implement a connection between the IC 18 and the AMB 19 in the FB-DIMM circuit implemented by embodiments of the present invention. It will be appreciated that the present invention can provide capacity advantages while reducing impedimental impedance discontinuities. Moreover, various principles of the present invention can be used to implement one or more FB-DIMM circuits in a module.

FIG. 48 shows the first AMB 19 of the first FB-DIMM "FB1" of the first module 10F and the second FB-DIMM "FB2" of the first module 10F, unlike the system represented by FIG. 47. Schematic representation of a single impedance variation DX exhibited by the connection between the second AMB 19.

FIG. 49 is yet another embodiment diagram of the present invention illustrating the structure of a module 10 designed using a stack to create a module presenting two FB-DIMM circuits. Stocktech Group L.P. By using stacks, such as yarn stack 40, it is possible to create high capacity modules. Stack 40 is only one of the various stack designs available in the present invention. Exemplary stacks 40 are designed with a mandrel 42 and a stack flex circuit 44 disclosed in US Pat. No. 6,914,324 B2 (2005.7.5), wherein the stack 40 and the AMB 19 are formed of a substrate ( 14) mounted on the flex circuit 12 disposed around.

50 shows another embodiment structure using a stack in one embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment presents the FB-DIMM circuit at the contact 20.

51 shows another embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated module 10 includes one or more AMB and associated circuitry, such as IC 18. In a preferred mode, the associated circuit is a CSP and one or more FB-DIMMs on the module 10 with a relatively small profile. Support circuitry is required to generate circuitry or instantiation In addition to the AMB shown, a second AMB may be placed on one side of the module 10. However, when used, the first AMB 19 In comparison, it is preferable that the second AMB is arranged closer to the side portion S2 of the substrate 14. In this embodiment, the contact is closer to the edge E of the flex circuit 12 along the side portion 8 of the flex circuit 12. (20) is located. The main circuit forming the FB-DIMM circuit or the instantiation (i.e., CSP and AMB) can be distributed on both sides of the substrate 14 or placed in a single rank file. As described with reference, the first and second mounting fills on the first and second sides of the flex circuit 12 are described. To be mounted. Contact 20 can receive both of the modules one or both depending on the specific details mechanical contact interface of the application device.

52 shows a first side 8 of the flex circuit 12 used to construct a module according to another embodiment of the present invention. The ICs 18 on the flex circuit 12 are, in this embodiment, small scale chip scale package memory elements. The circuit 19 shown between the ICs 18 may be a controller or memory buffer such as AMB, and in this embodiment is a register for a registered DIMM or a memory controller. This embodiment preferably has additional ICs 18 on the opposite side 9. The flex circuit 12 is made of four continuous layers and multiple flex substrate layers, as described above with reference to FIG.

In the present embodiment, the flex circuit 12 is provided with a hole 13. These holes 13 are made to have the flexibility to bend the flex circuit 12 to obtain the desired bending radius for the curve 25. The holes 13 pass through the flex circuit 12, but in other embodiments appear by at least one of the conductive layers of the flex circuit 12, or by at least one of the flex substrate layers of the flex circuit 12. It can be a partial hole that can. These partial holes can be designed to provide flexibility while providing a sufficiently conductive material, providing a connection to the contact 20 between the ICs of field F1 and field F2.

The holes 13 in this embodiment are spaced apart so that the traces 21 can pass through the hole 13 at the height of the conductive layers of the flex 13. Some preferred embodiments have a dielectric solder mask layer partially covering side 8, but traces 21 are shown positioned along side 8 for simplicity. It will be appreciated that the traces may be placed on different layers within the flex circuit.

In the present embodiment, the flex circuit 12 is additionally provided with holes 15. The holes 15 are designed to provide flexibility to bend the flex circuit 12 to achieve the desired bending radius around the edges 16A, 16B of the substrate 14. The holes 15 may be represented as holes or partial holes in the various conductive and nonconductive layers of the flex circuit 12. In this embodiment of the flex circuit 12, a mounting pad 51 is provided along the side 18 of the flex circuit 12. This pad 51 is used to mount elements such as surface mount resistor 52.

53 is a perspective view of a module 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Holes 13 are shown along curve 25. Moreover, a portion of the holes 15 can be found along the lower edge of the module 10. The holes 13 have a size that can appear along the entire curve 25. The hole 15 may be sized to exhibit a total warp around the edge of the substrate 14. The holes 13, 15 may have a gap larger than the curve length and may have a small gap. For example, the holes 13, 15 may be sized to provide an adjustable bending radius of the flex circuit 12 only at the bending portion having a desired bending radius smaller than the radius possible with the unmodified flex circuit 12.

The illustrated structure and arrangement of the flex circuit can be used to create high capacity and thin profile circuit modules. For example, a DIMM can be configured to have a dual element-mount surface area for a given DIMM height. This redundancy may enable large devices that do not conform to traditional DIMMs, or may double the number of memory devices.

For example, one preferred embodiment provides a 30 mm 4-gigabyte registration DIMM using 512 megabit parts. Another embodiment provides a 2 gigabyte SO-DIMM using 512 megabit parts. The DIMM module may have multiple instances of DIM or BD-DIMM circuits. In addition, DIMMs with a single instantiation of a DIMM circuit may be provided when devices are used that are too large to meet the surface area provided by typical industry standard DIMM modules. This high capacity capability and flexibility can be used to provide high capacity memory for computer systems with a limited number of motherboard DIMM sockets or slots.

54 shows an example module 10 designed to provide a thin profile while using larger height elements such as AMB. 54 shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an AMB circuit 19 with an resident heat sink 33 resulting from the IC aperture 35 of the flex circuit 12, which is further shown in the following figure, and the IC. A module 10 filled with 18 is shown.

55 shows the side 9 of the flex circuit 12. Fields F1 and F of the flex circuit 12 shown are filled with a single rank of ICs 18, respectively. Field F shows the IC hole 35 through the flex circuit 12. The size of the hole 35 is such that a selected IC, such as the AMB circuit 19, can penetrate the flex circuit 12. Two or more IC holes 35 are arranged in the flex circuit 12 to allow several tall profile elements to penetrate the holes.

FIG. 56 shows another preferred embodiment of the present invention and shows a cross section of the module 10 obtained following the iteration of the circuit 19. The figure of FIG. 56 shows a module 10 with a flex circuit 12 with a hole 35 in which the circuit 19 appears. The flex circuit 12 is wound around the substrate 14 and the IC 19, which are mounted in the field F of the side 9 of the flex circuit 12. In the embodiment shown, this is the inner part of the module 10, passing through the window 250 of the substrate 12 to partially appear from the IC aperture 35 of the flex circuit 12. The circuit 19 shown represents a thermal radiation element or a heat sink 33 and may be considered to represent an AMB, a buffer, or a logic element. The circuit 19 need not necessarily appear from the IC hole 35 of the flex circuit 12, and sufficient advantages are shown by disposing the IC hole 35 of the flex circuit 12 coincident with the circuit 19. However, in various embodiments, circuit 19 will appear partially from hole 35. Other embodiments may also be constructed in accordance with the present invention. In other words, using a flex circuit that places two instances of the FB-DIMM circuit in a single module and shows two IC holes 35, it matches the two AMB visible through the window in the substrate, or It may be partially shown from the hole 35.

As shown in FIG. 56, the circuit 19 has a profile denoted by P _T , the module 10 has a profile denoted by P _M , and the IC 18 has a profile denoted by P ₁₈ . 14 has a profile represented by P _S. As shown, the profile P _M of the module 10 increases to be as small as the profile for the IC 18 and the circuit 19 compared to the expected value without using the present technology. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 56, P _M is less than P _T plus profile P ₁₈ X 4 of IC 18. This is because the circuit 19 is disposed in the window 250 of the substrate 14 through the hole 35 of the flex circuit 12.

In this embodiment, this arrangement arranges the ICs 18 of the field F1 on the S side surface of the substrate 14 and the ICs 18 of the field F on the S side surface of the substrate 14. The height or profile of the circuit 19, denoted by P _T , is within the profile or height of the module 10, and thus the circuit on the side 8 of the flex circuit 12, like the tall profile module 10 shown in FIG. 51. It has a lower profile module 10 than when 19 is mounted.

FIG. 57 shows an alternative embodiment of the present invention, in which the circuit 19 passing through the window 250 of the substrate 14 and the side 8 of the flex circuit 12 are filled with IC 18. The module 10 is shown. The embodiment shown in FIG. 57 can be used in a PCI environment. In this case, the space for expansion boards is minimal, typically only one board is compliant and that space is allocated by the application. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, larger capacities are available in PCI-constrained environments.

Thus, according to the method and system of the present invention, it is possible to provide a high capacity circuit mode in a thermally efficient and reliable design that can be manufactured at a reasonable cost while operating normally at high frequencies.

Claims (141)

In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A rigid substrate with two opposite sides and one edge, A flex circuit wound around an edge of the rigid substrate, the flex circuit having a first side and a second side, wherein a portion of the flex circuit is one side of opposite sides of the rigid substrate, Or attached to two side portions, the flex circuit having a plurality of side connector contacts for connecting to a circuit board socket, the plurality of side connector contacts being disposed near a side of a rigid substrate on the outside of the flex circuit. Circuit, and Multiple memory CSPs attached to one or both sides of the first and second sides of the flex circuit; Circuit module comprising a. The circuit module of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of memory CSPs has one top surface, and the top surfaces are attached to a rigid substrate. 2. A plurality of memory CSPs mounted to one or both of the first and second sides of a flex circuit are disposed in a cutout region on one of the opposite side portions of the rigid substrate. Circuit module. 4. The substrate of claim 3, wherein a plurality of truncated regions are present on each of the opposite side portions of the rigid substrate, and some of the plurality of truncated regions on each of the opposite side portions of the rigid substrate are two opposite side portions of the rigid substrate. Circuitry in a zigzag fashion for a portion of the plurality of truncated regions on the corresponding side of the plurality. 5. The circuit module of claim 1, wherein the circuit module further comprises an AMB, and wherein the rigid substrate has a cutout area or window in which the AMB is disposed. 6. 5. The circuit module of claim 1, wherein the rigid substrate is comprised of a thermally conductive material. 5. A circuit module according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said rigid substrate is comprised of aluminum. 5. A circuit module according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a thermal expansion is caused by said rigid substrate opposite said edge of said rigid substrate. 2. The circuit module of claim 1, further comprising one or more alignment means of a flex circuit that performs an alignment function with one or more alignment means of the rigid substrate. 2. The circuit module of claim 1 further comprising an AMB mounted on one or two of the first and second sides of the flex circuit. 2. The circuit module of claim 1 wherein the flex circuit comprises two or more conductive layers. 12. The circuit module according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and 9 to 11, wherein the flex circuit consists of four conductive layers. In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A thermally conductive substrate having a first side portion, a second side portion, and one side portion, and A flex circuit having a first side and a second side composed of a plurality of CSPs, said first side having edge connector contacts for connecting to edge connector slots, said flex circuit having a periphery of the edge of said thermally conductive substrate; The side connector contacts of the first side closer to the sides of the thermally conductive substrate than the plurality of CSP placement positions, and flex closer to the side portions of the thermally conductive substrate than the first side of the flex circuit. The flex circuit of the bar which places the second side of the circuit Circuit module comprising a. 14. The circuit module of claim 13, wherein the thermally conductive substrate exhibits thermal expansion on opposite sides of the peripheral edge. 15. The circuit module of claim 13 or 14, further comprising an AMB mounted to one of the first and second sides of the flex circuit, or to both sides. The circuit module according to claim 13, wherein the thermally conductive substrate thickness between the first side portion and the second side portion varies in at least two positions along the length of the thermally conductive substrate. In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A flex circuit with an expansion board contact for connecting to a side connector socket, said flex circuit having a first side and a second side, the first group of CSPs and the second group of CSPs being connected along the second side; The flex circuit of the bar being mounted, and A substrate having a first side portion, a second side portion, and one side, the first side portion having one or more cut regions, the second side portion having one or more cut regions, the flex circuit being a substrate The substrate being disposed circumferentially to place the first group of CSPs in at least one cutout region of the first side portion of the substrate and the second group of CSPs in at least one cutout region of the second side portion of the substrate Circuit module comprising a. 18. The circuit module of claim 17 wherein at least one cutout region of the first side of the substrate is spatially coincident with at least one cutout region of the second side of the substrate. 18. The circuit module of claim 17, wherein the one or more cropped regions of the first side portion of the substrate are spatially coincident with a portion of the one or more cut regions of the second side portion of the substrate. In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A flex circuit having a first main side and a second main side, said flex circuit having at least one row of surface mount arrays at a first main side and at least two rows of surface mount arrays at a second main side; Wherein the flex circuit has an arcuate deflection between two selected rows of two or more rows of surface mount arrays on the second major side, wherein the second main side faces inward in the arcuate flexion, and the flex circuit has an end edge; The flex circuit of the bar having edge connector contacts disposed adjacent the end edge, A plurality of CSPs occupying a portion of two or more rows of surface mount arrays of said second major side, said plurality of CSPs as each CSP has a top major surface, and A support substrate partially disposed within the arcuate bending, the support substrate having one side and first and second sides, the first side having a plurality of truncated areas for placing individual CSPs of the plurality of CSPs; Or a window, wherein the CSPs occupy a portion of two or more rows of surface mount arrays of the second major side of the flex circuit. Circuit module comprising a. delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A flex circuit having first and second sides, wherein the flex circuit is arranged with a plurality of contacts for connecting to the edge connector along the first side of the flex circuit, A first FB-DIMM circuit having a first AMB mounted on the flex circuit and a plurality of CSPs, a second FB-DIMM circuit having a second AMB mounted on the flex circuit and a plurality of CSPs, and A rigid substrate having first and second side portions opposite each other, the flex circuit being around the rigid substrate to position the first side of the flex circuit farther from the substrate than the second side position of the flex circuit; The rigid substrate of the bar being disposed Circuit module comprising a. 72. The circuit module of claim 71 wherein the circuit module is inserted into a side connector of a computer. 73. The circuit module of claim 72 wherein the computer is a server computer. 72. The circuit module of claim 71 wherein the rigid substrate is patterned to provide a cutout area, within which the selected CSPs of a plurality of CSPs on a flex circuit are disposed. 72. The circuit module of claim 71 wherein the rigid substrate is patterned to provide a cutout area or window, wherein one of the first AMB or the second AMB is disposed within the cutout area or window. In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A first flex circuit having first and second sides and a set of expansion board contacts, each said side having a first field and a second field, each field having one or more mounting array sites for the CSP; Said first flex circuit of having a bar, A second flex circuit having first and second sides, each said side having a first field and a second field, each field having said at least one mounting array site for a CSP; Circuit, A first AMB mounted along the first side of the first flex circuit and a plurality of first CSPs, and a plurality of second CSPs mounted along the second side of the first flex circuit, A second AMB mounted along the first side of the second flex circuit and a plurality of first CSPs, and a plurality of second CSPs mounted along the second side of the second flex circuit; A rigid substrate having first and second side portions, wherein the first flex circuit is located along a first side portion of the rigid substrate and the second flex circuit is disposed along a second side portion of the rigid substrate Board Circuit module comprising a. In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A flex circuit having first and second sides, the flex circuit of which a plurality of lateral expansion board contacts are arranged along the first side, First and second rank CSP memory elements arranged along the first side of the flex circuit, wherein the first rank CSP memory elements are joined by the plurality of lateral expansion board contacts; The first and second rank CSP memory elements, A first AMB arranged with CSP memory elements of a first rank, a second AMB arranged with CSP memory elements of a second rank, and -Substrate to which flex circuit is attached Circuit module comprising a. 78. The circuit module of claim 77 wherein a plurality of first and second memory elements are arranged in a stack. In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A flex circuit having one side, first and second sides, wherein a set of contacts are formed along the first side adjacent the side of the flex circuit, the flex circuit comprising a first FB-DIMM circuit and a first side; Occupied by two FB-DIMM circuits, wherein the first FB-DIMM circuit includes a plurality of first memory CSPs and a first AMB, and the second FB-DIMM circuit includes a plurality of second memory CSPs and a second AMB. Said flex circuit as comprising, and A substrate having an end, the substrate being arranged around the end of the substrate to place the contact sets of the flex circuit at a location proximate the end of the substrate. Circuit module comprising a. 80. The system of claim 79, wherein the first side of the flex circuit has first and second mounting fields for CSP, and the second side of the flex circuit has first and second mounting fields for CSP, A plurality of first memory CSPs and first AMBs of the first FB-DIMM circuit are located along the first mounting field of the first side and the first mounting field of the second side of the flex circuit; And a plurality of second memory CSPs and a second AMB of the second FB-DIMM circuit are located along the second mounting field of the first side and the second mounting field of the second side of the flex circuit. 81. The flex circuit of claim 80, wherein the plurality of first memory CSPs and the first AMB of the first FB-DIMM circuit are in a single side rank file along the first mounting field of the first side of the flex circuit and in the second of the flex circuit. Arranged in a single lateral rank file along the first field of the sides, The plurality of second memory CSPs and the second AMB of the second FB-DIMM circuit are arranged in a single side rank file along the second mounting field of the first side of the flex circuit, and the second field of the second side of the flex circuit. And accordingly arranged in a single lateral rank file. 80. The apparatus of claim 79, wherein the first side of the flex circuit has first and second mounting fields for CSPs, and the second side of the flex circuit has first and second mounting fields for CSPs, A plurality of first memory CSPs and first AMBs of the first FB-DIMM circuit are located along the first mounting field of the first side and the second mounting field of the second side of the flex circuit; And the plurality of second memory CSPs and the second AMB of the second FB-DIMM circuit are located along the second mounting field of the first side and the first mounting field of the second side of the flex circuit. 83. The flex circuit of claim 82, wherein the plurality of first memory CSPs and the first AMB of the first FB-DIMM circuit are in a single side rank file along the first mounting field of the first side of the flex circuit and in the second of the flex circuit. Arranged in a single lateral rank file along the second field of the sides, The plurality of second memory CSPs and the second AMB of the second FB-DIMM circuit are arranged in a single side rank file along the second mounting field of the first side of the flex circuit, and the first field of the second side of the flex circuit. And accordingly arranged in a single lateral rank file. In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A flex circuit having first and second sides, the flex circuit in turn from the first side towards the second side, a first conducting layer 701 comprising signal traces, a second conducting comprising signal traces A layer 702, a third conductive layer 703 including a ground plane, a fourth conductive layer 704 including signal traces, and a row of expansion board contacts arranged along the first side Of the flex circuit, First and second rank CSP memory elements arranged along the first side of the flex circuit, wherein the first rank CSP memory elements are extended by the expansion board contacts in the row to the second rank CSP memory elements. The CSP memory device as separate from, and A substrate having first and second side portions and one edge, wherein the flex circuit is arranged around the edge Wherein each signal trace is capable of interconnecting between CSP memory elements, expansion board contacts, or respective conductive layers using direct contact or vias. 86. The circuit module of claim 84 wherein the circuit module further comprises an AMB, wherein the circuit module is comprised of an FB-DIMM. 86. The circuit module of claim 84 or 85 wherein a plurality of first and second CSP memory elements are arranged in a stack. 86. The circuit module of any one of claims 84 and 85 wherein the flex circuit has one or more flexure zones, wherein the flex circuit comprises one or more rows of holes in the flex circuit along the flexure zone. 88. The circuit module of claim 87 wherein the row of holes is a row of holes passing through the flex circuit. 88. The circuit module of claim 87 wherein the row of holes comprises holes smaller than all layers of the flex circuit. In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A flex circuit having first and second sides, said flex circuit comprising IC holes penetrating said flex circuit and a plurality of side connector contacts disposed along said first side for connection to a circuit board socket, At least one CSP of a first type mounted to a second side of said flex circuit, and A rigid substrate having first and second side portions located opposite each other, the window penetrating the rigid substrate being arranged, the flex circuit being located around the rigid substrate, the window penetrating the rigid substrate The rigid substrate of one or more CSPs of the first type are arranged Wherein said rigid substrate is comprised of a thermally conductive material to represent one or more thermal expansions. delete 93. The circuit module of claim 90 wherein one or more CSPs of the first type appear from an IC window through the flex circuit. 93. The circuit module of claim 90 wherein a plurality of CSPs of the second type are located along the second side of the flex circuit. 95. The circuit module of claim 93 wherein a plurality of CSPs of the second type are comprised of memory CSPs. 95. The circuit module of claim 94 wherein a plurality of CSPs of the second type are arranged in a stack. 93. The circuit module of claim 90 wherein the second types of CSPs are located along the first side of the flex circuit. 97. The circuit module of claim 96 wherein a plurality of CSPs of the second type are comprised of a memory circuit. 98. The circuit module of claim 97 wherein a plurality of CSPs of a second type are arranged in a stack. 93. The circuit module of claim 90 wherein the circuit module is connected to the circuit board socket through a plurality of edge connector contacts of the flex circuit. 93. The system of claim 90, wherein the second side of the flex circuit has a first field and a second field, and one or more CSPs of the first type are mounted in the first field of the second side and the plurality of CSPs of the second type. Is mounted to the second field of the second side. 93. The circuit module of claim 90 wherein at least one CSP of the first type is AMB. 93. The circuit module of claim 90 wherein the first side of the flex circuit is occupied by a plurality of CSPs of a second type. 107. The circuit module of claim 99 wherein the plurality of CSPs of the second type are memory circuits. 107. The circuit module of claim 102 wherein the plurality of CSPs of the second type are memory circuits arranged in a stack structure. 93. The circuit module of claim 90, further comprising a plurality of CSPs of a second type, wherein the substrate is patterned to provide a cropped region in which the plurality of CSPs of the second type are to be disposed. 91. The apparatus of claim 90, wherein the circuit module further comprises a plurality of first CSPs of a second type, wherein at least one of the first types of CSPs and the plurality of first CSPs of the second type are first FBs. A circuit module comprising a DIMM instantiation. 107. The apparatus of claim 106, wherein the circuit module further comprises a plurality of second CSPs of a second type, wherein the one or more CSPs of the first type include two AMBs and include two AMBs. At least one CSP and a plurality of second CSPs of the second type comprise a second FB-DIMM instantiation. In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A flex circuit with first and second sides, said flex circuit comprising IC holes penetrating said flex circuit and a set of contacts for connecting to a circuit board socket, said first side having a first side; The flex circuit as occupied by a plurality of CSPs of a type, the second side being occupied by a CSP of a second type, and At least one CSP of a first type mounted to a second side of said flex circuit, and A rigid substrate having first and second side portions, one edge, said substrate being arranged with a window penetrating said rigid substrate, said flex circuit being wound around the edge of said rigid substrate, The rigid substrate of placing CSPs outside the circuit module and placing a second type of CSP into the window of the rigid substrate Wherein the rigid substrate is comprised of a thermally conductive material to represent one or more thermal expansions. delete 109. The circuit module of claim 108 in which the second type of CSP appears partially from the IC aperture of the flex circuit. 109. The circuit module of claim 108 wherein the plurality of CSPs of the first type are memory circuits. 118. The circuit module of claim 111 wherein the plurality of CSPs of the first type are memory circuits arranged in a stack. 109. The circuit module of claim 108 wherein a set of contacts for insertion of the circuit board are disposed adjacent the peripheral edge of the flex circuit. 109. The apparatus of claim 108, wherein the first side of the flex circuit has first and second fields, each field occupied by a plurality of CSPs of the first type, The second side of the flex circuit has first and second fields, the first field is occupied with a second type of CSP, the second field of the second side is occupied with a plurality of CSPs of the first type, The flex circuit is disposed around the rigid substrate to place first fields of first and second sides on the first side of the rigid substrate and second fields of first and second sides on the second side of the rigid substrate. Circuit module, characterized in that for arranging. 116. The circuit module of claim 114 wherein a set of contacts for insertion in a circuit board socket is located between the first and second fields of the first side of the flex circuit. 116. The circuit module of claim 114 wherein the set of contacts for insertion in the circuit board socket is disposed at a location proximate the peripheral edge of the flex circuit. In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A flex circuit comprising a first, second side, one IC hole, and a set of contacts for connecting the module to a circuit board connector, the first side of the flex circuit being occupied with memory CSPs, the second The side is the flex circuit as occupied by one or more ICs of the selected type, and A substrate having a first side, a side, and one side, the window arranged through the substrate, the flex circuit being wound around the side, the flex circuit being farther from the substrate than the second side position of the flex circuit The substrate on which the first side of the circuit is disposed, and at least one IC of the selected type is placed in a window of the substrate. Wherein the substrate is made of a thermally conductive material to represent one or more thermal expansion portions. delete 118. The circuit module of claim 117 wherein an IC of a selected type is arranged through a window of the support substrate, the IC partially appearing from an IC aperture of the flex circuit. 118. The circuit module of claim 117 wherein the set of contacts is disposed adjacent a peripheral edge of the flex circuit. 118. The circuit module of claim 117 wherein the set of contacts is arranged between memory CSPs of a first rank and memory CSPs of a second rank occupying a first side of the flex circuit. 118. The circuit module of claim 117 wherein the circuit module is inserted into a circuit board connector. In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A flex circuit having a first, a second side, a perimeter, and a set of circuit board connector contacts, wherein the first side of the flex circuit is occupied by a plurality of CSPs of a first type, the second side of the flex circuit Is the flex circuit as occupied by one or more CSPs of a second type, and A substrate having a first, a second side, and one side, wherein a window is formed in the substrate and one or more CSPs of a second type are inserted through the window, thereby providing a first type of majority on the first side of the substrate. The CSPs of the substrate are arranged and cause one or more CSPs of the second type to appear through the window of the substrate from the second side of the substrate. Circuit module comprising a. 126. The circuit module of claim 123 wherein the substrate is comprised of a thermally conductive material to represent one or more thermal expansion portions. 124. The circuit module of claims 123 or 124 wherein the plurality of CSPs of the first type are memory CSPs and at least one CSP of the second type is a buffer circuit. 124. The circuit module of claims 123 or 124 wherein at least one CSP of the second type is a logic circuit. 124. The circuit module of claim 123 or 124, wherein the circuit board connector contact set is disposed at a position adjacent the circumferential edge of the flex circuit. 126. The circuit module of claim 125 wherein at least one CSP of the second type that is a buffer circuit is AMB. As a method of manufacturing a circuit module, the method is Providing a flex circuit having a first, a second side, a first, a second long side, and a first, a second short side, wherein a set of side connector junction contacts are disposed along the first side and the flex The first side of the circuit is equipped with a plurality of first and second CSPs, arranged laterally around the set of side connector junction contacts, the plurality of first closer to the first long side of the flex circuit than the position of the module contact set. 1 CSPs are arranged, and a plurality of second CSPs are arranged closer to the second long side of the flex circuit than the module contact set position, Providing a rigid thermally conductive substrate having first and second side portions and first and second long sides, Winding the flex circuit around the thermally conductive substrate to arrange the second side of the flex circuit closer to the first and second side portions of the substrate than to the first side position of the flex circuit, and to the second long side of the thermally conductive substrate. Placing the set of module contacts closer to the first long side of the substrate, and placing the plurality of first CSPs closer to the first side portion of the thermally conductive substrate than the plurality of second CSP positions. A method of manufacturing a circuit module comprising the steps. delete As a circuit module manufacturing method, the method Providing a flex circuit having first and second sides, wherein the first side has a plurality of contacts for inserting into an expansion board slot and a plurality of pads for mounting the CSP, the second side having There are a number of pads for mounting the CSP Mounting a plurality of CSPs on the first side of the flex circuit, Mounting a plurality of CSPs on the second side of the flex circuit, -Mount an AMB on at least one of the first side or the second side of the flex circuit, Providing a rigid thermally conductive substrate having first and second major surfaces, one edge and one thermal expansion, and A flex circuit is wound around the edge of the rigid substrate, with the first side facing outwards such that the plurality of contacts are arranged at a position adjacent the edge of the thermally conductive substrate A method of manufacturing a circuit module comprising the steps. 143. The method of claim 131, further comprising attaching a thermal radiation clip to selected ones of the plurality of CSPs. 143. The method of claim 131, further comprising partially inserting a plurality of contacts into an expansion board slot for connection to an operating environment. 143. The method of claim 131, wherein the thermally conductive substrate has a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion is thinner than the second portion. 143. The method of claim 131, wherein the thermally conductive substrate is made of metal. 143. The method of claim 131, wherein said thermally conductive substrate is comprised of aluminum. 143. The method of claim 131, wherein said thermally conductive substrate is comprised of FR4 and a metal layer. In the occupied flex circuit, the occupied flex circuit is: A flex circuit with first and second principalities, said flex circuit representing an array of contact side first and second sets of contact sites along the first principal side, wherein a plurality of connector contacts are located between the two sets And the second main side of the flex circuit represents an array of contact sites of the second side first and second sets, and the array of contact sites of the second side first and second sets of first and second sets of contact sites Corresponding to the array, but located laterally spaced apart from the first and second sets of contact site arrays, each of the first and second sets of contact site arrays of the first and second sides are two or more surface mount arrays. Wherein the flex circuit comprises a connection between selected ones of a plurality of connector contacts and two or more surface mount arrays of each of the first side first and second sets of contact site arrays. The flex circuit of bars offering, and Multiple CSPs occupying two or more surface mount arrays of each of the first side first and second sets of contact site arrays; Occupied flex circuit comprising a. 138. The occupied flex circuit of claim 138 wherein a plurality of second CSPs occupy two or more surface mount arrays of each of the second side first and second sets of contact site arrays. In the circuit module, wherein the circuit module, A substrate having first and second side portions and one hole, A flex circuit consisting of first and second parts, the first part being located adjacent the first side part of the substrate, the second part being located adjacent the second side part of the substrate, the flex circuit being Said flex circuit of bars having side card connector contacts, A connector consisting of first and second parts selectively coupleable, the first part of the connector corresponding to a first part of the flex circuit and the second part of the connector corresponding to a second part of the flex circuit Wherein the first and second portions of the flex circuit are electrically coupled to the holes of the substrate through the first and second parts of the connector. Circuit module comprising a. A circuit module for facilitating extraction of thermal energy from memory CSPs operating in conjunction with AMB, the circuit module comprising: A plurality of memory CSPs having top and bottom surfaces and CSP contacts, wherein the CSP contacts are arranged along the bottom surface; A flex circuit attached to the AMB and multiple memory CSPs, A thermally conductive substrate member with one edge and one thermal expansion, and A first CSP and a second CSP selected of the plurality of memory CSPs attached to the flex circuit, wherein the selected first CSP contacts are separated from the CSP contacts of the selected second CSP by a portion of the flex circuit; 2 CSP Circuit module comprising a.

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