JP5145732B2 - Semiconductor module and card type information device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor module and a card type information device for mounting semiconductor elements at high density.

  Along with the downsizing of electronic equipment, there has been a need for a semiconductor module in which semiconductor elements are mounted at a high density and stored on a substrate which is a single package. In addition, in many cases, a card type information device has a planar size and thickness determined by a standard, and in order to obtain a high-performance information device, it is necessary to mount more semiconductor elements in the determined space. .

  Here, as a method for mounting semiconductor elements at a high density, stacking semiconductor elements in the thickness direction of the substrate is more efficient than mounting a large number of semiconductor elements in one plane without increasing the mounting area. High density mounting is possible.

  FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of a package of Patent Document 1 which is a conventional example in which semiconductor elements are stacked in the thickness direction of such a substrate. As shown in FIG. 11, the package body 20 has cavities 22 formed in a step shape. Then, the connection electrode 24b provided at each step portion of the cavity 22 and the semiconductor chip 10 are flip-chip bonded.

It is shown that the semiconductor chip 10 that is large in size from the bottom side to the opening side of the cavity 22 is mounted by such flip-chip bonding, so that a highly integrated semiconductor device is obtained.
JP 2004-228117 A

  As described above, in Patent Document 1, the bump 10b of each semiconductor chip 10 and the connection electrode 24b provided at each step portion of the cavity 22 are flip-chip bonded. Therefore, if the semiconductor chip 10 is, for example, a square, at least two sides at both ends are bonded and fixed.

  On the other hand, a semiconductor module on which a semiconductor element such as the semiconductor chip 10 is mounted is often built in an information device such as a card type information device. The card type information device is used by being inserted into a digital camera, a video camera, or the like. However, the card type information device is often excessively pressed with a finger or subjected to an impact due to dropping when being inserted or taken out.

  When a semiconductor chip 10 having at least both ends fixed as in Patent Document 1 is subjected to a load or impact due to the above-described pressing and a torsion or bending moment is applied, a crack or a crack is generated at a connection portion between the semiconductor chip 10 and the package body 20. There was a problem that it was easily damaged by breaking.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor module and a card-type information device that are capable of mounting semiconductor elements at high density and having excellent reliability.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a plurality of semiconductor elements provided with connection terminals, and a substrate provided with extraction electrodes connected to the connection terminals for extracting signals from the semiconductor elements. Is a semiconductor module laminated on a substrate, and the connection terminal is provided only at one end of the semiconductor element.

  The semiconductor module having such a configuration can mount semiconductor elements at a high density, and only one end of the semiconductor element is connected to the substrate. Therefore, even if the semiconductor element is pressed and a torsion or bending moment is applied, The torsion and bending moment is relieved by the free end at the other end. Therefore, the stress applied to the connection portion where the semiconductor element and the substrate are connected is also reduced, and a highly reliable semiconductor module that hardly damages the connection portion can be provided.

  Moreover, the board | substrate of the semiconductor module of this invention is flat form, and each semiconductor element may carry out the ball bump connection which makes the height from a board | substrate and a board | substrate different.

  Such a semiconductor module has a simple configuration for ball bump connection between a flat plate-shaped substrate and a semiconductor element, and can easily mount the semiconductor elements at a high density. The height at which the semiconductor elements are stacked can be easily changed depending on the size of the ball bump.

  The substrate of the semiconductor module of the present invention may have a shape provided with a step portion for stacking semiconductor elements.

  When the substrate has such a shape, bump connection with a semiconductor element can be performed, and press-contact bonding using an anisotropic conductive film or the like can be performed, so that selection of connection methods is expanded. In addition, since the distance between the connection between the substrate and the semiconductor element is reduced by the stepped portion, the variation in the distance between the connections is reduced, and the reliability of the connection portion can be increased.

  Moreover, the substrate of the semiconductor module of the present invention may include a frame surrounding the semiconductor element.

  By providing such a frame, it is possible to improve the reliability against deformation and impact against torsion and bending moment applied to the semiconductor module.

  In addition, a buffer sheet may be disposed between the semiconductor elements stacked in the semiconductor module of the present invention or may be filled with a sealing resin.

  With such a buffer sheet or a sealing resin, the impact, torsion, and bending moment applied to the semiconductor module can be reduced, and the reliability of the semiconductor module can be improved.

  The semiconductor element of the semiconductor module of the present invention may be a memory chip.

  Further, the card type information device of the present invention includes a memory module substrate provided with an external connection terminal for connecting to an external terminal in the above-described semiconductor module, a circuit control element for controlling the semiconductor element, and the memory module substrate and the circuit control element. It is set as the structure provided with the housing | casing to perform.

  In the card type information device having such a configuration, only one end of the semiconductor element is connected, and the other end is a free end. Therefore, even when a load is applied to the semiconductor element from the outside, a torsional or bending moment due to the load is relaxed by the free end, and a highly reliable card type information device that hardly causes damage to the connection portion between the semiconductor element and the substrate is provided. Can do.

  According to the present invention, semiconductor elements can be mounted at high density, and the torsion and bending moment applied to the connection portion between the semiconductor elements and the substrate can be relaxed even when a load is applied from the outside, and the semiconductor module and card type information with high reliability An apparatus can be provided.

  Hereinafter, a semiconductor module and a card type information device according to embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the embodiment of the present invention, a memory module substrate on which a memory chip is mounted as a semiconductor module will be described as an example.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1A is a plan view of the memory module substrate according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is A ₁ -A ₂ -A ₃ -A ₄ -A _5- of FIG. a a ₆ a sectional view taken along a line. The memory module substrate 100 includes, for example, a glass epoxy laminated substrate 102 and four semiconductor element memory chips 104a to 104d.

  A connection terminal 106 is provided at one end of each of the memory chips 104a to 104d. The substrate 102 is provided with an extraction electrode 108 and connected to the connection terminal 106 to extract signals from the memory chips 104a to 104d.

  Here, the connection terminal 106 and the extraction electrode 108 are connected by ball bumps. For example, the connection terminal 106 and the extraction electrode 108 are connected by cream solder 112a and 112d through the copper (Cu) ball 110a having a large diameter in the memory chip 104a and the copper (Cu) ball 110d having a small diameter in the memory chip 104d. ing. That is, as shown in FIG. 1B, the sizes of the copper (Cu) balls 110a to 110d are changed so that the heights of the memory chips 104a to 104d from the substrate 102 are different.

  In FIG. 1, only two connection terminals 106 of each of the memory chips 104a to 104d are drawn, which is smaller than the actual number. This is because the plane dimensions of several millimeters of the memory chips 104a to 104d and the thickness and interval of several tens of micrometers are shown on the same paper at different scales, so that the diameters of the copper (Cu) balls 110a to 110d are drawn larger than actual. Because. In the subsequent drawings, only two connection terminals are drawn for the same reason.

  Such a memory module substrate 100 has a simple configuration for ball bump connection between the flat substrate 102 and the memory chips 104a to 104d, and can easily mount the memory chips 104a to 104d at high density. The height at which the memory chips 104a to 104d are stacked can be easily changed depending on the size of the ball bumps, that is, the copper (Cu) balls 110a to 110d.

  Next, the reason why the memory chips 104a to 104d having such a configuration are strong against twisting and bending moments will be described. 2A is an explanatory diagram when a load is applied to the memory module substrate of FIG. 1 and a torsional moment is generated in the memory chip, and FIG. 2B is a load moment applied to the memory module substrate and a bending moment is generated in the substrate. It is explanatory drawing at the time.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, when a load is applied to the memory chip 104a from above and below, a torsional moment that tries to twist the memory chip 104a works. Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, when a load is applied to the memory chip 104a from below, a bending moment for bending the memory chip 104a upward works.

  The memory chip 104a is connected to the substrate 102 by a connecting portion 114 at one end thereof. Here, the connection portion 114 is a portion where the connection terminal 106 of the memory chip 104a and the extraction electrode 108 of the substrate 102 are connected via a copper (Cu) ball 110a or the like.

  Even if the above-described twisting or bending moment is applied to the memory chip 104a connected and fixed at the connection portion 114 only at one end, the other end 116 is a free end. The moment is relaxed. When the other end 116 is also connected and fixed as in the prior art, if a twisting or bending moment is applied to the memory chip, a large force is applied to the connected and fixed portions at both ends. However, if the other end 116 is a free end, the torsional and bending moments are partially released at the free end, so that the force acting on the connecting portion 114 is relaxed and the connecting portion 114 is damaged such as breaking. Things will be less.

  Next, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a memory module substrate according to a modification of the first embodiment of the present invention. In the memory module substrate 120 of FIG. 3, a buffer sheet 122 such as polyimide resin or polyethylene resin is disposed between the memory chips 104a to 104d of the memory module substrate 100 of FIG. That is, in the memory module substrate 120, the buffer sheet 122 is disposed between the memory chip 104a and the memory chip 104b, between the memory chip 104b and the memory chip 104c, and between the memory chip 104c and the memory chip 104d.

  By disposing such a buffer sheet 122 between the memory chips 104a to 104d, even if an impact, a twist, or a bending moment is applied to the memory module substrate 120, the reliability as the memory module substrate 120 is reduced. Can be increased.

  Further, the same effect as that of the buffer sheet 122 can be obtained by replacing the buffer sheet 122 with a sealing resin such as an epoxy resin between the memory chips 104a to 104d.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 4A is a plan view of a memory module substrate according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4B is B ₁ -B ₂ -B ₃ -B ₄ -B _5-in FIG. B ₆ line is a sectional view. The memory module substrate 130 of FIG. 4 differs from the memory module substrate 100 of FIG. 1 in the shape of the substrate, so this point will be mainly described, and the same components as in FIG.

  The substrate 132 of the memory module substrate 130 is made of, for example, epoxy resin and has a shape provided with stepped portions 134a to 134d for stacking the memory chips 104a to 104d. In addition, the connection terminals 106 of the respective memory chips 104a to 104d and the take-out electrodes 108 of the substrate 132 are pressure-bonded through NCP (Non Conductive Paste) or ACF (Anisotropic Conductive Film).

  The enlarged cross-sectional view shown in the circle of FIG. 4B is a state before the connection terminal 106 and the extraction electrode 108 are pressure-welded. That is, a protrusion of a gold (Au) bump 109 is provided on the extraction electrode 108, and the ACF 107 is sandwiched between the connection terminal 106. The gold (Au) bump 109 is crushed by heating and pressing from above and below, and the connection terminal 106 and the extraction electrode 108 are electrically connected by the conductive particles of the ACF 107.

  Here, the connection between the connection terminal 106 and the extraction electrode 108 may be performed by solder bump bonding in addition to the pressure welding. As described above, the connection between the substrate 132 and the memory chips 104a to 104d can be performed by bump bonding or pressure contact bonding using an anisotropic conductive film or the like, so that selection of connection methods is expanded. Further, by providing the stepped portions 134a to 134d, the distance between the connection between the substrate 132 and the memory chips 104a to 104d is reduced, so that the variation when using a copper (Cu) ball having a large diameter is also reduced. The reliability of the connection location can be increased.

(Third embodiment)
FIG. 5A is a plan view of a memory module substrate according to the third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 5A. The memory module substrate 140 of FIG. 5 also includes, for example, an epoxy resin substrate 142 and memory chips 104a to 104d of four semiconductor elements.

  Here, the substrate 142 includes a frame body 143 surrounding the memory chips 104a to 104d. The substrate 142 includes a central shaft 146 at the center in the thickness direction, and the memory chips 104a to 104d are mounted above and below the central shaft 146. That is, as shown in FIG. 5B, the central shaft 146 is provided with stepped portions 144a and 144d, the stepped portion 144a has the memory chip 104a, the stepped portion 144d has the memory chip 104d, and the central shaft 146 has the memory chip 104b. , 104c are implemented. In each of the memory chips 104a to 104d, the connection terminal 106 provided at one end and the extraction electrode 108 provided on the substrate 142 are connected by pressure contact bonding using an ACF 107 or the like.

  Note that the connection between the connection terminal 106 and the extraction electrode 108 in FIG. 5 may be solder bump bonding instead of press contact bonding. Further, ball bumps may be connected without providing the stepped portions 144a and 144d on the central shaft 146.

  Such a frame 143 surrounds the memory chips 104a to 104d, and thus serves to protect the memory chips 104a to 104d. Therefore, even if a twist, a bending moment and an impact are applied to the memory module substrate 140, the force directly applied to the memory chips 104a to 104d is alleviated, and the reliability of connection and the like can be further improved.

  Next, FIG. 6A is a plan view of a memory module substrate according to Modification 1 of the third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD of FIG. The memory module substrate 150 in FIG. 6 differs from the memory module substrate 140 in FIG. 5 in the direction in which the memory chips 104a to 104d are mounted.

  That is, in the memory module substrate 140 of FIG. 5, the memory chips 104a to 104d are alternately mounted, but in the memory module substrate 150 of FIG. 6, they are mounted in the same direction. As described above, since the external dimensions of the memory module substrates 140 and 150 differ depending on the mounting direction of the memory chips 104a to 104d, the memory module substrate 140 having an appropriate external dimension according to the space in which the memory module substrates 140 and 150 are built. , 150 may be selected.

  Next, FIG. 7A is a plan view of a memory module substrate according to Modification 2 of the third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line EE of FIG. The memory module substrate 160 of FIG. 7 has a configuration in which a stepped cavity 163 is provided on a substrate 162, and one ends of the memory chips 104a to 104d are connected to the step portions 164a to 164d.

  In such a memory module substrate 160, since the memory chips 104a to 104d are accommodated in the substrate 162 except for the upper surface, the reliability can be further improved against the force applied from the outside.

  Next, FIG. 8A is a plan view of a memory module substrate according to Modification 3 of the third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view taken along line FF in FIG. 8A. The memory module substrate 170 of FIG. 8 is a case where eight memory chips 104a to 104h are mounted to increase the storage capacity.

  As shown in FIG. 8, one end of each of the eight memory chips 104a to 104h is connected to the substrate 172 in a staggered direction. The memory chips adjacent to each other in the vertical direction and the planar direction are mounted by changing the direction by 90 °. For example, the memory chip 104a and the memory chip 104b which are adjacent in the vertical direction, and the memory chip 104a and the memory chip 104e which are adjacent in the plane direction.

  Thus, by arranging the memory chips 104a to 104h alternately, the memory chips 104a to 104h can be mounted at a high density in a limited space.

  As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, only the example in which the memory chip is arranged by changing the direction by 90 ° is shown. However, the angle at which the memory chip is arranged may be determined in accordance with the shape of the space in which the memory module substrate is built. The angle is not limited to 90 °.

(Fourth embodiment)
Next, a memory card incorporating a memory module substrate will be described as a card type information device. FIG. 9A is a perspective view of a memory card according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view of the memory card of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 9A, the memory card 200 has a standardized rectangular size and thickness. For example, an SD memory card (registered trademark) has a length of 32 mm, a width of 24 mm, and a thickness of 2.1 mm. The memory capacity of the memory card 200 can be increased by incorporating a memory module substrate on which memory chips are densely mounted in such a limited space. For example, when one memory chip is 512 MB, the memory module substrate 170 of FIG. 8 includes eight memory chips 104a to 104h, so that the storage capacity can be about 4 GB.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 9B, the memory card 200 includes a casing made of, for example, a polycarbonate / ABS alloy containing the memory module substrate 100 of FIG. 1 and a circuit control element 202 for controlling the memory chips 104a to 104d. 204.

  Here, the circuit control element 202 is solder-connected to the lower surface of the substrate 102 of the memory module substrate 100. Further, an external connection terminal 206 for connecting to an external terminal and a bypass chip capacitor 208 are attached to the substrate 102.

  Since such a memory card 200 incorporates the memory module substrate 100 including the memory chips 104a to 104d mounted at high density, it can be a card type information device having a large storage capacity. Since only one end of the memory chips 104a to 104d is connected and the other end 116 is a free end, even when a load is applied to the memory card 200 from the outside, the moment due to the load is relieved at the free end. Therefore, it is possible to provide a highly reliable card type information device that is unlikely to damage the connection portion 114.

  FIG. 10 is a sectional view of a memory card according to a modification of the fourth embodiment of the present invention. The memory card 210 incorporates the memory module substrate 130 shown in FIG. 4 and houses the circuit control element 202 with a countersink in the substrate 132.

  With such a configuration, the space 203 that has been conventionally provided for mounting the circuit control element 202 can be used effectively. For example, if the memory chip 105 indicated by a broken line is mounted in the space 203, a memory card having a further increased storage capacity can be realized.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the memory chip is described as the semiconductor element. However, an ASIC IC chip such as a single chip microcomputer may be used.

  The semiconductor module and the card type information device of the present invention are useful as an information transmission medium used for portable digital devices such as a digital camera, a portable music player, and a portable information terminal.

(A) Plan view of the memory module substrate according to the first embodiment of the present invention (b) Cross-sectional view taken along line A ₁ -A ₂ -A ₃ -A ₄ -A ₅ -A _{6 in} FIG. (A) Explanatory diagram when a load is applied to the memory module substrate of FIG. 1 and a torsional moment is generated in the memory chip (b) Explanatory diagram when a load is applied to the memory module substrate and a bending moment is generated in the substrate Sectional drawing of the memory module board | substrate of the modification of the embodiment (A) Plan view of the memory module substrate according to the second embodiment of the present invention (b) Cross-sectional view taken along line B ₁ -B ₂ -B ₃ -B ₄ -B ₅ -B _{6 in} FIG. 4 (a) (A) A plan view of a memory module substrate according to a third embodiment of the present invention (b) a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 5 (a) (A) Plan view of the memory module substrate of Modification 1 of the embodiment (b) Cross-sectional view taken along the line DD of FIG. 6 (a) (A) Plan view of memory module substrate of modification 2 of same embodiment (b) Cross-sectional view taken along line EE of FIG. 7 (a) (A) Plan view of the memory module substrate of Modification 3 of the embodiment (b) Cross-sectional view taken along line FF in FIG. 8 (a) (A) Perspective view of a memory card according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention (b) A cross-sectional view of the memory card of FIG. Sectional drawing of the memory card of the modification of the embodiment Cross section of conventional package

Explanation of symbols

100, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170 Memory module substrate (semiconductor module)
102, 132, 142, 162, 172 Substrate 104a, 104b, 104c, 104d, 104e, 104f, 104g, 104h, 105 Memory chip (semiconductor element)
106 Connection terminal 107 ACF
108 Extraction electrode 109 Gold (Au) bump 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d Copper (Cu) ball 112a, 112d Cream solder 114 Connection portion 116 Other end 122 Buffer sheet 134a, 134b, 134c, 134d, 144a, 144d, 164a, 164b , 164c, 164d Step 143 Frame 146 Central axis 163 Cavity 200, 210 Memory card (card type information device)
202 Circuit Control Element 204 Case 203 Space 206 External Connection Terminal 208 Chip Capacitor

Claims (6)

A plurality of semiconductor elements provided with connection terminals;
A substrate having an extraction electrode connected to the connection terminal;
Each of the semiconductor elements is a semiconductor module laminated on the substrate,
The connection terminal is provided only at one end of the semiconductor element,
The substrate has a quadrangular shape and a step portion for installing each of the semiconductor elements on the outer periphery of the four sides.
The height of the said step part from the said board | substrate differs between each step part, The semiconductor module in which at least one end of each said semiconductor element is not enclosed by the said board | substrate. The semiconductor module according to claim 1, wherein the stepped portions are arranged in the order of the height of the stepped portions along the outer periphery of the substrate. The semiconductor module according to claim 1, wherein the substrate includes a frame surrounding the semiconductor element. The semiconductor module according to claim 1, wherein a buffer sheet is disposed between the semiconductor elements to be laminated or a sealing resin is filled. The semiconductor module according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the semiconductor element is a memory chip. A memory module substrate provided with an external connection terminal for connecting to an external terminal in the semiconductor module according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A circuit control element for controlling the semiconductor element;
A card type information device comprising: the memory module substrate; and a housing containing the circuit control element.

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