NASA USES OF CERAMICS IN MICROELECTRONICS A SURVEY CASE FILE OPY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION . NASA SP-5097 USES OF CERAMICS IN MICROELECTRONICS A SURVEY By W. R. Bratschun A. J. Mountvala A. G. Pincus HT Research Institute Prepared under contract for the NASA Technology Utilization Office Technology Utilization Office ' - 1971- NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION Washington, D.C. NOTICE • This document was prepared under the sponsorship of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Neither the United States Govern- ment nor any person acting on behalf of the United States Government as- sumes any liability resulting from the use of the information contained in this document, or warrants that such use will be free from privately owned rights. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 Price $1.00 STOCK NUMBER 3300-0388 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 78-611801 Foreword This survey is one of a series issued by the National Aeronau- tics and Space Administration as part of its Technology Utiliza- tion Program to disseminate information useful for general industrial applications. Uses of Ceramics in Microelectronics is addressed to management personnel concerned with electronic circuitry. It describes advances in the state of the art of passive components (insulators, resistors, and capacitors) of electronic devices. Requirements for the exploration of space have accel- erated such advances, and they can be helpful in many additional ways. The electronics industry has become highly dependent on the interface between materials and devices. Improvements in pas- sive components have kept pace with advances in active devices. Unanticipated benefits in design flexibility and tolerances to ad- verse environments have been discovered. Mass production of passive components can bring about wider use of ceramics in microelectronic systems. Both industrial processes and consum- er products can thereby be improved. In the final chapter the authors have examined the interface be- tween materials and devices as it affects microcircuitry, and have shown how technology is transferable from the aerospace com- munity to many broad tasks in fulfilling human needs. Director Technology Utilization Office m Acknowledgments The authors were assisted by so many engineers, scientists, and Technology Utilization officers at NASA Research Centers and headquarters that it is not feasible to list them here. Members of the staffs of other Government laboratories, universities, and in- dustrial- firms were equally generous in providing information for this survey. So, too, were colleagues of the authors at the IIT Research Institute. Resources of the John Crerar Library were drawn on extensively. Portions of the manuscript were reviewed by L. H. Berkelham- er, Ohmite Manufacturing; J. J. Bohrer, TRW/IRC, Inc.; N. M. Bouder, Owens-Illinois; F. M. Collins, Airco-Speer; George Econ- omos, Allen-Bradley; Donald Hamer, State-of-the-Art; Hans Hartmann, Owens-Illinois; Adrien J. Hotte, Corning Glass Works; L. C. Hoffman, E. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Co. (Inc.); J. H. Munier, Corning Glass Works; Manville Mayfield, American Lava Corp.; Bernard Schwartz, IBM Corp.; John Spiegler, Corn- ing Glass Works; and D. L. Wilcox, IBM Corp. Final responsi- bility for the contents, of course, rests upon the authors. IV Contents Page FOREWORD .. III ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . IV CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION -_? 1 Purpose and Scope !„ - 1 Definition of Ceramics 2 Ceramics in Electronic Systems 3 CHAPTER 2. CERAMIC AND GLASS INSULATORS 9 Types of Electrical Insulation 9 Ceramic Insulators 10 Glass Insulators — 23 Joining 30 NASA Contributions . 31 CHAPTER 3. CERAMICS AND GLASSES IN RESISTORS 39 Discrete Resistors 39 Carbon Composition Resistors 40 Discrete Film Resistors 43 Wirewound Resistors 46 Chip Resistors 1 47 Special Resistors _T: 49 Film Resistors for Microelectronics 50 Thick-Film Resistors 52 Silver-Palladium/Palladium Oxide Systems 52 Ruthenium Oxide System 54 Thallium Oxide System 54 Other Systems 56 Theories of Conduction in Metal-Glass Films 56 Thin-Film Resistors _'. 57 NASA Contributions 58 CHAPTER 4. CERAMIC AND GLASS CAPACITORS . 63 Classification of Capacitors 64 Ceramic Capacitors J 65 Temperature Compensating Capacitors ~.~ 65 High Dielectric Constant Capacitors 68 Semiconducting Ceramic Capacitors -"_ 70 Configurations and Designs 72 Glass and Glass-Ceramic Capacitors 74 Substrate and Film Capacitors 76 Substrate Capacitors 76 _ Thick-Film Capacitors;______ 78 VI USE OF CERAMICS IN MICROELECTRONICS Page Thin-Film Capacitors 79 Tantalum Integrated Capacitors 81 NASA Contributions 82 CHAPTER 5. CERAMICS AND GLASSES IN MICROCIRCUITRY 89 Ceramics and Glasses in Film Technologies 91 Substrates 91 Crossovers and Passivation 99 Ceramics and Glasses in Monolithic Integrated Circuitry 102 ':' Packaging 105 NASA Contributions Ill New Designs in Microcircuitry 111 i. New Film Preparation Techniques 119 Information Transfer 124 CHAPTER 6. TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TO NONAEROSPACE USES — 127 Designing Ceramics Into Microcircuitry 127 Electrical Properties 129 Thermal Dissipation 129 Environmental Considerations 131 Reliability : 132 Design Flexibility 132 Trends in Ceramics for Devices 133 The Process of Technology Transfer 135 Microelectronics in Nonaerospace Applications 138 REFERENCES 143 BIBLIOGRAPHY : 155 GLOSSARY 165 CHAPTER 1 Introduction PURPOSE AND SCOPE Microelectronics technology is the frontier of the multi-billion- dollar electronic components industry. Its development has been expedited in part by space requirements for small volume and low weight with high reliability. From the earliest innovations in microelectronics in the 1950's through every stage of the ad- vances, ceramics have been a significant factor. As semicon- ductors advanced from discrete devices to the several varieties of integrated circuitry, ceramic technology continued to be helpful in problem solving. Its contributions included not only materials but also special processing and techniques for printing, metalliz- ing, joining, and sealing. Materials ranged from alumina ceram- ics for substrates to lead oxide glasses for varied functions. An example of a ceramic-forming process which was ready to meet the escalating demands of microelectronics for large quan- tities, design complexity, and surface finish is the "tape" method applied to making substrates. Thick-film printing formulas and techniques were available from the decoration of glass and china, and had been continually improved. The molymanganese metal- lizing procedures were taken over from the sealing practices de- veloped for ceramic vacuum-tube technology. So intimate has been the interdependence of ceramics and circuitry that one de- scriptive adjective applied to thick-film hybrid circuits is "ceramic-based." The purpose of this survey is to examine the properties and be- havior of ceramic materials as used in components for electronic circuitry. By citations of specific projects and reports, NASA contributions to materials, components, and processing for micro- electronics are identified. The effects of these advances on present and future directions for microelectronics and its applications in industry and consumer goods will be appraised, suggesting how they may further promote product developments and how the _processing innovations may be useful mother technologies. Although ceramics have played a critical part in every7 era and 2 USE OF CERAMICS IN MICROELECTRONICS advance in electronics, this review will be limited mainly to the current uses of ceramics for passive components in microelec- tronics. The reason is twofold—to keep the text to a reasonable size and to be involved mainly with a frontier of electronics rather than historical aspects. Some dynamic forefronts which are also dependent on the spe- cial properties of ceramics will also be bypassed. These include such topics as lasers, electro-optics including nonlinear optoelec- tronics, fiber optic faceplates for cathode-ray tubes, other ceramic elements in cathode-ray tubes, ceramic receiving and power tubes, high-temperature circuitry such as thermionic integrated micro- modules (TIMMS), radiation-tolerant electronics, transducers, amorphous semiconductors, magnetics, and many other material or device innovations. DEFINITION OF CERAMICS To make clear what is meant by the term "ceramics," the most straightforward definition embodying the current scope of the field is (ref. 1) : "A ceramic is an inorganic nonmetallic material or article. Ceramics may be polycrystals, glasses, or combina- tions thereof, or single crystals." By this definition, glasses are a subgroup of ceramics. To talk of ceramics and glasses is redundant, as is the term "glass- ceramics." Yet in the electrical industries a distinction has been made between ceramics and glasses. In practice, the glasses and crystalline ceramics are competitive and differ enough in. struc- ture, properties, and behavior to justify a distinction between them. The broad interpretation includes all solid materials which are not metallic or organic as ceramics. With the current emphasis on materials science and engineering, such distinctions tend to be- come blurred, and the emphasis is on the impartial selection of the best material, or composite of materials, for the application. Microelectronics particularly may be looked upon as the offspring of the materials science concept. It requires materials of every class, combined to satisfy