Micro blade assembly
A Micro Blade is described for implementing an electronic assembly having a thin profile; it is a miniaturized stand-alone unit that is mechanically and thermally rugged, and connects to external components using a cable. The electronic assembly is preferably fabricated on a copper foil substrate including an interconnection circuit, a special assembly layer, and directly attached components. The components are preferably in bare die form, and are preferably attached using plated copper spring elements inserted into wells filled with solder. The copper foil substrate may be folded to form a compact system in package (SEP) inside of the Micro Blade. A jacket comprised of thermally conductive members is formed around the electronic assembly using hermetic seams. The Micro Blade is preferably cooled by immersion in water contained in a tank; the water is cooled and circulated using an external pumping system.
1 . A micro blade comprising:
a miniaturized electronic assembly;
a jacket enclosing said electronic assembly, said jacket comprising thermally conductive members that are joined using hermetic seams;
an adhesive compound sealing an open end of said jacket; and,
a cable attached to said electronic assembly that passes through said adhesive compound in said open end for making an external connection to said electronic assembly.
2 . The micro blade of claim 1 wherein said electronic assembly comprises a circuit board having attached components.
3 . The micro blade of claim 2 wherein said circuit board is flexible.
4 . The micro blade of claim 3 wherein said circuit board is folded.
5 . The micro blade of claim 4 wherein said folded circuit board employs a copper substrate.
6 . The micro blade of claim 2 wherein said attached components include said attached cable plus integrated circuit chips.
7 . The micro blade of claim 6 wherein said components are attached used flip chip attachments.
8 . The micro blade of claim 7 wherein each of said flip chip attachments comprises an array of bumps inserted into a corresponding array of wells filled with solder.
9 . The micro blade of claim 8 wherein said bumps are copper spring elements.
10 . The micro blade of claim 1 wherein said thermally conductive members are sheets of copper, or an alloy of copper.
11 . The micro blade of claim 1 wherein said attached cable includes a middle section that is hermetically sealed.
12 . A cable with a hermetic center section comprising:
a cable substrate;
build-up layers including dielectric layers and conductive materials forming traces;
terminals at each end of said cable that connect with said traces; and,
a sealed conductive sheath enclosing said hermetic center section of said cable.
13 . The cable of claim 12 wherein said conductive sheath is fabricated from a sheet of metal and said sheet is hermetically joined at crimped edges of said sheath.
14 . The cable of claim 13 wherein said hermetic seal includes solder.