5. Power Module/SiP/3D/Stack/Embedded Packaging Design and Considerations

Over the last 2 decades, power semiconductor technology has made impressive progress by increasing the power density of monolithic and system modules (Trends of power packaging and modeling, 2008; Trends in analog and power packaging, 2009; Challenges of power electronic packaging and modeling, 2011; Short course: analog and power packaging, 2011). This is the primary driving force behind power system in package (SiP), stack die, and 3D power packages with heterogeneous functional integration. For low-power ultraportable applications such as mobile phones and the iPad^® tablet, the most critical requirement for the point of load buck converter is its size. There are several ways to build the buck converter power module. The typical approach is to design the product with die side by side placement in a single level module using a QFN or other standard package, but this method cannot get the benefit of smaller package size. Another way is to build the buck converter with stack die or 3D concept, which may significantly reduce the package size to satisfy the power management for portable application. For high power with hybrid integration, side by side die placement power module is the primary design method for motion control such as automotive, railway, wind energy, and so on.