HINTS AND KINKS FOR YOUR MIC PACKAGE DESIGN.

Reliability and performance of a microwave integrated circuit often depends as much on the ″framing″ of the circuit substrate as upon the circuit itself. Framing is needed to provide rigidity, for heat sinking, to provide a means for attaching connectors, for environmental protection and for minimizing electromagnetic interference. Four types of frame designs are shown, for use under different sets of requirements. Substrates may be mounted to the frames by three methods - clamping, soldering, and epoxy bonding. Transition from circuit to launcher may be made in several ways - by pressure, by soldering, by epoxy bonding, by welding or by connecting cable where the launcher is remote from the circuitry. Launcher backends may be round or they may employ flat tabs or ribbon flextabs. Frames are assembled using gaskets. The gaskets must be conductive to meet electromagnetic interference requirements. Use of heat activated glass epoxy facilitates rapid assembly in production.