A Contribution to Printed Circuit Boards' Miniaturization by the Vertical Embedding of Passive Components

Abstract This study describes a novel and unconventional approach for embedding passive surface mounted device (SMD) components into printed circuit boards. Therefore, passive components whose package size is 0201 are embedded in two types of vias. On the final quality of an embedded passive component, the effects of various technological factors, including tin-lead and lead-free solder pastes, various types and dimensions of vias, various soldering techniques, and sample positions during the reflow process, have been investigated and described. The results show the impact of tin-lead solder paste and polymeric solder paste on the creation of electrical shorts in the embedding of passive components. The application of microvias for the embedding of passive components eliminates the fundamental issues, such as electrical shorts, component dislocation, and the low success rate for creating a reliable solder joint. The proposed method for miniaturizing printed circuit boards by embedding passive components in microvias was verified by experimental results. The reliability of the proposed methodology is further supported by electrical measurements. This study describes an approach suitable to printed circuit board (PCB) prototyping that makes a negligible contribution to hardware design and electronic technologies.