To create a sturdy, low loss Ground Block for high density modules.

Communication devices have grown more and more compact in proportion with Internet advancement. With this progression, the space inside devices has shrunk so it is important to improve mounting methods and component selection to reduce the component count or space occupied. One such countermeasure is Tecdia’s Ground Block.
Standard Ground Blocks are rectangular pillar-like stages approximately 0.5 mm long made from ceramics such as alumina, and aluminum nitride or metals such as copper and Kovar. The Ground blocks are covered with a suitable metallized surface to allow for die attachment and wire bonding.
Standard Ground Blocks are flat durable blocks with low dielectric loss. While ceramic Ground Blocks are durable, their weakness lies in that electrical signals are transmitted around the peripheral walls causing excessive RF loss. Metal ground blocks are directly grounded but have a high risk of deformation due to oxidation.
Tecdia’s ground block is able to provide the benefits of both metal and ceramic ground blocks in one.

A Ground Block without side wall metallization that uses a conductive ceramic.

To combine the benefits of metal and ceramic Ground Blocks Tecdia has developed a Ground Block which uses a conductive ceramic with gold electrodes on the top and bottom side of the component.

Conductive ceramics not only possess the physical characteristics of ceramics, but they also allow electricity to flow same as any other conductor. This means that current can pass directly to ground without flowing around the side surfaces. This shortens the electrical path and makes low resistance, high accuracy signaling possible.

Furthermore, the removal of the metalized side walls suppresses creep-up of adhesive when mounting. This prevents wire-bonding adhesion issues cause by adhesive, contributing to an improved product yield.

Experience and technical capabilities accumulated through more than 40 years of experience in manufacturing ceramic products.

By combining Tecdia experiences from over 40 years, we were able to not only enable highly accurate communication, but also contribute to improving the yield of our customers’ product manufacturing.

Our products have been adopted for mass produced cutting-edge optical signal modules, contributing to the realization of highly accurate Internet communication.