Applied Thin-Film Products – Design Guidelines
ATP’s thin film design rules contain the fundamental design rules that must be followed in order for the product to be compatible with ATP’s processing techniques. ATP also offers customer assistance by defining the design rules for laser trimming TaN resistors on thin film circuits.
What are ATP’s Thin Film Circuit Design Guidelines?
ATP’s Thin Film Circuit Design Guidelines are a set of technical design rules and reference information intended to support the development of thin film and metalised substrate circuits that are compatible with ATP’s manufacturing processes.
They provide designers with early‑stage guidance on standard dimensions, tolerances and achievable features, helping to minimise cost and design revisions.
The guidelines also include CAD requirements, processing constraints and specific design rules for elements such as tantalum nitride resistors, polyimide bridges and current‑carrying tracks, ensuring reliable electrical and thermal performance in demanding microelectronic, RF and photonic applications.
Key ATP Thin Film Circuit Design Considerations
- Early consideration of achievable dimensions and tolerances helps improve manufacturability, yield and overall cost control.
- Well‑organised CAD data and consistent design rules support accurate translation from design to manufacture and reduce the risk of interpretation errors.
- Resistors, bridges and interconnect features should be designed with predictable electrical, thermal and long‑term stability in mind.
- Conductor geometry, material choice and substrate properties should be matched to expected current levels and thermal loads to ensure reliable operation.
About ATP Thin Film Circuit Design Guidelines
To simplify the process as much as possible, ATP offers design guidelines on a range of topics. Information on their standard manufacturing dimensions and tolerances can help at the very early stages of the customer design, knowing what is achievable using standard materials processes and thereby minimising costs. Detailed CAD pointers allow customer designs to be imported directly into ATP’s in-house CAD system.
ATP offers customer assistance by defining the design rules for laser trimming TaN resistors on thin film circuits.
As a reference to the thermal performance of TaN resistors, ATP has produced data that gives the circuit designer an insight into the surface temperature distribution both through an alumina substrate and across a square resistor. In addition, a series of equations is available that investigates the aging equation of TaN resistors.
ATP Thin Film Circuit Design Guidelines Continued
Just as with TaN resistors, ATP offers similar assistance when working with Polyimide bridges, with a complete set of design rules available for the design stage of the circuit.
For aluminium nitride substrates, thermal dissipation is rarely an issue! However, this is not always the case with alumina substrates. Track width and thickness assume much greater importance for alumina, and so ATP offers information on safe current limits for both gold and copper tracks on alumina substrates, assisting the designer in choosing a safe bias current level.
Got a Question About ATP Thin Film Circuit Design Guidelines?
Whether you’re developing a new product or refining an existing process, Inseto’s team of experts is here to help.
From assistance with thin film circuit design guidelines to optimising your processes, we provide technical guidance, documentation, samples and on-site training to support your application needs.
Knowledge Base Articles
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Further Information
Wiki – Thin Film
Applications
Thin Film Substrates, Thin Film Metalised Blocks, Thin Film Devices, Laser Diode Sub Mounts, Photodiode Mounts, Chip Mounts, Wire Bond Standoffs, Cooler Spacers, Ceramic Spacers, Microwave Metalized Circuits, RF Circuits, High Frequency Devices
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Military & Aerospace, Telecommunications, Fibre Optics, Photonics, Microwave Electronics, Microelectronics, Space & Research, General Power Electronics, Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV), Military & Aerospace, Avionics, Automotive, Renewable Energy, Mass Transit etc.
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Available from Inseto in the United Kingdom, Ireland & Nordic Region
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