Mechanical components in LTCC

A characteristic feature of LTCC is the easy workability. It is possible to integrate not only electrical circuits but also 3D-structures and simple mechanical components. In a former paper an active cooling system integrated in a LTCC-module was presented. The advantage of good cooling performance is opposed to the disadvantage of a large and expensive external mechanical pumping system. One solution for that and other similar problems could be the integration of the mechanical pumping system into the LTCC-substrat. In that poster first investigations on LTCC-integrated mechanical modules are described. The main problem is to simplify a mechanical component in such a way, that is it possible to integrate that component in a planar structure with a small height in consideration of the restrictions of the LTCC-technology. In contrast to LTCC-based substrates with only elecrical circuits and mostly special requirements on printing accuracy the integration of mechanical components makes great demands on the implementation of cavities and the lamination process. The design of the mechanical stuctures necessitates additional effort because usual mechanical design tools don't include the possibility to draft mechanical components in the required sizes.