Wafer bumping process and inter-chip connections for ultra-high data transfer rates in multi-chip modules with superconductor integrated circuits

Josephson junction logic cells and superconductor microstrip lines are able to process and transfer digital data with rates up to several hundred GHz as has been demonstrated in single-chip experiments. However, the existing chip-level bumping technique in InSn solder and resulting inter-chip connections do not allow expanding these rates to multi-chip circuits. We developed a wafer-level bumping technology using lithographically-defined bumps deposited either by e-beam evaporation or electroplating, and proposed and implemented a novel design of high-frequency chip interconnects. Chip-to-chip single-flux-quantum pulse transmission rates reaching 110 GHz have been achieved. The observed rates were limited not by the interconnects but by the speed of on-chip test circuitry fabricated in the framework of 4.5 kA/cm ² HYPRES process for superconductor integrated circuits. Experimental results on adhesive-bonded and reflow-bonded multi-chip modules (MCMs) with Au and InSn bumps are presented, and effective parameters of the new interconnect design and MCM technology are discussed.