A method and apparatus is provided to reduce the spreading inductance and
increase the distributed capacitance of power planes within the power
distribution system of a semiconductor package substrate. In one
embodiment, pre-fabricated copper-clad laminate (CCL) structures are
utilized as starting material for the power plane pairs, which are then
integrated into a package substrate using imaging, lamination, and
drilling/plating processes. In alternate embodiments, a starting material
having a larger insulating layer thickness may be used to form the CCL
structure, whereby a pair of metallic planes having a perforated mesh
pattern are adjoined through a dielectric layer to create an effective
separation distance between the metallic planes. Alternate embodiments
employ plating or deposition methods to obtain a minimum separation
distance between the metallic planes of a power plane pair.