Issue

It appears that past history again may be an indicator that growth is returning to the semiconductor industry. In our cyclic world of semiconductors, an increase in sales for the outsourcing of packaging and test services usually has been an early indicator that the industry has bottomed and a return to growth is on the way.

The continuous push for cost reduction, increased functionality and performance, system compactness, and enhanced quality remain unabated in consumer, communications, defense and medical electronics.

This month I did quite a bit of traveling, while getting to know the readers and advertisers in Advanced Packaging a little better by face-to-face visits.

Many designers have discovered that the benefits of system-on-chips (SoCs) do not always justify the costs. The challenges of combining digital, analog and RF functions, typically optimized for different process technologies, in a single piece of silicon have proved daunting.

The new generations of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) technologies are contributing to increased system performance significantly.

From the advent of the telephone and the world's first radio broadcast to the development of the electronic hearing aid and the cellular phone, technology has transformed the way people use sound at work, home and play.

Much discussion and debate have taken place in engineering circles regarding the 21st century question: "To clean or not to clean?" No-clean flux or cleanable flux? Batch or inline technologies? Open- or closed-loop? Chemical or water-only processes?

Today's semiconductor test engineer faces frustrations that 10 years ago hardly could be imagined.