Table of Contents
Solid State Technology
Year 2000
Issue 1
 | DEPARTMENTS
Feature Products
Electrically-conductive Silicone
Loctite 5421 is a single-component, methoxy-type, room-temperature curing silicone paste with electrically conductive fillers. The product is said to seal out contaminants, protect from electromagnetic and radio frequency interference, provide a groundpath for electronic devices that require high flexibility, and work ideally for metallic coated component shields and enclosures.
Feature Products
High-purity Underfill Encapsulant
ME-525 is a high Tg, low CTE, high-purity underfill encapsulant designed for use with small-gap flip chip devices. The product is said to penetrate gaps as small as 2 mils and cure in 30 minutes at 150°C. Easy to dispense and with high chemical and moisture resistance, the product has low viscosity, high flow for capillary chip underfill and is capable of flowing under a 1/4" die in less than 60 seconds.
Feature Products
Dip Coaters
Two precision dip-coating systems are for coating PCBs in nonautomated production settings. The P-3201 is a stand-alone floor model, and the PL-3201 is a tabletop unit designed for lab and short-run productions. These dip systems can be used to apply urethane, epoxy, silicon and acrylic coatings as well as photoresists and solder-mask materials to PCBs. Both have a stationary tank and an air-over-oil cylinder mechanism to move circuit assemblies into and out of the coating tank. The dip-system
Feature Products
Non-anhydride Flip Chip Underfill
Amicon E 1158 flip chip underfill encapsulant is said to cure in five minutes at 135°C and can sustain more than 3,000 thermal shocks from -55°C to 125°C with no delamination. The product is highly flowable, non-anhydride-based and designed to fill gaps of 50 or more microns. It reportedly exhibits good adhesion to common die passivations.
Industry Voices
Adhesive Dispensing: Evolving in a New Direction
As placement systems increase dramatically in speed, to the point where they can process 60,000 to 80,000 components per hour, these pace-setting systems impact other surface mount technology assembly processes that cannot maintain such a rapid rate of output. A concurrent trend toward growing numbers of complex, densely-packed, double-sided assemblies compounds the problem. One of the steps most affected by this situation is adhesive dispensing, which, because it is a serial process, has diYcul
Notes From The Field
Whod a Thunk!
Welcome to the year 2000! I hope your Y2K issues were minimal, and you`re now ready to prepare for the beginning of the new millennium next January. What will your business look like next year? In five years? In 10? Only a couple of years ago, this column discussed significant paradigm shifts in technology development, business models and value perceptions for the electronics industry. And while these shifts continue to progress, e-business and the Internet have stimulated even newer thinking ab
Notes From The Floor
And the Award Winners are ...
Recently, two distinguished colleagues were presented the First Annual MicroElectronics Packaging Technologist Award for their significant contributions in the advancement of packaging technology. The award was co-sponsored by Advanced Packaging magazine and MEPTEC and was presented at the recent MEPTEC 1999 Symposium in San Jose, California. While you undoubtedly know Advanced Packaging magazine, some readers may not be familiar with MEPTEC - a Silicon Valley organization dedicated to semicondu
New Products
Wirewound Inductors
A drop-in replacement for the industry-standard 1008 package, the IMC-1008 series features 34 components with inductance values ranging from 3.3 to 3,300 nH. For impedance matching, selective filtering and tuned-circuit applications, these new inductors reportedly will save space with a footprint measuring 2.5 x 2.0 mm with a 1-mm height profile. This will help reduce the size and weight of mobile phones, pagers and other hand-held systems. The inductors are said to feature high self-resonant fr
New Products
Solder-laden Lead Frame
The Solder-laden lead frame is said to provide perfect solder joints when attaching leads and allows SIP, DIP or standard outline packages to be manufactured with a single lead frame. These lead frames have pitches ranging from .010" centerline down to 0.5". Clip style or flat paddle attachments and eutectic and high-temperature solder alloys are available.
New Products
Folded-fin Heat Sinks
Designed for power device and CPU (Pentium II), the folded-fin heat sink has 20 fins per inch made with a patent-pending manufacturing process. The advantages of its design are said to include better cooling (30 percent better than the extruded, with adequate airflow), low unit cost and low tooling cost for custom design, and shorter lead time for custom design. Standard size is 1.65 x 3.2 x 0.70".
New Products
Package-inspection Services
onQ Technology now offers 3-D, in-tray, end-of-line package-inspection services. Finished parts are delivered, in the required quantities, to specified locations. The RVSI LS-7700 machines have been integrated into the company`s manufacturing operation to provide automated 3-D laser inspection. Capabilities include lead and mark inspection for QFP, TSOP and BGA packages and pin one orientation prior to tape-and-reeling.
Feature Products
Potting Compound
Cermacast 645N is a high-temperature ceramic potting compound used to encapsulate and insulate high-temperature flowmeters, and pressure and temperature sensors to 2,500°F. Key attributes are said to include excellent bonding to ceramic and metal substrates, ultra-low thermal conductivity, dielectric strength of 300 volts/mil and strong chemical resistance. Provided in powder form, the compound is mixed in a ratio of 100 parts powder to 25 parts water, dried at room temperature in eight hou
Feature Products
Eaton Semiconductor Equipment Operations, Beverly, Mass., completed its expansion of an 80,000 sq. ft. clean manufacturing facility.
Feature Products
Polymer Technology Corp., Menomonie, Wis., added a clean room molding facility to its new 10,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility.
Feature Products
Intercept Technology Inc., Atlanta, Ga., opened a sales office in the United Kingdom.
Feature Products
Desiccant Injection-molded Plastic
Designed to protect microelectronics from moisture contamination, 2AP is a technology that combines desiccant with injection-molded plastic for OEM components, packaging and handling systems. The product is said to increase yield in the traditionally low-yield microelectronics industry by reducing moisture contamination of wafers and finished semiconductors in front- and back-end handling applications. It reportedly incorporates the moisture-eliminating characteristics of desiccants with the dur
Feature Products
Low-viscosity Encapsulant
Tra-Cast 521H01 is for microelectronic component encapsulating and underfill applications. It reportedly has flow and wetting properties that make it suitable for underfilling components that require adhesion, low shrinkage and low ionic content. The encapsulant is designed for high-reliability applications where capillary action is desired. When fully cured, this adhesive is said to be an electrical insulator with impact- and thermal-shock resistance.
Feature Products
Silicone Firm Gels
Two primerless encapsulants are designed to bring good adhesion and stress relief to electronic applications along with a fast, room-temperature cure. The 3-4220 Firm Gel is one part blue and one part yellow, which is said to facilitate visual inspection for complete mixing. The formulation cures to a green, translucent elastomer with a hardness of approximately 13 to 15 points (depending on cure conditions) in Shore 00 durometer testing. The 3-4219 Firm Gel is a clear version of the original. I
Feature Products
Underfill Technology
The "No Flow-Fluxing" underfill is designed to help manufacturers and assemblers of area-array devices, such as flip chip, CSP and BGA, reduce the overall cost of device assembly. This technology reportedly eliminates separate fluxing, flux cleaning, underfill capillary flow and post-cure operations using underfill in area-array device assembly because the underfill performs the dual role of fluxing the interconnects and curing to become the underfill layer.
Feature Products
Cavity-fill Encapsulant
UVE-1017-3 is a UV-curable encapsulant for cavity-fill IC encapsulation. It is said to cure in three minutes; this fast cure time reportedly increases line speed and productivity. The product is said to be sensitive to 365 nm broadband radiation. The viscosity is 13,000 cps at 68°C, and even lower at higher temperatures, facilitating flow and wetting. Its low thixotropy makes it a self-leveling material. The encapsulant also has "dark cure" properties, allowing it to continue curing when on
Feature Products
In-line Coater
The Swift-Kote coater is said to provide rapid cycle coating of 3-D substrates in a single, 60-second cycle. It has a vertical chamber. The substrates are rotated on a vertical axis for a uniform, high-quality coating, and the fixturing can reportedly be changed in seconds to accommodate different product configurations. The special double-door design is said to speed processing by allowing batch loading and metallization simultaneously, eliminating wait time between cycles and thereby increasin
Feature Products
Dielectric Coating
Said to be used as a protective, insulating layer over, or between, polymer thick film conductive inks in the manufacture of membrane switches and flex circuits, 116-20 is a screen-printable, solvent-resistant, flexible UV-cured dielectric coating. It is designed for use in crossovers with many of the company`s electrically conductive inks. The product reportedly produces a void-free coating that is resistant to humidity, temperature and solvents. It also can be used on a variety of substrates,
Feature Products
Cavity-fill/Dam Encapsulating System
A co-curable semiconductor encapsulating system pairs a nonflowing dam material with a high-flow fill material; both materials are said to offer high glass-transition temperatures with very low CTE, good thermal-shock performance and cure schedules of 30 minutes at 150°C. The highly thixotropic dam material ME-456 is said to not self-level or slump before the cavity-fill is added. The cavity-fill material ME-455 reportedly was formulated to cure void-free, be self-leveling and have a low vi
Feature Products
Electronics Coatings
An expanded line of conformal coatings and solder-masking agents is available as a new line of encapsulants. Konform UV is a new 100-percent solid coating that is cured by UV light for rapid processing, protection and minimal environmental impact. Also new are four solder-masking agents: Chemask HV, DA, WF and S. Three encapsulants that protect electronic components and PCBs against corrosion, acids, solvents, abrasion, excess temperatures and humidity are:
Editorial
The following is a commentary on the article
The following is a commentary on the article "Moiré Interferometer: Assist in Electronic Packaging Development," which was published in the September 1999 issue of Advanced Packaging (pp. 44-50).
Editorial
Letters to the Editor
The article in your October issue, "True Cost of Outsourcing" by Randie Reed, is written from the perspective of a controller. I have found through my experiences that the "make or buy" decision is a very important one that is often quite complex. This article simplifies the complexity. The true cost of buying outside may be far higher than the production costs, overhead costs and delivery costs. Most companies making a tangible product have to buy some things and make some things. What to make
News
Applied Microelectronics, Novia Scotia, Canada, is now AMIRIX Systems Inc. and is located at 77 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, NS, Canada B3S 1E1.
News
Loctite Corp., Rocky Hill, Conn., now offers its Electronics Customer Support Center (ECSC) to pre-qualify adhesives and dispense equipment.
Editorial
Advanced Packaging in a New Millennium
Now that we have crossed the millennium threshold, what`s the state of semiconductor chip packaging? Actually, that question has preoccupied the editorial team at Advanced Packaging for the past six months now, and while we may not have the answers yet, we have the mechanisms in place to track both old and new trends that will shape our industry in 2000. Although each issue of Advanced Packaging is set to explore late-breaking technology in a broad sense, the primary editorial focus will remain
News
Solkatronic Chemicals, Fairfield, N.J., relocated to 351 Philadelphia Avenue, Morrisville, PA 19067.
News
Eastern Air Devices, Dover, N.H., changed its name to EADmotors.
News
Menlo Park, Calif.-based OK International acquired Semtronics Corp. of Georgia.
News
Austin, Texas-based onQ Technology named Robert Jensen as CFO.
News
Conceptronic Inc., Portsmouth, N.H., appointed William Almond as president.
News
Unitive Electronics Inc., Research Triangle Park, N.C., promoted Robert Lanzone to vice president of sales and marketing.
News
CR Technology, Aliso Viejo, Calif., relocated to a 20,000 sq. ft. facility to accommodate recent growth.
News
Amarel Precision Instruments Inc., Fairport, N.Y., changed its name to Optem, Avimo Precision Instruments Inc.
News
Cary, N.C.-based Lord Corp. announced the retirement of Donald Alstadt from board chairman.
News
Palomar Technologies, Vista, Calif., promoted Michael Criscuolo to customer service manager, and Gabriel Perez and Jerrol Olsen joined the group as field engineers.
News
Beaverton, Ore.-based Cascade Microtech Inc. appointed Craig Swanson to the position of CFO.
News
Manufacturers Services, Concord, Mass., named Eugene Bullis as CFO and executive vice president and Manuel Ruiz as vice president of program management.
News
IMAPS Elects New Officers
Reston, Va. - Dr. Paul Van Loan, president of the International Microelectronics and Packaging Society, has revealed the organization`s new executive council for 2000 as the result of a recent election. Among the 16 new oYcers who will monitor the microelectronics and electronic packaging industry for the new decade are Gregory Caswell (Xetel Corp.), president; Dr. Len Schaper (University of Arkansas), vice president of technology; Ronald Baldan (AccuTech Laser), vice president of information di
News
Fairchild Semiconductor, South Portland, Maine, promoted Darrell Mayeux to executive vice president of worldwide sales and marketing.
News
San Jose, Calif.-based Tessera named Bruce McWilliams as president and CEO.
News
National Starch and Chemical Co., Bridgewater, N.J., promoted Anthony Rindone to divisional vice president of adhesives manufacturing.
News
Two-metal Substrate Development Underway
San Jose, Calif. - Korean substrate maker LG Electronics Inc. has agreed with Tessera Inc. on a deal to use the latter`s basic chip scale package technology to make and market two-metal-tape substrates for high pin count applications, such as those for application-specific integrated circuits and digital signal processors. Though the operation will be run by LG at Tessera`s site in San Jose, the two companies will cooperate in staffing the activity until the fully developed process may be transf
News
Patent Report for Packages
Montara, Calif. - The CSP, BGA and WLP Technology 2000 Report covers all the active U.S. patents relating to these packages, including wafer-level technologies, by summarizing and cross-referencing their characteristics. Suitable for use by companies actively involved in these packaging areas, it is said to be a valuable tool in searching for and understanding the covered ideas.
News
Self-test Technology Tackles Mixed-signal Devices
Fremont, Calif. - An expansion of built-off/self-test (BOST) technology by Credence Systems Corp. is set to bring the approach into the mixed-signal testing arena. The Phase-Lock-Loop BOST (PLLBOST) leverages voltage-controlled oscillator built-in self-test (BIST), or VCOBIST (Fluence Technology), engineering into the company`s suite of digital mixed-signal test platforms to provide a robust test coverage solution for volume production testing. The method measures frequency and jitter used to te
News
SOI Technology Improves Smart Cards
Bernin, France - Silicon On Insulator Technologies (SOITEC), a manufacturer of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers, has announced a joint program with Gemplus, a smart card producer, to use integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing technology on SOI substrates for smart card applications. Smart card functions are increasingly requiring complex ICs featuring high-speed and low-power requirements, and SOI technology is said to be the key to achieving both qualities.
News
New Alternative to Screen Printing
Honeoye Falls, N.Y. - A thick film deposition system is based on the concept of "direct writing." Called the MicroPen, fluid materials are extruded from a tool`s tip onto a substrate, producing an image directly from computer-generated data without the use of hard tooling. In operation, an integral computer with pattern-design software designs a part and sends the data to the dispensing/plotting system. Keeping the "pen" assembly stationary while moving the writing surface permits the use of dis
News
Auburn Installs SMT/ Flip Chip Assembly Line
Auburn, Ala. - With support from Cookson Electronics, Siemens and Heller Industries, Auburn University has completed the installation of an assembly line called the Laboratory for Electronics Assembly & Packaging (LEAP) for use by its engineering students. The line begins with a printer (MPM) having a paste inspection capability that also is able to print projects ranging from solder bumping of wafers and evaluations of lead-free solders for surface mount to high-temperature adhesive die attachm
News
Underfill Material Permits Flip Chip Rework
At the culmination of more than a year`s research and development, Loctite Corp. has introduced Loctite 3567 for flip chip, ball grid array (BGA) and chip scale packaging (CSP) assemblies. The material is said to provide the processing and reliability of conventional thermoset underfills with the added advantage of reworkability. Developed jointly with Cornell University, it relies on a patented epoxy monomer added to the formulation to permit thermal rework. The project is part of the National
News
FD-FBGA Reduces Mount Space
San Jose, Calif. - A new small-footprint array package called the Face-Down Fine Pitch Ball Grid Array (FD-FBGA), intended for wireless and computer assemblies, measures only 6.4 x 10.10 mm. At a maximum elevation of 1 mm and weighing only 0.11 g with a 0.65 mm ball pitch, it is said to require 75 percent less mounting area and volume than the ubiquitous thin small-outline package.
News
Motorola Acquires Japanese Company
Tohoku Semiconductor Corp. (TSC), a unit of Toshiba, has been purchased by Motorola Inc. TSC is a wafer manufacturer based in Sendai, Japan, that has had a 12-year relationship with its new owner but is also credited with expanding Toshiba`s logic and microcomputer LSI business (flash-embedded microcontroller units and digital signal processors). Motorola will now run TSC as a part of its manufacturing network, which includes other semiconductor operations in the Sendai area.
News
LCD Market Expands
Bountiful, Utah-based AutoSimulations Inc. has shipped its first real-time scheduling software to the liquid crystal display (LCD) industry via an order from Korea`s Samsung LCD. The software will be implemented to improve productivity, increase throughput and reduce work-in-process (WIP) and cycle time. The demand for LCDs is said to be fueled by an increase of 20 percent in wafer fabrication throughput and a concomitant decrease of 40 percent in WIP and cycle time.
News
Two Companies to Co-develop RFICs
IBM (Fishkill, N.Y.) and RF Micro Devices Inc. (Greensboro, N.C.) have agreed to develop radio frequency integrated circuits based on IBM`s silicon germanium process technology. The new RFICs are targeted for the next generation of cellular phones and are expected to reduce the chips in wireless handsets, shorten time-to-market and produce smaller phones that use less power.
News
Raychem Forms New Division
Raychem Interconnect is now an independent division of the newly formed Tyco Electronics Group, which was created from the integration of Raychem Corp. and AMP Incorporated. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based operation will run as a stand-alone provider of interconnect solutions plus products for sealing, connecting, protecting, and identifying wire and cable harnesses and components.
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