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Advancing Microelectronics • Volume 29, No. 6 • November/December, 2002

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European Activities & Calendar of Events

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UK:

Meetings Programme:

• Advanced Reliability Workshop — 25 November 2002

The IMAPS-UK chapter in association with IEEE Reliability & CPMT, UK&RI are presenting this workshop on the 25th November 2002 at the Institute of Physics, Portland Place, London.

There will be leading edge presentations on Reliability of Photonics, Wireless and Electronics.

Presentations confirmed include the following topics:

• Future Reliability Testing Requirements - A UK Survey
- Michele Routley, Jason Howlett and David Pedder, TWI Ltd.

• Reliability Qualification of DWDM Variable Optical Attenuators to Telcordia Standards and beyond
- Greg Thomas, Nihal Sinnadurai, Bookham Technology plc

• Reliability Improvement Methodologies for Mobile Phones
- Daya Perera, Nokia UK Ltd

• Reliability of Mixed Pb-free and Pb Alloys
- Milos Dusek, Chris Hunt, National Physical Laboratory

• The Reliability of Photonics with Adhesive in the Light Path
- Nihal Sinnadurai, Ian Pilcher, Bookham Technology plc

• The Use of Piezoresistive Silicon Stress Sensors as a Thermomechanical Reliability Prediction Tool
- O. Slattery, D. O’Mahoney , E. Sheehan, F. Waldron, NMRC, Lee Maltings, Cork, Ireland

• HARASS (Highly Accelerated Rapid Airflow Stress Screening)
- Gabor Martell, Montford Instruments

• The Correct Model for and Use of, HAST

• Reliability of Underfills and Encapsulants (provisional)
- Horatio Quinones, Asymtek

• MicroTech 2003- February 4-5, 2003

MicroTech 2003 at Electronics World Expo (EWEX), at Earls Court London 4-5 February 2003

The MicroTech Conference days will focus on:

February 4th: Seminar on Ceramics Interconnection Initiative, with eminent Speakers globally

February 5th: Seminar on Polymer Packaging and Interconnection, Market Watch Panel session with eminent international contributors

Also on 4th February at 5 pm, IMAPS-UK will hold its Annual General Meeting.

Please check the details at the web: http://www.imaps.org.uk/. Details and registration from office@imaps.org.uk

News from the Chapter:

MicroTech2003 goes truly global.

IMAPS-UK has been exploring ways of improving and increasing the service we provide to our members particularly in making our events attractive and accessible to a wider audience.

We are aiming to gain a wider reach into the electronics community for members and especially the Corporate members of IMAPS-United Kingdom. This ensures we are outward looking, have a greater range of visitors to member exhibitors and genuinely deliver our declared territory “From Chip to System.”

We are delighted to announce that we have struck a deal with Turret-RAI (the owners of the RAI centre in Amsterdam and other events around the world). This will provide major exposure to our flagship event MicroTech, those exhibiting at MicroTech and speaking at the MicroTech Conferences.

MicroTech 2003 will be held within the Electronics World Expo (EWEX) on 4-5 February 2003 at Earls Court, the major exhibition centre in London. The potential audience is from a wide and diverse range of the global electronics community. Exhibition stands comprise shell scheme stands and low-cost tabletops all co-located at and around the special MicroTech 2003 Feature area.

There will also be two days of MicroTech Conference in the Earls Court Conference rooms. Included in the special deal is a very special offer from IMAPS-UK to its Corporate members:

All Corporate members of IMAPS-UK exhibiting at EWEX 2003 after this announcement and proving current Corporate membership of IMAPS-UK will, after the event, receive from IMAPS-UK a reward of 15% (net of tax) of the exhibition payment they made to EWEX. Exhibition stands comprise shell scheme stands and low-cost Tabletops all co-located at and around the special MicroTech 2003 Feature area.

Further details, including the Conference Programme will be available on the IMAPS-UK website, www.imaps.org.uk soon.

Time to Look for Savings.

After experiencing one of the wettest UK summers on record there is still little in the wind to raise the dampened spirits of the industry. If and when a recovery does come there will be some companies that have used this period of low activity to improve efficiency as well as just making cost savings. Lean Manufacturing seems to crop up more these days and so it should if we have for too long been prepared to accept as inevitable certain inefficiencies, for example built-in attrition. Lean production orientated companies should expect to be customer and profit driven, team-based with a wider allocation of responsibility factors that are apparently being taken up by companies in the automotive and food manufacturing sectors but far less enthusiastically elsewhere. There is also increasing evidence of larger OEMs closing down some of their in-house manufacturing in favour of using external subcontractors in activities other than equipping PCBs.

Predictions of a recovery are continually being revised with one well informed source suggesting that it will be another three years before the whole telecomms market reaches an equilibrium of above 20% growthóthe sort of information that knocks the nail even deeper into the coffin of troubled Marconi. Again the move offshore of much manufacturing and even R&D questions the size of the recovery when it does finally come though there are some who argue strongly the benefits of keeping their manufacture here, National Semiconductor for one.

Whilst the number of jobs created by foreign investment in the UK fell by 52% last year, DTI says the technology sector is still attracting more investment than other European countries. Scotland has added another technology park following on the success of the Alba Centre which is continuing to attract tenants and Ireland reports continuing launches of start—ups, anticipating a total of 50 by the end of the year.

The rise in defence spending has benefited two companies — BAe Systems and Ultra — and chipmaker Filtronic has taken on staff at its Newton Aycliffe plant. Whatever the gloom there are rays of technical sunshine with Brighton design house iS3 announcing that it has taped out a ten million gate chip for Alphamosaic and just in case you are in a real hurry to get going PCB manufacturer Speedboard is offering prototype boards in just 24 hours and the service can be sampled free on the first job.

BCW

Business Trade/Industry News:

L.E.W. Techniques Ltd. Package modification/recovery

LEW Techniques is offering package modification and package recovery services for microelectronic assembly producers. Packages can be recovered from reject stock into useable condition, and surplus or obsolete stock can be modified in a short time and in small quantities leading to package designs for future production. Users can therefore remove the need to purchase new packages and time to market can be reduced. Complete package construction can be provided as an option.

Modification options include replacing fibre spouts, changes to feed-throughs and seals and modifications to interconnect.

Recovery options include removal of old components, epoxies, solders or wire bonds; refreshing of plating, renovation of lid seal areas and repair of seals. More details: www.lewtec.com

Benelux:

Meetings Programme:

• Automotive Electronics — 15 November 2002

Location : Academisch Genootschap, Eindhoven,

Preliminary Program :

- Car Electronics: technologies and trends, Peter Raeymaekers, IMEC

- Navigation and multimedia systems in cars, Hub Schreurs, VDO Dayton

- Mechatronics: technological overview, Petrik Lange, Hella KG

- Non-hermetic packaging for automotive applications, Willy Sierens, Melexis

- Micro-electronic modules for advanced automotive alternators, International Rectifier

- Semiconductors for automotive applications, AMI Semiconductor

- Thick film hybrids for high temperature applications in cars, Danny Detemmerman, C-MAC MicroTechnology

- Smart sensors for air flow meters, EPIQ Sensor-Nite

- Electronics for trucks, DAF

Business Trade/Industry News:

IMEC sets up new center of excellence in reliability

IMEC has established a new center of excellence that will build upon the framework of its research activities on physics of failure mechanisms, reliability test structures and test methodologies, and built-in reliability. The new Reliability Center is equipped with a wide range of reliability test systems and systems for failure and material analysis. IMEC’s new Reliability Center invites industrial partners and research centers to collaborate in the area of reliability and failure physics on the basis of shared cost, risk and IP.

With this new center, IMEC intends to address the economic demand for increased reliability levels of next-generation semiconductor devices and microsystems. The challenges are large since, due to the ever continuing scaling of process technologies, the materials and devices used in present-day technologies are being pushed to their intrinsic limits of reliability and new materials and processes are being introduced to enhance performance. The development of systems-in-a-package and systems-in-a-chip is a further stimulus for the center, as the gradual integration of new technologies (such as MEMS, sensors, etc.) creates additional reliability problems.

The research activities and expertise areas of the center include basic failure mechanisms, reliability of application technologies, and reliability tools and methods.

The reliability center is looking for collaboration with industry and research centers on innovative, in-depth research of specific topics in the area of reliability and failure physics. Potential partners are equipment manufacturers, semiconductor and microsystems manufacturers, packaging houses and fabless companies. Collaborations will be performed on a bilateral base in which cost and IP will be shared. Apart from joint research, IMEC’s reliability center offers documentation and training on a wide selection of reliability issues, as well as related services. More details: www.imec.be

Nordic:

News from the Chapter:

International Award

Dr. Hans Danielsson, from IMAPS-Nordic, was at IMAPS 2002 in Denver, the first member to be awarded the International Award in recognition of his long-term continuing technical and organizational work significantly contributing to the International growth of the Society.

Hans has been one of the pioneers in Europe for the introduction of hybrid microelectronics.

He was one of the first individuals in Europe in the 1960s to see the possibilities in miniaturization and its importance for the avionics and military industry. He introduced thin and thick film technology including wirebonding in military applications at SAAB, Sweden. In the mid 1970s his visionary approach for technological innovation was seen in the collaboration between SAAB, Sweden and Bull, France.

Hans always searched for new developments and he saw the importance of introducing these developments into products for real-life applications. With his experience from the military sector and his insight in reliability he was one of the first to foresee the importance of microelectronics for automotive applications.

Hans has always seen reliability to be the key for successful microelectronics applications, and his warnings when he felt this seemed to be forgotten will always be remembered. When new components, metallisations, encapsulations and circuit boards were seen negatively to impact the system reliability due to cracks, solder fatigue, popcorn effects, etc. he was very active to point it out in conference papers, sometimes very provocative and very direct in his presentations.

He worked actively in the field of known good dies knowing that the quality of bare dies was crucial to the success of MCMs. Hans also fought for reviving ceramic technologies for high rel and automotive under-the-hood applications, as well as for telecom applications not only for outdoor base stations but also for e.g. PAs in handsets.

He has never been afraid to walk against the (main)stream and he always challenged the “easy” solutions when they seemed to be pushed beyond their limits.

Hans has been and still acts as a mentor to many young microelectronics engineers in the Nordic area. His burning interest for the technologies has had a positive effect. He has always been extremely helpful in discussions and in the promotions of new technologies or ideas, which he believed could benefit the industry.

His book, “Electronics Packaging” — unfortunately still only written in Swedish — is not only a textbook covering a single subject, but it widely describes all possible relevant disciplines that have to be addressed. It is done in a fashion that gives you a fantastic overview and at the same time gives the reader many practical hints, normally not addressed in more theoretical textbooks. Only authors with deep knowledge are able to present complicated stuff in an apparent simple way.

Hans has never leant back but is still continuously active attending conferences all over the world and bringing back his own experience in presentations or tutorials. His energy and his jokes are legendary.

Hans was the founder of ISHM Nordic 1971 and its president since then until 1975. He was Vice President of ISHM Nordic 1976 - 1995 and has been a board member since that time.

Business Trade/Industry News:

SonionMEMS, Denmark

New wafer fab for MEMS microphones

SonionMEMS, belonging to the Sonion group, which includes SonionKirk already operating in the transducer market for mobile terminals, has launched a silicon microphone based upon microsystems technologies.

SonionMEMS targets with their 3 cubic millimeter small microphone the high volume handset market and started in August the building of cleanroom facilities for a wafer fab in Denmark for their devices. The microphone, which is the world’s smallest, is expected to be running in full volume production from 2003. The SonionMEMS micromachined microphone can be integrated with ASICs developed for the given application. More details: www.sonionmems.com

Germany:

Meetings Programme:

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