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Advancing Microelectronics • Volume 29, No. 5 • September/October, 2002

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European Activities & Calendar of Events:

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UK:

Meetings Programme:

• Advanced Manufacturing – 12 September 2002

This event is a joint venture with the SMART Group. The venue is Kingston University, near London. There will be a supporting desktop exhibition.

• Advanced Reliability Workshop – 25 November 2002

This event is to be held at the Institute of Physics, London. There will be a supporting tabletop exhibition.

• MicroTech 2003- February 4-5, 2003

This meeting is will be held February 4/5 at the Hayley Conference Centre, Nottinghamshire. There will be a supporting exhibition.

• Medical Electronics – April/May 2003

Venue: Probably the Livingstone Conference Centre in Scotland. There will be a supporting tabletop exhibition.

• Optoelectronics – October 2003

Venue: Institute of Physics, London.

Please check the details at the web: http://www.imaps.org.uk/

News from the Chapter:

To Invest or Not to Invest

Much has been said in recent years about the shortage of engineers in this country to handle the requirements of an expanding industry. The current downturn will not be much encouragement to those contemplating the direction of their studies when joining universities to enter the electronics profession. It is perhaps timely that the debate on government support for university funding of electronics research has come to the fore. If the potential for exciting research and up to date equipment is available then perhaps more students will be persuaded that they have a future in this industry. Both the Prime Minister and the Minister for Science and Innovation have been at pains to state that the government is supporting universities but many cite examples that suggest that underfunding has been going on for decades. Recent changes in the budget announced in April will cost universities around £90m. Nevertheless the number of spin-out companies emerging from universities is on the increase – probably about 30% compared with the last three years. The debate continues.

Debate also continues on the hot topic of lead–free with a number of workshops being well attended but raising many problems. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) says that the WEEE legislation should be in place from January 2006. Some of the problems of the change are beginning to emerge and TWI reports companies approaching them with erosion problems after solder baths have been filled with lead-free solder and people with similar concerns could contact Gordon Pryor there.

Start-up companies are in the news with a number of innovative technologies, including the automated development of hardware accelerators driven by information extracted from end applications, the development of multi-spectral fusion technology research into low cost superconductors that could be a third of the cost of copper and an optical wireless gateway technology aimed at the wireless LAN technology and mobile infrastructure markets.

Meanwhile the fallout continues with Nortel announcing further redundancies and the possible sale of its Paignton site. TRW, owner of the one time major UK company Lucas, is seeking to sell to either Northropp or British Aerospace. Then the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) suggested that the recovery in the engineering industry in the UK may be hampered by over-capacity and weak demand in electronics. The sector as a whole suffered a 16.8% fall in output in 2001-2002 but a growth of 7.2% was suggested for 2002-2003. All seem to consider that the way the markets behave in the fourth quarter of 2002 will be an indicator for 2003 as a whole. There could well be another dip in 2004 before more stable times are encountered in 2005 and 2006. The UK chip market was particularly depressed last year with the Federation of the Electronics Industry estimating a 38.5 % decline equivalent to £3.9bn. There are also fears for much activity being transferred offshore.

With stock markets tumbling and large companies crumbling who can be blamed for keeping what monies they have locked up. We are told this is all a typical cycle so perhaps those with the most courage have the most to gain.

BCW

Italy:

Meetings Programme:

4-day course September 24th- 25th and October 8th-9th

Following the demands for high frequency (Microwave & Optoelectronics) systems and products that have been growing at a rapid pace, the 2nd IMAPS-Italy course will focus on the following aspects: EMI, Testing and Technology Assurance.

The courses are designed for production Engineers or Engineer managers and for university students from the scientific area who want to understand more about technologies and trends in rapidly changing areas of microelectronic.

For more information call IMAPS-Italian Chapter - Dr. L.Guizzetti (P.O. Box 210 - 27100 PAVIA – Italy

Tel. +39 0382 302859 - Fax +39 0382 27697 -E-Mail: pragmapv@tin.it) or visit the web site: www.imaps-italy.org

France:

News from the Chapter:

• France Forum 2002

For its 12th time, the annual event of IMAPS France “Forum de l’Inter-connexion et du Packaging Microélectronique” took place. It was held for the first time in the congress hall of Versailles (3-5 June 2002) and was very successful with a total of over 600 participants. The exhibition gathered 54 registered booths.

Cosponsored with ADEMIS (Association pour le DEveloppement des Microtechnologies et l’Intégration des Systèmes) the 12th Forum was widely opened to the MEMS technologies and the related packaging solutions.

The technical programme was shared among four sessions including Optoelectronics, MEMS packaging, Assembly technologies and new interconnect processes.

Student prizes:

As every year, the “Prix Etudiants,” was the occasion for awarding the best works of French students in the field of microelectronics packaging, with a first prize, EUR 1500, and two second prizes, EUR 1000 each.

• First Prize

Design and fabrication of an analog ASIC interfacing a µ-resonant capacitive sensor in a high-temperature environment (200°C)

Olivier ROBERT (PhD. student), Gilles AMENDOLA

• Second Prize

Innovative technological processes for fabricating sub-10 nm devices for nano-addressing

L.Malaquin, LAAS – CNRS, Toulouse, France

• Second Prize

Realization and electrical characterization of organic electronic diodes

J. Ballet, LAAS – CNRS, 7 avenue du Colonel Roche 31077 Toulouse Cedex 4, FRANCE.

Associated event

Before the opening of the usual conference and exhibition, Monday 3rd of June was devoted to R&D workshops. Several cooperative projects have been presented, which are supported by European Governments in the frame of two major EUREKA programmes:

PIDEA (Packaging; Interconnection), www.pidea.com.fr and EURIMUS (Microsystems), www.eurimus.com

The PIDEA workshop was particularly dense as including a detailed survey of 16 running projects on the following frame:

• Presentation of the trends in the different domains of PIDEA (Telecom, Automotive, Smart cards, Manufacturing processes)

• Presentation of R&D results in the current projects

• Open discussions with potential partners in order to build new proposals.

More information? On IMAPS France? Events? Membership? Please contact:

Florence Vireton, Secrétariat IMAPS-France, 49 rue Lamartine - 78 035 VERSAILLES cedex
Tel.: +33 1 39 67 17 73 - Fax: +33 1 39 02 71 93
E-mail : IMAPS.FRANCE@imaps france.org
Web: www.imapsfrance.org

Nordic:

Meetings Programme:

• 39th annual Conference 2002

The 39th conference will take place in Stockholm at Hotel Globen, September 29-October 2, 2002

Please find the complete programme at: www.imapsnordic.org, http://www. imapsnordic.org/39conf/39conf.htm

Business Trade/Industry News:

SINTEF, Norway

New laboratory for micro- and nanotechnology

The foundation stone of the laboratory was laid on June 7. The laboratory will be one of the most advanced of its kind in Europe and it represents a huge leap forward for Norwegian research and industry.

The laboratory in Gaustadbekkdalen just outside Oslo will be a joint resource for SINTEF and the University of Oslo. The project has a budget of NOK 142 million, of which the Research Council of Norway is providing MNOK 65. The building is part of a major national effort in the field of microbiology, with a programme that will train 45 doctoral students over a period of five years.

In collaboration with Norwegian industrial companies, SINTEF is developing various microsystems that are capable of monitoring the body’s blood glucose level or of scanning fingerprint patterns as a replacement for passwords and PIN codes. Work is also being done on millimeter-scale sensors that will release airbags in vehicle rollover accidents. The new laboratory will accelerate developments in these fields through research in micro- and nanotechnology.

The structure of the new Center will incorporate some very complex technology. Working with microelectronics at nanometer level requires a total absence of dust and vibration. The building has no ground floor, but will stand on columns that pass through the clay soil until they meet bedrock. Above the laboratory section, therefore, there will be an air-conditioning and filter system with a capacity of 60,000 m3 per hour. The laboratory section will also be physically insulated from its surroundings by active air-bags, i.e. a system that forces air between the bags in order to eliminate ground-borne vibrations.

The building will have a floor area of 5000 m2 and will be ready for occupation by Christmas. SINTEF and the University of Oslo will take a year to install scientific equipment worth MNOK 90 in their floor of the building.

www.sintef.no/publications/pro_eng_74.html

Idex, Norway

In cooperation with Sintef the company Idex has developed a sensor which scans the finger pattern. The sensor can replace PIN codes and passwords at transactions of money in ATMs. The sensor can also be built into mobile phones as fingerprint readers for services requiring ID. When the finger is moved over the sensor a 3D picture is generated of the fingerprint and registered as an electrical signal making it possible to determine the distance from the sensor to the contour of the finger. Idex has specialised in this fingerprint recognition technology, which is a growing part of biometrics. The goal is to be a leading provider of intellectual property in this field. The plan of Idex is to design components, then engage in partnerships with world leading producers of semi-conductors, who have the organisation and facilities to mass produce and market the technology world wide. An example of such a partnership is a signed agreement with STMicroelectronics and introduced as the SmartFinger product.

www.idex.no

Elcoteq and Benefon into a deal to jump-start Elcoteq Design Center

The Finnish electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company Elcoteq and the Finnish mobile telematics products company Benefon has July 1st signed a Memorandum of Understanding for transferring three-fourths of the capacity of the Benefon R&D Center into Elcoteq’s wholly-owned subsidiary Elcoteq Design Center Oy. Supporting Elcoteq’s redefined strategy, the purpose of the Elcoteq Design Center is to enable Elcoteq to offer technology and product development services and ODM (original design manufacturing) services to Elcoteq customers. Benefon will continue as Elcoteq Design Center’s customer.

The new company will provide product development services, which are based on wireless terminals platforms, and acquire technologies for these products.

Some 90 highly skilled design and engineering experts now employed or contracted by Benefon, are to transfer to the new Elcoteq Design Center company in their present responsibilities as “old employees.” Of these 90 persons most are located in Salo, Finland. Some thirty jobs are located in Turku and Forssa, Finland, and a smaller number in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Benefon R&D center will continue and be responsible for Benefon’s on-going mobile telematics products development program in close co-operation with Elcoteq Design Center from which it will commission a major part of the initial design services capacity. The co-operation in the product design domain will also offer the companies a natural co-operation opportunity in global procurement and manufacturing.

The main operations of Elcoteq Design Center will be located in Salo, Finland. The new company will continue to operate in the present locations of Benefon’s R&D center, but move later on to its own facilities. The new company will continue to provide services for the on-going research and development programs of Benefon. The design services capability for catering to the needs of Elcoteq will be built utilizing the existing resources within Benefon and complementing them with the resources within Elcoteq and possibly also with outside resources as needed.

In the background of the transaction are the recent strategy revisions by both Elcoteq and Benefon, with which the companies respond to the changes in the telecom market by means of increasing value to customers while decreasing operational costs. Elcoteq is focusing on providing electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and design services especially to the wireless communications sector. Expansion of its manufacturing and supply chain services with design capabilities enables Elcoteq to offer a complete product service range including new product realization, manufacturing, supply chain management and after-sales. Benefon is sharply focusing on the mobile telematics market with the objective of establishing a global leadership in this new emerging market. Sharing large parts of the technology development costs provides major benefits to both companies in pursuing their respective strategies.

Germany:

Meetings Programme:

• German IMAPS Conference, October 7-8, 2002, Munich

According to tradition the German IMAPS-Conference 2002 will take place at the Technical University of Munich.

The 18 papers are focussing on LTCC, thickfilm and 3D integration with ultra thin dies.

For programme details, please visit www.imaps.de

• 14th EUROPEAN MICROELECTRONICS AND PACKAGING CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION

Friedrichshafen / Germany, June 23-25, 2003

Please visit the website:

www.empc2003.de

Business Trade/Industry News:

Conti Temic

Conti Temic microelectronic starts mass production of EGR control units based on DuPont ceramic materials.

On its way towards achieving the Euro 4 standard by 2005, the automotive industry is developing a number of innovative electronic applications aimed at reducing the NOx-type gas emissions of automobiles down to the required 0.25g/km. Among these, Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) systems, on the prototyping and industrialisation of which automotive suppliers have been working on for many years, will now be implemented in a large number of new models of vehicles. The EGR unit, which re-circulates exhaust gases into the combustion chamber, consists basically of two parts: a valve, an electrical actuator and the electronic unit which controls its operation.

Temic, a Continental company based in Nuremberg (Germany), has developed and tested a control circuit for EGR applications featuring advanced thick film resistor technology and fine line interconnects (150µm). As with all under-the-hood electronics where temperatures can range from 40°C to 140°C, control circuits are subject to thermal stress and have to withstand constant vibrations of up to 40g. To manufacture its circuit, Temic have chosen DuPont dielectric materials, conductors and the new 2000 Series of resistors. The German company has long experience with DuPont material systems and has chosen them for their superior reliability, a fundamental advantage for all applications operating in harsh environment. The new resistor series feature twice the power handling capability of the previous series and are two to five times superior for noise with regards to previous systems available on the market. Furthermore, post laser trim stability has been improved by a factor of three. In this particular application resistor dimensions are as small as 0.4mm x 0.4mm.

Commenced in 2001, the production of Temic’s control units will reach full volume this year. The circuit is currently being installed in new Opel and DaimlerChrysler models featuring the state-of-the-art EGR system from Wahler GmbH. In the future, similar control circuits will be implemented into the corresponding systems of other car models.

Poland:

Meetings Programme:

• 26th IMAPS-Poland Conference, Warsaw, 25 –27th September

Please find all details at www.elka.pw.edu.pl/IMAPS-PL-2002

The address for correspondence: Dr Ryszard Kisiel, Technical University of Warsaw, ul. Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warszawa. Tel.: +48-22-6607852, Fax.: +48-22- 628 87 40

E-mail: kisiel@imio.pw.edu.pl

Chairman of the Organizing Committee: Magorzata Jakubowska, maljakub@sp.itme.edu.pl

News from the Chapter:

IMAPS-Europe, Cracow – June 16-18

IMAPS-Poland hosted this very successful event. More than 170 people had a wonderful experience with an excellent technical programme and a wonderful and enjoyable social programme. And furthermore we were blessed by fantastic weather making sightseeing to the historical town of Cracow unforgettable.

A few photos will better than many words illustrate scenes from this superb event. A special thank you goes to the Technical Chair, Prof. Leszek Golonka, and the General Chair, Selim Achmatowicz and the whole Polish team working so hard for this.

Hungary

News from the Chapter:

The 2nd International IEEE Conference on Polymers and Adhesives in Microelectronics and Photonics, Polytronic 2002, took place June 23-26, Hotel Balaton, Zalaegerszeg

This year the Polytronic 2002 conference was organised by Hungary in Zalaegerszeg.

The Polytronic Conferences were launched by the CPMT Society and Fraunhofer IZM in 2001 with the aim to continue the successful series of IEEE workshops and conferences on adhesives and polymers. The new annual conference incorporates Polymeric Materials for Microelectronics and Photonics Application (POLY), Adhesives in Electronics, and Polymeric Electronics Packaging (PEP), making the Polytronic Conference the biggest event on polytronics world-wide.

The Technical Program commenced with short Professional Development Courses (PDCs) on the first day, June 23. International experts presented the state-of-the-art technology of polymers and their applications for electronic packaging, for microelectronics and for other electronic products.

The major topics of the conference were: Materials, Design, Processing and Manufacturing, Applications, Reliability and Testing.

There were 42 oral presentations in six sections on the above topics. All presentations were published in the Proceedings.

In the line of the social events after the welcome reception and get-together party, a historical tour and dinner was organized in Keszthely. A visit to the baroque style Festetics castle built in 1754, some music of that time, a short walk along the old streets to the lake and a dinner of famous Hungarian cuisine featured this event. Next day an open-air gala dinner was organised at the Göcsej Village Museum to provide the opportunity to visit this unique exhibition of the pieces of folk architecture, and to enjoy a horse riding show and tournament while tasting stew-pot goulash and fine Hungarian wines.

Romania

Meetings Programme:

• SITME 2002, Cluj-Napoca, Romania - September 19-22.

The 8th Edition of the International Symposium for Design and Technology of Electronic Packages – SIITME 2002 will be hosted by Technical University of Cluj-Napoca.

The 8th International Symposium for Design and Technology of Electronic Packages - SIITME 2002 has become a regular event among the scientific European community involved in technology and electronic packaging related to research and development. Based on the fruitful previous experience of ISSE and SIITME conferences, the Symposium aims to bring together people, experience and resources in a scientific event providing useful contacts, scientific activities, seminars and, more than that, this year’s location (Technical University of Cluj-Napoca) will provide a good opportunity for both scientific and cultural exchanges.

Info: http://users.utcluj.ro/~siitme02/call.html

Slovenia

• 38th International Conference on Microelectronics, Devices and Materials, October 9-11, Lipica, Slovenia

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