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Advancing Microelectronics • Volume 28, No. 2 • March/April 2001

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European Activities & Calendar of Events

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UK:

Meetings Programme:

• Workshop.
     This event will be held on 15th March at the Institute of Physics. Possible topics could include COTS and Growth of Photonics.

• Advanced Manufacturing
     A new date for this meeting to be jointly arranged with SMART and will probably take place in September.

• Market Predictions
     Whilst it is agreed that this meeting should take place, no further information is yet available.

News from the Chapter:

• Committee Meeting 01.12 00
     Progress on the arrangements for the relaunched Microtech was a major topic and it was agreed that an excellent programme had been created. The recent Optoelectronics meeting was reviewed and all expressed satisfaction particularly with the venue. The future meetings programme was discussed including confirmation that Microtech would take place in 2002 possibly at a different venue.
     The major discussion centred around the need to revamp the website and three options were examined in detail. The existing site had had 5,290 hits making the current monthly average 323.

Business Trade/Industry News:

Up and up in 2001
     Whether it will be a happy New Year is hard to predict but it will be difficult, busy, frustrating and by all accounts there will be expansion in the marketplace. We are told that the chip market in Europe which last year saw an increase of 32% will rise again and that shortages may well be a problem. To meet increased demand AEA Technology has updated its ion implantation facility to handle over a million wafers a year. Telecoms are again the driving force with mobile phones in the driving seat. There are now 78.7 million in the UK. But isn’t it strange how fashion dictates obscure needs - mini scooters invented for busy executives are now a children’s craze. Opto electronics continues to make the headlines with Intense Photonics being the latest start up David Lockwood as CEO.
     In the area of semiconductors another new company is Plastic Logic and emerges from the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge. It has a process that can print plastic transistors and their connections onto a polymer substrate using a technique not unlike a ink-jet.
     Research funding seems to be being channelled into some interesting areas. The government agency DTI is investing £2.7M in five biometric projects. DTI has also produced a national guide to electronics system design activities which recognises that there are 7000 electronics companies in the UK employing some 270,000 people. The guide can be viewed on the DTI website - www.e-design.org.uk
     Finally good news for a consortium of universities including Cambridge, Glasgow and Southampton who will share £4.3M funding for SiGe research.
     BCW

France:

Meetings Programme:

• 13th European Microelectronics and Packaging Conference
     IMAPS France, the French chapter of the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society, will have the pleasure of marking the start of the third millennium by organising the 13th European Microelectronics and Packaging Conference & Exhibition.
     From 30th May to 1st June 2001, Strasbourg, the parliamentary capital of the European Union, will host this important European event in its Palais de la Musique et des Congrès [Palace of Music and Congresses]. With an expected three thousand participants, IMAPS France and its partner, Golding, intend to renew their common success as in Nice in 1993.
     The two-and-a-half-day cycle of conferences will offer a programme of a high scientific and technical standard with some 100 papers. In addition to the eleven oral sessions, the proceedings will include poster presentations and the award of the European Prize for the best work by a student. Broad coverage will thus be given to all aspects of microelectronics and packaging, from materials to microsystems. In addition several professional advancement courses will be available on May 29th for registered attendees.
     With its 120 exhibitors, this exhibition is the largest event in Europe devoted exclusively to the microelectronics and packaging industries.
     The vast space afforded by the Palais de la Musique et des Congrès will facilitate the movement of attendees, thereby optimising communication between the conference rooms and the exhibition.
     Finally, so as not to overlook the festive side of such an event, IMAPS France will take advantage of the resources offered by Strasbourg and the surrounding region to invite the participants to a friendly reception in a traditional Alsatian setting.
     Sophie Phelipeau
     Communication IMAPS/Golding
     Tel : 33 (1) 41 40 41 49/43
     Fax : 33 (1) 42 70 96 83
     e Mail : imaps.strasbourg.2001@golding .fr
     Web site : http: //perso.wanadoo.fr/imaps .france/

Italy:

Business Trade/Industry News:

     Magneti Marelli, has designed an advanced fuel injection system for the new Fiat Punto. Magneti Marelli had to decide whether to use LTCC or thick film multilayer technology for this complex circuit. Because of the company’s long experience in designing and building multilayer circuits, it was decided to use a thick film multilayer circuit for this latest-generation electronic injection system. The module, designed in-house, is located under the car bonnet and equips the new Fiat Punto 8-valve models.
     The circuit of the injection module consists of a ceramic substrate measuring 9.5 x 3.3 cm (1.25 x 3.7 inches), with a thickness of 0.635 mm. The power and control sections of the module are incorporated on the same alumina substrate.
     This complicated multilayer circuit interconnects a sophisticated microprocessor, a flash memory, other IC chips, including power devices, and more than 200 passive components, resistors and capacitors. The power section has 5 devices soldered onto heat spreaders which are glue-attached directly to the alumina substrate. The passive components, mostly of 0603 size, are also Epoxy-attached to the circuit using conductive adhesive. The size of the circuit is such that a master 4 x 4 inch alumina substrate will accommodate a total of three injection modules.
     The circuit is built using DuPont thick film pastes, QM21 Pd-Ag and QM14 Ag conductors for the power section, the power devices being connected to the control circuit using 200 µm Al wire.
     In addition to Pd-Ag and Ag conductors, the control circuit section also uses 5771 Au conductor, QM-type via fill conductors and QM42 dielectric. The control section is therefore complex, requiring four interconnect layers, with gold bond pads printed over the last dielectric layer. Each dielectric step involves the printing, drying and firing of two separate dielectric layers. The total number of firings, including the three dielectrics, the bottom and the top conductors, the inner layers and the via fill, is 14.
     The semi-custom microprocessor has about 270 I/O bonds with a ‘fan-out’ on three ëstaggered’ rows. A similar fan-out approach on two staggered rows is used for the flash memory device which has about 50 bond pads and a total of 320 wire bonds. The bonds are made with either 30 µm or 50 µm Au wire. 200 µm Al wire is used for the 65 bonds of the power device.
     The circuit is mounted on an Aluminium heat sink and placed in a plastic casing. This is tall enough to protect the wire bonds and the outgoing connections.
     Magneti Marelli commenced volume production of the new injection module in the second quarter of 1999, with the objective of building more than 40,000 modules per month at full production levels, starting at the beginning of this year.
     SN. Edited press release from DuPont.

Nordic:

Meetings Programme:

• IMAPS-Nordic 38th Annual Conference, Oslo, Norway, September 23-26.
     IMAPS Nordic will be celebrating its 30th Anniversary with a bang of a conference.
     The Call for Papers is out:
     You are welcome to submit an abstract to the 38th Annual Conference. The abstract must be non-commercial and submitted in electronic form to the IMAPS Nordic Conference (conference@imapsnordic.a.se) no later than 20 April, 2001. Speakers will be notified of paper acceptance by email 20 May, 2001. The deadline for the final paper is 10 July, 2001.
     Proposed topics include:

• Microelectronics applications
• Trends in Telecommunications
• Ceramics for future electronics
• Unique materials, encapsulation & underfills
• Microvia, HDI laminates
• CSP, Flip Chips, Area array packages
• Bare die, MCM and 3D packaging
• Future electronics, strategies and R&D
• Reliability Assessment
• Advanced interconnect
• Integrated Passives & SiP
• System Cost Assessment
• Pb and halogen free electronics
• Assessing Environmental Impact
• MEMS, Micro Electro Mechanical Systems
• Break-through achievements in the Nordic Countries
• Manufacturing processes
• High frequency packaging

     For the latest information about the Conference and the Exhibition, visit our homepage at http://www.imapsnordic.a.se or send email to info@imapsnordic.a.se or to the Exhibition Host at exhib@imapsnordic.a.se
     More info can be found on the web: www.imapsnordic.a.se

Business Trade/Industry News:

Aspocomp Group opens the door to China
     Aspocomp Group Oyj and the Taiwanese-listed company Chin-Poon Industrial Co., Ltd., have concluded an agreement to start a Joint Venture specializing in high tech printed circuit board technologies. Aspocomp has invested approximately EUR 22 million in the Joint Venture in which it has a 51% holding. Aspocomp’s share of the total EUR 67 million investment will be EUR 34 million.
     The expansion into the Chinese HDI (High Density Interconnection) market through this Joint Venture supports Aspocomp's growth strategy. The Joint Venture owns already a 28,000 square meter facility in Suzhou, in the Shanghai area, and has land to expand the plant up to 90,000 square meters. This plant will utilize Aspocomp’s technological know-how in the production of HDI-microvia boards for the telecommunication industry. Production is expected to start up during the third quarter of 2001 and is expected to reach sales of EUR 100 million in the next 5 years.
     With this investment Aspocomp will be the first European company producing PCBs in China.
     More info: www.aspocomp.com

Ericsson's Automated Manufacturing Lines.
     Ericsson Microwave Systems AB in BorÂ,s about 60 km east of Gothenburg, has a very impressive automated facility making different versions of its MINI-LINK family. The MINI-LINK is a digital microwave point-to-point system used for mobile communication and data communications. The MINI-LINK is using different microwave frequencies from 7 up to 38 GHz to day.
     The latest member of the MINI-LINK family is MINI-LINK BAS, a high performance system for wireless broadband transmission with point-to-multipoint technique. The speed can be between 2 Mb/second up to 34 Mb/second depending on the application.
     Unique with this Ericsson facility is the degree of automation it has obtained. The facility consists in principle of 3 different manufacturing lines.

• a Multi Chip Module (MCM) line
• a Surface Mount Device (SMD) line
• a Printed Board Assembly (MVE) line

     The MCM line assembling bare MMIC-chips on ceramic substrates is very impressive. By using robust design (made by Ericsson Microwave System in BorÂs and Mˆlndal) and a Six sigma concept for the critical microelectronic processes, the BorÂs facility is able to manufacture, in a very automated way, MCM-microwave modules. Modules for these high frequencies are made fully automatically including electrical testing without manual trimming. In this respect the BorÂs facility is outstanding in the world today. The microwave modules are automatically interconnected to the SMD-boards in the MVE-line using specially designed robotic assembly machines. For mounting special components in the MVE-line automated soldering pencils are used.
     A software control package and an automated product changeover system are managing a Kan-Ban production system, which ensure that priority is given to the correct product for manufacturing and that production cycle time is kept to a minimum. This is very important as the BorÂs-facility was manufacturing more than 100 000 MINI-LINK-systems last year, a number which is expected to rise to more than 200 000 MINI-LINK systems this year.
     Visit report by Hans Danielsson

Germany:

Meetings Programme:

• Polytronic 2001, Potsdam, October 21-24
     This new joint conference is incorporating Polymeric Materials for Microelectronics and Photonics Application (POLY), Adhesives in Electronics and Polymeric Electronics Packaging (PEP). The main objective is to provide a forum for experts to present their findings and innovations, and to exchange ideas on topics regarding different aspects of adhesives and polymers in microelectronic and photonics. The conference will take place at the Dorint Hotel, located in the historic center of Potsdam near Berlin, Germany.
     The Brandenburg state capital, Potsdam, is actually an island in the midst of the picturesque, wooded Havel landscape, close to the metropolis of Berlin. In Potsdam, history can be lived. With the ìEdict of Potsdamî of 1685, the Great Elector in practice opened the Mark Brandenburg for settlers from all of Europe. The Dutch Quarter, The Russian Colony "Alexandrowka," The Bohemian Weavers, Quarter or the churches and villas in the Italian style give the historical townscape an international flair. In 1991 the entire cultural ensemble was declared a part of the world cultural heritage by UNESCO. Our conference hotel is situated between the palace park Sanssouci and the historic town center of Potsdam.
     You are invited to submit an abstract of about 200 words by March 30, 2001. Your abstract must clearly describe the nature, scope, content, organization, key points and significance of the proposed paper. All abstracts must appear on company letterhead which should include complete address, telephone, fax number and e-mail address. Submitting an abstract represents a commitment to provide a cleared manuscript by August 15, 2001.
     For more help or more information, please use fax number + 49 (0) 30 46403 161; write an e-mail to polyorg@izm.fhg.de or visit our home page http://www.izm.fhg.de/polytronic_2001/.
     You are also welcome to contact us by mail. Please write to Rolf Aschenbrenner, Fraunhofer-IZM, Gustav-Meyer-Allee 25, Berlin 13355 Germany; phone: +49 (0) 30 46403-160.

Business Trade/Industry News:

Fraunhofer IZM, Berlin.
     Sensor unit packaging modules use Green Tape™ technology.
     FhG-IZM in conjunction with the Technical University of Berlin has created a ‘kit’ which permits the stacking of microelectronic modules; the modules can link sensor and actuator functions with control and feedback control functions to form complex integrated microsystems.
     The kit system was developed in collaboration with the VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbauer) as an industrial partner. Various housing concepts were suggested, and demonstrated, after which the packages were tested on a specific sensor unit in the operating environment.
     The modules were manufactured using DuPont’s Green Tape™ LTCC materials system. The actual package, or so-called Top-Bottom Ball Grid Array (TB-BGA) was built by Via Electronic, a company based in Hermsdorf, Germany, which has an in-house LTCC facility and long experience in building multilayer circuits and packages.
     The specific sensor to be housed in the LTCC package was a pressure sensor for mechanical and automotive applications. The requirement called for a robust and reliable device which could withstand a harsh environment.
     The LTCC process adopted to manufacture this type of package involved 16 layers of DuPont 951Green Tape ™ with seven inner layer metallisations interconnected through 1,100 punched and metallised holes.
     The architecture of this ‘kit’ module can incorporate and interconnect different types of sensing devices (flow, pressure, chemical, electronic etc.) and can also accommodate a bus structure to allow amplification of the signal. In addition, the structure allows the ëstackingí of several individual LGA and BGA packages on top of each other and the entire stack is then inserted into a well-protected housing.
     IZM believes that numerous possibilities exist for the LTCC ëkití package for sensors to be adopted by different industries, including automotive and telecom.
     SN. Edited press release from DuPont.

Poland:

Meetings Programme:

• IMAPS-Poland 25th Annual Conference
     The 25th IMAPS-Poland Conference will be held in Polanczyk near Rzeszow, on September 26-29th, 2001. The Conference will be organized by Technical University of Rzeszow.
     Further information about the Conference is available from the Committee Chairman professor Jerzy Potencki, Technical University of Rzeszow, ul. Wincentego Pola 2, 35-959 Rzeszow, Poland,
     phone: +48 (0) 17 85-44-708; fax: +48 (0) 17 85-42-088
     e-mail: jurpot@prz.rzeszow.pl

News from the Chapter:

• ELC Meeting in Cracow
     As it was announced before, Polish IMAPS Chapter was awarded by organising the next IMAPS EUROPE Symposium. It will be held in Cracow on 16-18 June 2002. For that reason, the autumn European Liaison Committee meeting was held in Cracow, at the Forum Hotel. During the meeting ELC examined the future Symposium venue on site. ELC found the Forum Hotel suitable for the planned event.

Business Trade/Industry News:

Elcoteq in Poland.
     Another foreign investment is stepping into the Polish electronics industry. Elcoteq International Ltd. (member of Contract Electronic Manufacturing), one of leaders on the world market, has its factories with over 11.000 employees and production site in 12 countries. Elcoteq, a producer of telecommunication equipment mainly, announced its plans of building another factory in Poland. The company has already one factory in Wroclaw with 200 employees, providing equipment mainly for Nokia and Ericsson.
     The new production center of 11000 sq. meters, located in Wroclaw as well, will be ready at the end of the year 2001. These two factories will employ 1000 people. The new plant will produce the equipment for GSM and UMTS cell networks.

Hungary

Business Trade/Industry News:

• Silicon thin film solar photovoltaic energy modules
     The IMAPS-Hungary chapter organised a very interesting visit to the Dunasolar company. Dunasolar Inc. is one of the biggest amorphous silicon photovoltaics panel producer in Europe. The company produces solar modules (solar PV modules) that convert solar energy directly into electrical power. The technology know-how and the turnkey installed thin-film PV module production line, provided by EPV represents the latest results and the highest technical level of this fast growing sector of renewable energy business.
     Although basic activity of DUNASOLAR is manufacturing amorphous silicon thin film solar PV modules, beyond to this everybody will find other useful ready-for-use products in their product range (E.g. building integrated PV modules, inverters for residential buildings, complete HOME-PV-Kits, solar lamps, solar pumps, etc.).
     At present its yearly production output is 2.5 MW. The planned manufacturing capacity by the year 2001 will be a total of 10 MW.

Slovenia

News from the Chapter:

• 7th International Conference on Electronic Ceramics and Their Applications ELECTROCERAMICS VII-2000, Portorož, Slovenia, September 3 – 6, 2000
     The 7th International Conference on Electronic Ceramics and Their Applications ELECTROCERAMICS VII-2000, took place at the Portorož Convention Centre, Portorož, Slovenia, September 3 - 6, 2000. The conference was organised by the “Jožef Stefan” Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia, under the auspices of the European Ceramic Society (EcerS), the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society (IMAPS) and the International Ceramic Federation (ICF). The conference gathered researchers from the interdisciplinary field of electronic ceramics, working at universities, institutes and industry all around the world. Altogether, 336 scientists participated at the conference, with 250 coming from Europe. The Conference was opened by short welcoming addresses from the conference chairperson Prof. Dr. Marija Kosec, Jožef Stefan Institute, who also closed the Conference with a nice and appropriate summary.
     The electroceramics conference has been traditionally organised in Europe every 2 years since 1988. It brings together the fields of materials science, chemistry, physics and device engineering and gives participants the best opportunity to discuss the latest results and advances in the interdisciplinary field of electroceramics.
     The development in the field electroceramics is extremely rapid and undoubtedly has a large impact on the technological progress. The ELECTROCERAMICS VII-2000 Conference covered a broad spectrum of topics of this highly interdisciplinary field of electroceramics, such as the development of materials, new processing techniques, fundamental research into materialsí phenomena, various analytical techniques, the development of new devices with special functional properties and technologies. The scientific program started with a plenary lecture, which presented the prospects and future trends in electroceramics. Oral presentations were divided into 10 sessions and each session consisted of blocks of lectures, which were devoted to a specific topic of the research area covered by that session. Most of the blocks started with a 30 min invited lecture from a distinguished scientist, this was followed by a number of 15 minute-long oral presentations. All together, 16 invited lectures and 82 oral presentations were presented. The Conference also included Poster Sessions. Posters were arranged into the same sessions as the oral presentations and were exhibited for all three days of the conference. 216 posters were presented. Contributions presented at the conference showed the state-of- the-art in the field of electroceramics, opened many new interesting research and development subjects and indicated future trends. Abstracts of the presented contributions were published in the Abstract Book, while articles reviewed during the conference and afterwards will be published in a special issue of the Journal of European Ceramic Society.
     The EC supported the participation of 38 young researchers from the EU and Associated States through the Improving Human Research Potential and the Socio-Economic Knowledge Base program, High-Level Scientific Conferences action.
     The conference had 99 oral presentations and 215 posters. These 314 papers were presented in the following 11 sessions: Plenary, Ferroelectrics (FE), Ferroelectic Thin Films (TF), Dielectrics (DI), Microwave Ceramics (MW), Transport Phenomena (TP), Magnetic Materials, Superconductors (MS), Grain-Boundary Phenomena, Varistors, PTCR (GB), Sensors (SE), Heterostructures, Devices (HE) and Processing and Microstructural Characterisation (PM).

  

  The conference attracted a record number of 336 delegates from 32 countries!
     The pleasant climate of a late summer at the Adriatic coast in Portorož with bright sunny days, mild temperatures, warm coastal waters, just beside the conference venue, excellent for swimming, Mediterranean evenings with the air scented by pine trees and every day Conferenceís social events which followed the busy scientific program, provided a perfect opportunity to relax, continue discussion or just get together with old friends.