This first book in the Materials and Processes for Electronics Applications series answers questions vital to the successful design and manufacturing of electronic components, modules, and systems such as:
- How can one protect electronic assemblies from prolonged high humidity, high temperatures, salt spray or other terrestrial and space environments?
- What coating types can be used to protect microelectronics in military, space, automotive, or medical environments?
- How can the chemistry of polymers be correlated to desirable physical and electrical properties?
- How can a design engineer avoid subsequent potential failures due to corrosion, metal migration, electrical degradation, outgassing?
- What are the best processes that manufacturing can use to mask, clean, prepare the surface, dispense the coating, and cure the coating?
- What quality assurance and in-process tests can be used to assure reliability?
- What government or industry specifications are available?
- How can organic coatings be selected to meet OSHA, EPA, and other regulations?
Besides a discussion of the traditional roles of coatings for moisture and environmental protection of printed circuit assemblies, this book covers dielectric coatings that provide electrical functions such as the low-dielectric-constant dielectrics used to fabricate multilayer interconnect substrates and high-frequency, high-speed circuits.
Materials engineers and chemists will benefit greatly from a chapter on the chemistry and properties of the main types of polymer coatings including: Epoxies, Polyimides, Silicones, Polyurethanes, Parylene, Benzocyclobenzene and many others.
For manufacturing personnel, there is an entire chapter of over a dozen processes for masking, cleaning, and surface preparation and a comprehensive review of over 20 processes for the application and curing of coatings including recent extrusion, meniscus, and curtain coating methods used in processing large panels. The pros and cons of each method are given to aid the engineer in selecting the optimum method for his/her application. As a bonus, from his own experience, the author discusses some caveats that will help reduce costs and avoid failures.
Finally, the author discusses regulations of OSHA, EPA, and other government agencies which have resulted in formulation changes to meet VOC and toxicity requirements. Tables of numerous military, commercial, industry, and NASA specifications are given to help the engineer select the proper callout.

This completely revised edition remains the only comprehensive treatise on polymer coatings for electronics. Since the original edition, the applications of coatings for the environmental protection of electronic systems have greatly increased, largely driven by the competitive need to reduce costs, weight and volume. The demands for high-speed circuits for the rapid processing of signals and data, high-density circuits for the storage and retrieval of megabits of memory, and the improved reliability required of electronics for guiding and controlling weapons and space vehicles have triggered the development of many new and improved coating polymers and formulations. Both the theoretical aspects of coatings (molecular structure of polymer types and their correlation with electrical and physical properties) and applied aspects (functions, deposition processes, applications, testing) are covered in the book. Over 100 proprietary coating formulations were reviewed, their properties collated, and tables of comparative properties prepared. This book is useful as both a primer and as a handbook for collecting properties data.

Encapsulation Technologies for Electronic Applications, Second Edition, offers an updated, comprehensive discussion of encapsulants in electronic applications, with a primary emphasis on the encapsulation of microelectronic devices and connectors and transformers. It includes sections on 2-D and 3-D packaging and encapsulation, encapsulation materials, including environmentally friendly 'green' encapsulants, and the properties and characterization of encapsulants. Furthermore, this book provides an extensive discussion on the defects and failures related to encapsulation, how to analyze such defects and failures, and how to apply quality assurance and qualification processes for encapsulated packages. In addition, users will find information on the trends and challenges of encapsulation and microelectronic packages, including the application of nanotechnology. Increasing functionality of semiconductor devices and higher end used expectations in the last 5 to 10 years has driven development in packaging and interconnected technologies. The demands for higher miniaturization, higher integration of functions, higher clock rates and data, and higher reliability influence almost all materials used for advanced electronics packaging, hence this book provides a timely release on the topic.

Adhesives are widely used in the manufacture and assembly of electronic circuits and products. Generally, electronics design engineers and manufacturing engineers are not well versed in adhesives, while adhesion chemists have a limited knowledge of electronics. This book bridges these knowledge gaps and is useful to both groups. The book includes chapters covering types of adhesive, the chemistry on which they are based, and their properties, applications, processes, specifications, and reliability. Coverage of toxicity, environmental impacts and the regulatory framework make this book particularly important for engineers and managers alike. The third edition has been updated throughout and includes new sections on nanomaterials, environmental impacts and new environmentally friendly 'green' adhesives. Information about regulations and compliance has been brought fully up-to-date. As well as providing full coverage of standard adhesive types, Licari explores the most recent developments in fields such as: * Tamper-proof adhesives for electronic security devices. * Bio-compatible adhesives for implantable medical devices. * Electrically conductive adhesives to replace toxic tin-lead solders in printed circuit assembly - as required by regulatory regimes, e.g. the EU's Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive or RoHS (compliance is required for all products placed on the European market). * Nano-fillers in adhesives, used to increase the thermal conductivity of current adhesives for cooling electronic devices.

Since publication of the first edition in 1988 many significant advances have occurred in IC chips that have driven the hybrid packaging processes toward even higher densities and greater performance. The almost exponential increase in density, complexity, and performance of integrated circuits over the past ten years (for example, ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), VHSIC (Very High Speed IC), VLSIC (Very Large Scale IC), and ULSIC (Ultra Large Scale IC) have driven developments in the interconnect substrates culminating in what is now known as multichip modules (MCM). However, the fundamentals of design, fabrication, and testing of MCMs are essentially the same as for hybrid microcircuit. In the authors' opinion MCMs are extensions of hybrid circuits that can accommodate the new generation of high-speed high-performance chips.

In this revised edition they have therefore expanded their treatment of hybrid circuits without finding it necessary to change the fundamentals. They have included a separate chapter on multichip modules and throughout the book have included new and emerging materials and processes that are beginning to be used. Examples include: metal-matrix composites and aluminum nitride as substrate materials, plastic encapsulated microcircuits and chip-on-board as low-cost alternatives to hermetic sealed packages, atmospheric friendly cleaning solvents and methods, and advanced high I/O density quad flat packages (QFP) and ball grid array (BGA) packages. Since the first edition, there have also been tremendous advances in software programs for thermal and electrical analysis and these are also treated in this new edition.

The abbreviated Table ofContents below includes the chapter titles and selected sub-headings.