The widespread use of electrotechnical products has drawn increased attention to their impact on the environment. In many countries all over the world this has resulted in the adaptation of regulations affecting wastes,substances and en-ergy use of electrotechnical products. The use of certain substance like Lead (Pb),Mercury (Hg),Cadmium (Cd),Hexavalent Chromium (Cr VI),and some types of brominated flame retardants (like Polybrominated Biphenyls,PBB,Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers,PBDE) in electrotechnical products is regulated in current and proposed legislation e.g. in the European Union (EU) directive on the “Reduction of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment” (RoHS),in Chinese draft legislation and in the US (California) Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003. In-dustry is convinced of the importance of defining testing protocols for regulated substances of electrotechnical products that enter or are made available on markets,where legislation regulating the substance content of electrotechnical prod-uct is enacted. Certain test procedures to determine regulated material content already exist,but most are not appropriate for testing electrotechnical products and are not internationally recognized. Currently no procedures for compliance or enforcement of the substance restrictions have been agreed upon or mandated by countries regulating substances in elec-trotechnical products. Testing procedures,which are being discussed by industry associations and academia to determine presence and levels of these banned substances differ from each other. Until a common agreement between governments,industry and other stakeholders is reached on how regulated substances should be measured in electrotechnical products,industry has no legal certainty that products will be found compliant if tested by national enforcement authorities or by Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in different countries. The purpose of the work by the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) TC (Technical Committee) 111 “Environment” WG (Working Group) 3 is therefore to provide test procedures that will allow the electrotechnical industry to determine the levels of the regulated substances Pb,Hg,Cd,Cr VI,PBB,PBDE (EU RoHS,China,US,Japan,etc.) in electrotechnical products on a consistent global basis.

As the electronics industry prepares for the elimination of the six chemical substances banned by the European Union’s Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive and the waste recovery requirements of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive,there is a great deal of concern over how to prepare for the requirements of this legislation and other similar legislation. The implementation of a program for ensuring compliance with these requirements is a daunting task and one that will not be accomplished overnight. There are some key areas to focus on,roadblocks to avoid,and lessons learned that can make this implementation process far easier.

Component Material Declarations are a key building block for all OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and CMs (Contract Manufacturer) preparing a sound due diligence case for RoHS Compliance. These reference documents would assist in absolving your company's liability should RoHS-Compliancy be questioned. The amount of data,timeliness,and accuracy are all elements that could make or break your organization. What is available in the Supply Chain? What are you supplying to your customers? What can you expect from Suppliers? How will you maintain and guarantee the accuracy of the data? What is your distributor partner passing on to their customers and suppliers?
Simplicity,accuracy and common sense are required for successful RoHS Implementation,and this paper will provide you with the experiences of the past 18 months from leading components manufacturers.

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The Chinese printed circuit industry has seen rapid growth in the past years,from barely nothing to more than 6.05 billion
USD production value in 2003. The association of the industry,CPCA,also has seen similar growth. This article introduces
the development and status of Chinese PCB industry in the past and today in the world as well as the development and
functions of China Printed Circuit Association,both with opportunities and challenges in the new era.

Conductive Anodic Filament (CAF) is a failure mode in printed wiring boards (PWBs) which occurs under high humidity and
high voltage gradient conditions. The filament,a copper salt,grows from anode to cathode along the epoxy -glass interface.
First identified by Bell Labs in 1976,this failure mode had also been investigated by Der Marderosian at Raytheon who termed
it the "punch through" phenomenon. Early studies of CAF were confined to unprocessed PWBs,but in the 1990's Jachim
identified the effect of solder fluxes in enhancing this failure mode. This presentation will review the history of CAF from its
identification in the 1970's,to the statistical analysis of its failure mode and the factors that enhance its formation.

Area Array Packages (AAPs) with 1.27 mm pitch have been the packages of choice for commercial applications; they are now
starting to be implemented for use in military and aerospace applications. Thermal cycling characteristics of plastic ball grid
array (PBGA) and chip scale package (CSP) assemblies,because of their wide usage for commercial applications,have been
extensively reported on in literature. Thermal cycling represents the on-off environmental condition for most electronic
products and therefore is a key factor that defines reliability.
However,very limited data is available for thermal cycling behavior of ceramic packages commonly used for the aerospace
applications. Thermal cycles and vibration test results for ceramic ball grid array (CBGA) with 361 and 625 I/Os were reported
previously by this author and the trends for cycles-to-failures for four different temperature ranges were established. This paper
presents thermal cycle test results for a ceramic column grid array (CCGA) and its PBGA version,both having 560 I/Os,
exposed to two different thermal cycle regimes. One of the thermal cycles was that specified by IPC 9701,i.e. –55 to 125°C; the
other was in the range of –50 to 75°C representing the qualification for the specific mission. Per IPC 9701,test vehicles were
built using daisy chain package and were continuously monitored. The effects of many processing and assembly variables
including corner staking,commonly used for improving resistance to mechanical loading such as drop and vibration loads,
were also considered as part of the DOE test matrix. Optical photomicrographs were taken at various thermal cycle intervals to
document damage progress and behavior. A representative samples of these along with cross-sectional photomicrographs at
higher magnification taken by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine crack propagation and failure analyses for
packages with and without corner staking are also presented.

Plastic IC Packages are generally considered to be not as reliable as their ceramic counterparts. One of the major reasons is
the question of hermeticity. Plastic materials generally allow moisture/ humidity to penetrate through the body of the
package. When moisture reaches the chip,the chip gets damaged and fails. With ceramic packages,moisture is kept out and
the chips last much longer.
However,if we analyze the problem more closely,we would find that the penetration of the moisture into the package is
accelerated by “Micro-Cracks” that occur at the interface between the metal leads and the plastic encapsulation,where the
plastic material hugs and wraps around the leads. The tiny cracks,in essence,separate the plastic material from the lead
metal. The cracks start at the edge of the plastic body and then propagate gradually inwards. Moisture gets into the cracks and
follows them until it reaches the chip and damages it.
Moisture penetration via the cracks is much faster than through the solid plastic body. So,if we reduce or eliminate the
chance of the occurrence of these micro cracks,then we would prolong the life of the plastic packages.
The author believes that the present design of plastic packages contributes largely to the creation of the micro-cracks,
especially in the presence of thermal cycling and similar environmental conditions.
The author has arrived at a solution that would reduce the occurrence of such cracks,thus improving the reliability of plastic
packages. This paper will describe the proposed solution.

The assembly of thinned silicon die (25-100µm) onto flex substrates provides options for ultra thin,flexible electronics for
applications ranging from smart cards to space-based radars. For high density applications,3-D modules can be fabricated by
stacking and laminating preassembled and tested flex layers then processing vertical interconnections. This paper describes
processes for flip chip assembly of thinned die to polyimide and liquid crystal polymer (LCP) flex substrates.
Two assembly approaches have been developed for use with polyimide and LCP flex substrates. In the first approach,the
solder bumped die are reflow soldered to the patterned flex. A fixture is required to maintain the flex substrate flat during
reflow. Reflow is followed by underfill dispense and cure. The underfill dispense process is critical to avoid underfill flowing
onto the top of the thin silicon die and will be discussed. In the second approach,vias are etched through the polyimide or
LCP,exposing the underside of the contact pads. Solder paste is squeegeed into the vias,reflowed and cleaned,creating
solder ’bumps’ in the via. Die with low profile solder bumps created by immersion soldering are fluxed,placed and reflowed.
The die is then underfilled. This approach produces a lower total assembly thickness.