Low-Temp Solders Are Suddenly Critical For Chiplets And Photonics


Key Takeaways: Tin-bismuth-based solders enable reduced warpage and compatibility with silicon photonics and other temperature-sensitive components. A novel soldering process using white light could help prevent cracks in flip-chip BGA package solder balls, while reducing the carbon footprint. Hypoeutectic Sn-Bi based solders prove especially promising as an SAC305 replacement. ... » read more

Unlocking Next-Gen Thermal Management: Why Indium-Based Metal TIMs Are Game-Changers


As electronic devices become more powerful and compact, thermal management has become one of the most critical challenges in advanced electronic packaging. High-performance processors used in AI computing, data centers, and 5G/6G infrastructure generate significant heat, and failure to dissipate effectively can lead to reduced performance, reliability issues, and even catastrophic component fai... » read more

Engineering Reliable Heat Dissipation With Indium-Silver Thermal Interfaces


In recent years, rapid technological advancements in the field of high-performance computing have driven the development of increasingly sophisticated and powerful computing devices. This growth is expected to continue, with expansion into areas such as central processing units (CPUs), artificial intelligence (AI) systems, and automotive products. Flip chip lidded ball grid array (FCLBGA) pa... » read more

How Different Metal Depositions Affect The Structure And Charge Transport Of 9-A Graphene Nanoribbons


A technical paper titled “Contact engineering for graphene nanoribbon devices” was published by researchers at University of Arizona, Swiss Federal Labs for Materials Science and Technology, University of California Berkeley, Stanford University, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Texas A&M University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Max Planck Institute for Polymer... » read more

Substitutional synthesis of sub-nanometer InGaN/GaN quantum wells with high indium content


Abstract "InGaN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) with sub-nanometer thickness can be employed in short-period superlattices for bandgap engineering of efficient optoelectronic devices, as well as for exploiting topological insulator behavior in III-nitride semiconductors. However, it had been argued that the highest indium content in such ultra-thin QWs is kinetically limited to a maximum of 33%, narro... » read more

Planning For Panel-Level Fan-out


Several companies are developing or ramping up panel-level fan-out packaging as a way to reduce the cost of advanced packaging. Wafer-level fan-out is one of several advanced packaging types where a package can incorporate dies, MEMS and passives in an IC package. This approach has been in production for years, and is produced in a round wafer format in 200mm or 300mm wafer sizes. Fan-out... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 7


Speeding up MRAM Researchers at UC Berkeley and UC Riverside developed an ultrafast method for electrically controlling magnetism in certain metals, which could lead to increased performance for magnetic RAM. While the nonvolatility of MRAM is a boon, speeding up the writing of a single bit of information to less than 10 nanoseconds has been a challenge. “The development of a non-volatile... » read more

Trade War Looms Over Materials


It’s time to pay close attention to rare earths and raw materials--again. In fact, the supply chain teams and commodity buyers at aerospace, automotive and electronics companies may have some new and potentially big problems on their hands. For some time, the European Union (EU), the United States and other nations have been at odds with China over rare earths. China, which accounts for... » read more