Projects
Chair: Hope Chik (Motorola Labs)
Objective
The purpose of this research project is to explore and demonstrate adhesion techniques that have the potential of replacing traditional
solder or conductive adhesive assembly processes currently employed in
electronic manufacturing.
Background
The traditional SMT assembly process
relies on mass solder reflow, which introduces a potential product
reliability risk with its high thermal excursion. The risk is
particularly high for assemblies with an uneven thermal mass, thermally
sensitive components, or critical field reliability requirements.
Lead-free processing exacerbates the issue, with reflow peak
temperatures 20°40°C higher than eutectic reflow. Often
post-reflow processing is required to attach sensitive components,
increasing process complexity, cost and cycle time.
Advances in nanotechnology have enabled the
realization of biomimetic-inspired structures (such as emulating a
gecko's foot) that have demonstrated adhesion only with mechanical
means, the ability to perform numerous attach-detach operations without
performance degradation, and the ability to adhere to virtually any
surface type. Most important is the realization of a room temperature,
non-chemical, attachment process that nano-attach technology brings.
The first phase of the Nano-Attach Project led to the identification of
electronic assembly applications that would benefit from nano-attach
adhesion techniques and the necessary requirements for their
adaptation. Nano-attach technology gaps were identified from the
team's technology benchmarking work. Currently, the team is preparing
for the second phase of the project, which will undertake an
experimental evaluation of key parameters of available nano-attach
materials.
iNEMI Warm Assembly Proposal, presented to the iNEMI Technical Committee by Marc Chason and Jan Danvir (Motorola), May 18, 2006 (PDF)
Statement of Work, v 1.2 (November 16, 2006)
