Reliability and Lifing Methodologies for Microelectronic Systems

Abstract

ABSTRACTIntegration of core electronic functions is progressing at a remarkable rate. The high-end computers that we are using now may be available on a single die by the turn of the century. The effect of this, and other advances on semiconductor assembly and packaging has generated the need for integrated component-level electrical thermal, and mechanical models and simulation methods, as described in the Semiconductor Industry Association national Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. Although corporate and university research and development in the semiconductor area is intense (there are eight major university-based packaging centers around the world, for example), design/development methodologies that consider the combined and interactive effects of mechanical, thermal and chemical conditions on the reliability and durability of integrated components have been slow to develop. However, such methodologies have been developed for applications of complex composite systems in various other technologies where the operating conditions are similar. The present paper will discuss those developments and the possibility of applying that technology to microelectronic systems.