The instructor begins by broadly describing packaging terminology and reviews the alphabet soup of acronyms used throughout the microelectronics industry; terms such as: DIP, LCC, QFN, Hybrids, BGA, CSP, Flip Chip, 3D, TSV, FO-WLP, SIP etc. The technology is then broken down by industry segments, beginning with high volume commercial packaging technology used in cell phones, tablets and handheld wireless devices, and then progressing onto specialized packaging for low volume complex devices used in military, aerospace, Class III medical, RF microwave, optoelectronics, MEMS and sensors. Lots of pictures, short video clips and pass around samples, along with simple explanations will help the attendee understand the technology drivers and key aspects of microelectronic packaging technology in a fun and interactive way.

Besides a good overview of the technology there is a strong focus on the basic materials and processes such as; probing and dicing, die attach, wire bond processes including copper wire , flip chips, underfills, encapsulations, dam and fill, glob tops, transfer molding and hermetic packaging and advanced wafer level processes.

Advanced packaging concepts and emerging trends at the wafer level will also be reviewed and discussed. Processes such as wafer capping of MEMS, 3D-IC stacking and TSVs, 2.5D with silicon and glass interposers and Fan-In/Fan- Out WLP etc.

Most companies struggle to introduce new lines and waste countless man hours and resources resolving old problems on the manufacturing floor. Much of this waste is directly tied to the knowledge and training level of the responsible individuals. This course is designed to teach the fundamental materials and processes used in microelectronics manufacturing and develop an understanding of the relevant visual inspection criteria. "Knowing what to do" is the first step towards lower costs, improved quality, and faster throughput. Multimedia PowerPoint presentations and video clips introduce the basics in a classroom setting over four days, and there is always plenty of time for questions and discussion as needed. Visual inspection and defect recognition is a critical part of the process certification.

Hybrids/MCMs/RF Microwave Modules all require a visual inspection step just prior to encapsulation or hermetic seal. This is a critical process step that requires a high degree of operator skill and understanding of what to look for and reject as part of the inspection process. This course defines the inspection criteria based on traditional Mil Spec requirements in conjunction with industry accepted best commercial practices. Over 200 color photographs of actual production defects are reviewed and discussed in detail. The students are exposed to a variety of defects and how the defects relate to the materials and process flow.

Inspection checklists are used to simply the criteria and focus on the major problem areas. Students learn what to look for as part of Pre Cap visual inspection and how to interpret and apply the very latest MIL-STD-883 criteria.

The course is intended for quality assurance personnel, inspectors, lead operators and others responsible for inspection of the hardware prior to the final package sealing process.

This course covers the visual inspection criteria for IC monolithic devices based on MilSTD-883 TM 2010 for both high and low magnification inspection in conjunction with industry accepted best commercial practices for products intended for military applications (Class S and B). High powered visual inspection of silicon ICs is a critical process step that requires a high degree of operator skill and understanding of what to look for and reject as part of the inspection process. Color photographs of actual production defects are reviewed and discussed in detail. The students are exposed to a variety of defects and the instructor explains why the defects are critical to the reliability of the end product.

This course covers the visual inspection criteria for hermetic packaged microelectronic devices and similar devices and a review of typical plastic package defects in accordance with best commercial practices. Color photographs of actual production defects are reviewed and discussed in detail. The students are exposed to a variety of defects and the instructor explains why the defects are critical to the reliability of the end product.

Hybrids, microcircuits, and microwave modules all require a visual inspection at various points throughout the manufacturing process flow. MIL-PRF-38534 requires a high magnification incoming inspection as part of element evaluation per MIL-STD-883 TM 2010. Incoming visual inspection is a critical process step that requires a high degree of operator skill and understanding of what to look for and reject as part of the inspection process. Silicon and GaAs wafer fabrication processes are explored in detail along with thick and thin film substrate processing. Color photographs of actual production defects are reviewed and discussed. Students will understand the basic fabrication processes and the typical kinds of defects that result from poorly controlled processes.

The course is intended for quality assurance personnel, inspectors, lead operators, and others responsible for incoming inspection and at other points in the process flow prior to final package seal.

Microwave Hybrids, MICs, RF MMIC modules all require a unique set of materials and processes necessary to achieve reliable operations in extreme military and commercial environments. This three-day course examines all aspects of microwave packaging from a practical perspective. The instructor shares valuable lessons learned from years of experience. Design issues, material trade offs, process selection are all covered in detail with the goal of imparting useful information to the students so they can return to the workplace better equipped to assemble and manufacture reliable microwave hybrids for military, space, and other high reliability commercial and medical device applications.

This course is intended as an introductory to intermediate level course for process engineers, designers, quality engineers, and managers responsible for design and manufacture of microwave hybrids.

Microwave hybrids, RF MMIC modules and other multichip high reliability products, such as Class III medical implants, all require a lot of thinking and design tradeoffs prior to full scale production. There have been many instances where designers unknowingly placed tremendous burdens on manufacturing that translate into yield loss, production delays, reliability problems, and unhappy customers. This course is intended to sensitize designers to the issues important to manufacturing. Hybrid circuit designers must "design with the process in mind." Any circuit that can't be assembled within reasonable cost and schedule constraints is a bust.

This course is a must for inexperienced designers and those not familiar with standard microwave hybrid materials and manufacturing processes.

This course is intended as an intermediate level course for process engineers, designers, quality engineers, and managers responsible for design and manufacture of Low Temperature Cofired Ceramic (LTCC) substrates, mixed signal MCM’s, modules and microwave hybrids. This course examines the major aspects of LTCC packaging from a practical perspective. The instructors share valuable lessons learned from years of experience. Design issues, material trade-offs and process selection are all addressed and there is a special focus on integration of screen printed passive elements on green tape.

This three-day course is a combination of classroom and "hands-on" exercises conducted at the wire bonder designed to teach the basics of manual gold ball and wedge wirebonding. The goal is to teach the process of wirebonding, which includes the wire, tool, machine settings and operation, work stage and operator skill. Especially important is how to troubleshoot a wire bond problem and get the process back on track. The instructor shares his numerous years of experience and provides insightful tips that help build confidence. Students develop a functional understanding of the wire bond process along with important quality and reliability considerations for hi rel military and medical products. In addition to bonding, the students also learn the important visual inspection criteria and how to properly perform wire pull/ball shear testing.

This course is intended for new wire bonders, but many experienced bonders and process/quality engineers have taken the course and learned a great deal. The classroom training is open to anyone, but the "hands on" activities are limited to 3 or 4 students at a time due to logistical reasons.

The design and packaging of microelectronic devices such as hybrids, RF microwave modules, Class III medical implants and other types of packaged microcircuits intended for high reliability systems is a critical aspect of reliability engineering. This course is intended to review and highlight the typical kinds of microelectronic packaging related failures that occur during manufacturing, qualification and the unfortunate field failures. In addition a review of FA tools and techniques that areutilized to understand root cause of failure and guide corrective actions.

The instructor shares his years of experience related root cause FA investigations of microcircuit packaging defects and failures. Mismatched CTEs and poorly designed packages geometries often lead to mechanical failure at the die and substrate interface or cracking at the heel of a wire or ribbon bond interconnect. Careful delid, visual inspection followed by SEM and EDAX/Auger are required to identify root cause. Reliability engineers must be cognizant of the full range of FA tools available to diagnose failures and, resist the temptation to rush to judgment, which often happens destroying valuable evidence along the way. The instructor will review real world specific examples of packaging failures and resultant FA analysis and problem resolution. This course is intended for reliability engineers, design, quality and process engineers involved in microelectronic packaging.

Hermeticity of electronics packages including hybrids, microwave modules, MEMS, Class III medical implants, continues to be of critical importance. This course begins with an overview of hermetic sealing processes and then examines the accepted leak test techniques as prescribed in MIL-STD-883 Test Method 1014. Issues with bomb times and pressures, measured leak rate vs. air leak rates, "one way leakers," and virtual leakers will be addressed, along with gross leak testing. In each case the focus will be on practical issues facing the industry. The basic science and applicability of both Optical Leak Test (OLT) and Cumulative Helium Leak Detection (CHLD) will be described with plenty of time for questions. The gas ambient inside the package is measured using Residual Gas Analysis. What is RGA (Residual Gas Analysis)? How does it relate to hermeticity testing? Packages made from polymeric materials as opposed to traditional hermetic seals (i.e., metal, ceramic, etc.) require a different approach from a testing standpoint. The problem is now one of moisture diffusion through the barrier and package interfaces. A brief review of the techniques and methods to evaluate a "non-hermetic" approach is presented.

This course is intended as an introductory to intermediate level course for process engineers, designers, quality engineers, and managers responsible for seal, leak testing, and RGA results, and for those responsible for evaluating new cavity style packages.

Reliable packaging of MEMS requires the ability to create and maintain a suitable inert atmosphere or vacuum inside the package cavity for the expected lifetime of the device. Traditional hermetic ceramic/metal packages are being replaced by wafer level packaging techniques, which present unique challenges from a hermeticity testing perspective. This course begins with an overview of traditional hermetic sealing processes along with wafer level MEMS packaging processes and methods. In some cases near-hermetic packages, such as LCP are suitable in some applications. Testing of small cavity MEMS packages according to the traditional Mil Spec TM 1014 requirements may not be sufficient to guarantee reliable operation. Difficulties and limitations in fine leak testing of small volume packages will be addressed. Recent advances in Optical Leak Testing (OLT), Cumulative Helium Leak Detection (CHLD) and Radioisotope KR 85 along with other hermeticity techniques are reviewed in light of the new, tighter leak rate hermeticity specifications. Moisture ingress is of primary concern for a small volume MEMS cavity packages. Moisture level vs. surface area to volume ratio is an important concept, along with material outgassing and the potential to mitigate these problems with getters. These along with other critical MEMS packaging issues are addressed in this course.

This PDC is intended as an introductory level course for process engineers, designers, quality engineers, and managers responsible for packaging and hermetic testing of cavity style MEMS.

The US military specifications for the manufacture of hybrids and RF microwave modules can be confusing and overwhelming to the inexperienced user. This course is designed to explain in a logical manner the quality and manufacturing requirements for building custom hybrids for military and space applications. A comparison is also drawn between the US and European Space Agency requirements.

The course is intended for anyone interested in gaining better insight and understanding of the quality and process control requirements for high reliability space and military products.

Environmental Stress Screening (ESS) is a program, which subjects products such as hybrids and microwave modules, to environmental stress in order to precipitate latent defects and screen out failures that may otherwise show up early in the product life cycle. ESS is a dynamic program that changes based on production yield and early life failures.

This course is intended for process engineers, quality engineers, and managers responsible for screening and qualification testing of hybrids and microwave modules.

Hermetic and non-hermetic packaging and testing of microelectronics, sensors, MEMS, hybrids and microwave components for use as implanted Class II/III devices in vivo is of critical importance. Cost, reliability, small form factors, biocompatibility and patient safety are driving concerns. This course begins with an overview of traditional hermetic packaging and testing approaches that have been in use for over forty years. Most pacemakers, IPGs, cochlear implants in use today follow a prescribed and proven path of hermetic sealing and testing to assure product reliability and patient safety, which includes hermeticity testing in accordance with MIL-STD-883 Test Method 1014. Today however, the research is directed at development of a non-hermetic package that is at least as good as the proven path. Packages made from polymeric materials require a different approach from a manufacturing and testing standpoint. The problem is now one of moisture diffusion through the barrier and package interfaces. Candidate materials such as parylene, PDMS, various ALD and CVD organic and inorganic coatings, LCP, silicones etc. are reviewed and application processes discussed. How to test and evaluate "non-hermetic" packaging methods is a primary learning objective along with an understanding of the risks and consequences of failure.

This course is intended for process engineers, designers, quality engineers, and managers responsible for package seal, hermeticity testing and for those responsible for evaluating non-hermetic packages for medical implants.