Guest Post by Dr. Robert Humphreys In previous posts, we have alluded to the immense complexity of the initiative to replace petroleum with biomass as the principal source of transportation fuels, chemicals, and polymer-based materials. Biomass pretreatment, the 5th step in the biomass-to-fuels-and-chemicals chain illustrated in Figure 1, provides perhaps the best example of ... [Click to Continue...]

In this post we will discuss a new packaging type generically called embedded wafer level packaging.  Many OSAT’s have different names, but the concept is pretty much the same. Source: ASE In traditional semiconductor packaging, wafers are typically bumped and singulated prior to packaging and in most cases the die is attached to the package.  The most common packages are ... [Click to Continue...]

Guest Post by Dr. Robert Humphreys Petroleum is a liquid, albeit a flammable, smelly, toxic, viscous one. It can be pumped into huge oil tankers and floated across oceans or pumped through pipelines across hundreds or thousands of miles of inhospitable terrain. It can be stored indefinitely in salt domes or huge tanks with little loss or deterioration. It can be available ... [Click to Continue...]

In the last post we described both non-conductive film (NCF) and wafer applied underfills.  In each of these, the underfill is applied to the wafer prior to chip joining to the semiconductor packaging substrate.  Thermocompression bonding is used to: Align the chip and the substrate using fiducials using a sophisticated vision system Control the temperature, force and ... [Click to Continue...]

I was at the Irvine Park Railroad Pumpkin Patch (in Orange County California) with my wife, daughter, son-in-law, and my 19 month old grandson last  Saturday for some fun at the pumpkin patch.  They had a train ride, hay bale maze, kids games, bounce houses, face painting, cookie decorating, tractor races, horse rides, and a bunch of those wooden pictures with holes for your ... [Click to Continue...]