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Commercial-components initiative: ground benign systems—plastic encapsulated microcircuits
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World abstracts on microelectronics and reliability
which it can be efficiently implemented on a computer. The work to date shows a substantial improvement in computational effort for large, complex fault trees analysed with this method in comparison to the traditional approach. The Binary Decision Diagram method has the additional advantage that approximations are not required, exact calculations for the top event parameters can be performed. 4. MICROELECTRONICS~GENERAL
Commercial-components initiative: ground benign systems--plastic encapsulated microcircuits. EDWARD J. KROSS and MICHAEL A. SICURANZA. IEEE Transactions on Reliability, 1996, 45(2), 180. The purpose of the "Commercial Components Initiative--Ground Benign Systems" was to determine if commercial off-the-shelf PEM (plastic-encapsulated microcircuits) are suitable for use in ground-benign, dynamically-fixed military electronic systems. If so, they could replace the more expensive components presently specified by DoD (U.S. Dept, of Defense), resulting in appreciable life-cycle cost savings. At issue is whether the components produced for the commercial industry are reliable and durable enough to withstand the environments and life expectancies of military systems. In response to shifting semiconductor market conditions, the U.S. Air Force Electronics Systems Center contracted DSD Laboratories Inc. (Sudbury, Massachusetts) in July 1993 to conduct an experiment wherein electronic hardware from an existing DoD system would be replaced with commercial hardware built using best commercial practice. Goals were established by which the success of the experiment would be measured. These goals involved material cost savings, as well as the ease of incorporating these commercial components into the system. The system chosen for the experiment was the existing North Warning System (NWS) Unattended Short Range Radar, AN/FPS-124, for which development began in 1984. This system operates in a temperature-controlled ground shelter, but does have a cold-storage ( - 4 0 ° C ) requirement. Using several existing PCB (printed circuit board) designs from the AN/FPS-124 Signal Processor, military IC (integrated circuits) were replaced with functionally equivalent commercial PEM to build the commercial hardware. To prove functional equivalency, the commercial hardware was tested under the same military-approved test procedures and in the same way as the military versions. The assembly and testing of the hardware was flawless, and an IC cost savings of 88% was realized. These results far exceeded the established goals. As of this writing, the experimental hardware has run for 2 years, as of April 1996 (over 14.106 device-hours) without a failure, and there are no plans to
discontinue its operation. Only 13 PCB were built and tested, with three unique designs. Each 8 × 10 inch PCB contained 75-100 IC, mostly digital technology. Three sets of PCB (9 total) were deployed for active use at remote radar sites. The success of this experiment shows that commercial components can easily be incorporated into a military system without sacrificing performance. Reliability was not formally proven. A more practical informal reliability test for this project, which DSD dubbed "Run for Reliability", was to install the PCB in the system and let the operational hours accrue beyond the subsystem and Signal Processor lifetime allocations. The Run for Reliability shows promise that commercial hardware could be proven in a formal reliability demonstration test. 5. MICROELECTRONICS DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
Silicon mieromachining technique for fabricating high temperature superconducting microbolometers. R. BARTH, el al., Vocttum, 1996, 47(9), 1129. Infrared detectors have been based on high temperature superconductors as bolometer resistors. To achieve low thermal mass and good thermal isolation of the bolometer device the concept of air-bridge microbolometers is introduced. Silicon micromachining technology is applied to prepare free-standing YBa2Cu3Ov structures on silicon substrates. This paper describes the overall concept of air-bridge microbolometers and demonstrates the superiority of these devices compared to conventional bolometers.
Millimeter-wave monolithic integrated circuit interconnects using electromagnetic field coupling. IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology--Part B, 1996, 19(2), 278. Standard interconnect and packaging techniques for millimeter-wave monolithic integrated circuits (MIMIC's) tend to get more and more difficult at millimeter-wave frequencies due to the increased influence of discontinuities and tolerances, especially in conjunction with temperature and hermetic sealing. To overcome these problems, a novel concept is proposed based on electromagnetic field coupling. On this basis, coupling structures for feed-throughs out of a package, as well as chip interconnects have been designed, fabricated, and tested in a scaled frequency range and in the original millimeter-wave frequency range showing good results with acceptable tolerance requirements.
The evolution of interconnection technology at IBM. J. G. RYAN, R, M, GEFFKEN, N. R. POULINand J. R. PARASZCZAK.I B M J. Res. Develop., 1995, 39(4), 371. Advances in interconnection technology have played a key role in allowing continued improvements in integrated circuit density, performance, and cost.
World abstracts on microelectronics and reliability
which it can be efficiently implemented on a computer. The work to date shows a substantial improvement in computational effort for large, complex fault trees analysed with this method in comparison to the traditional approach. The Binary Decision Diagram method has the additional advantage that approximations are not required, exact calculations for the top event parameters can be performed. 4. MICROELECTRONICS~GENERAL
Commercial-components initiative: ground benign systems--plastic encapsulated microcircuits. EDWARD J. KROSS and MICHAEL A. SICURANZA. IEEE Transactions on Reliability, 1996, 45(2), 180. The purpose of the "Commercial Components Initiative--Ground Benign Systems" was to determine if commercial off-the-shelf PEM (plastic-encapsulated microcircuits) are suitable for use in ground-benign, dynamically-fixed military electronic systems. If so, they could replace the more expensive components presently specified by DoD (U.S. Dept, of Defense), resulting in appreciable life-cycle cost savings. At issue is whether the components produced for the commercial industry are reliable and durable enough to withstand the environments and life expectancies of military systems. In response to shifting semiconductor market conditions, the U.S. Air Force Electronics Systems Center contracted DSD Laboratories Inc. (Sudbury, Massachusetts) in July 1993 to conduct an experiment wherein electronic hardware from an existing DoD system would be replaced with commercial hardware built using best commercial practice. Goals were established by which the success of the experiment would be measured. These goals involved material cost savings, as well as the ease of incorporating these commercial components into the system. The system chosen for the experiment was the existing North Warning System (NWS) Unattended Short Range Radar, AN/FPS-124, for which development began in 1984. This system operates in a temperature-controlled ground shelter, but does have a cold-storage ( - 4 0 ° C ) requirement. Using several existing PCB (printed circuit board) designs from the AN/FPS-124 Signal Processor, military IC (integrated circuits) were replaced with functionally equivalent commercial PEM to build the commercial hardware. To prove functional equivalency, the commercial hardware was tested under the same military-approved test procedures and in the same way as the military versions. The assembly and testing of the hardware was flawless, and an IC cost savings of 88% was realized. These results far exceeded the established goals. As of this writing, the experimental hardware has run for 2 years, as of April 1996 (over 14.106 device-hours) without a failure, and there are no plans to
discontinue its operation. Only 13 PCB were built and tested, with three unique designs. Each 8 × 10 inch PCB contained 75-100 IC, mostly digital technology. Three sets of PCB (9 total) were deployed for active use at remote radar sites. The success of this experiment shows that commercial components can easily be incorporated into a military system without sacrificing performance. Reliability was not formally proven. A more practical informal reliability test for this project, which DSD dubbed "Run for Reliability", was to install the PCB in the system and let the operational hours accrue beyond the subsystem and Signal Processor lifetime allocations. The Run for Reliability shows promise that commercial hardware could be proven in a formal reliability demonstration test. 5. MICROELECTRONICS DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
Silicon mieromachining technique for fabricating high temperature superconducting microbolometers. R. BARTH, el al., Vocttum, 1996, 47(9), 1129. Infrared detectors have been based on high temperature superconductors as bolometer resistors. To achieve low thermal mass and good thermal isolation of the bolometer device the concept of air-bridge microbolometers is introduced. Silicon micromachining technology is applied to prepare free-standing YBa2Cu3Ov structures on silicon substrates. This paper describes the overall concept of air-bridge microbolometers and demonstrates the superiority of these devices compared to conventional bolometers.
Millimeter-wave monolithic integrated circuit interconnects using electromagnetic field coupling. IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology--Part B, 1996, 19(2), 278. Standard interconnect and packaging techniques for millimeter-wave monolithic integrated circuits (MIMIC's) tend to get more and more difficult at millimeter-wave frequencies due to the increased influence of discontinuities and tolerances, especially in conjunction with temperature and hermetic sealing. To overcome these problems, a novel concept is proposed based on electromagnetic field coupling. On this basis, coupling structures for feed-throughs out of a package, as well as chip interconnects have been designed, fabricated, and tested in a scaled frequency range and in the original millimeter-wave frequency range showing good results with acceptable tolerance requirements.
The evolution of interconnection technology at IBM. J. G. RYAN, R, M, GEFFKEN, N. R. POULINand J. R. PARASZCZAK.I B M J. Res. Develop., 1995, 39(4), 371. Advances in interconnection technology have played a key role in allowing continued improvements in integrated circuit density, performance, and cost.