TABLE OF CONTENTS Ken Gilleo
Cookson Electronics
The ideal electronic package is an economical and manufacturable electromechanical platform for one or more electronic devices that affords protection, facilitates handling, and provides the geometric translations and compatible interface required for connection to the next system level by practical assembly processes.
This book covers much of the field of packaging, including the new minimal category, but with a focus on area array designs. This chapter will describe the functions of the electronic package, protective requirements, and issues as well as solutions for general packaging. This chapter emphasizes area array packages because this is the central theme of this handbook.
The electronic package is designed to perform an assortment of tasks. Some functions can be at variance with one another, requiring balance and compromise for optimization. The package must first house and protect the delicate integrated electronics devices from the external environment. This generally is accomplished by enclosing the chip in a protective cocoon of electrically insulative materials. Alternatively, the package can be a metal vacuum-sealed container with appropriate internal insulation or a similar...
