75% of our staff has advanced degrees (M.S. or Ph.D.) in chemistry, physics, materials science, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, or ceramics (meet the team). Access to a comprehensive range of assembly, test, and analytical equipment allows us to address almost any conceivable microelectronics packaging issue:

Research, prototyping, design, materials selection and testing, process development on manufacturing scale equipment, mechanistic based reliability testing, root cause failure analysis and remediation,... (details)

The following offers a partial list of equipment and techniques routinely employed in our work and/or starting to be made available for our routine use at the Advanced Analytical and Diagnosis Laboratory at Binghamton University (http://research.binghamton.edu/binghamtonCOE/Facilities.html)

Manufacturing Scale Assembly & Inspection Equipment:

• DEK screen printers for solder paste, underfill, and conductive adhesive printing
• 3-D Scanning Laser SVS 8100 for solder paste deposit measurements
• Universal Instruments linear motor pick-and-place platforms
• Vitronics Soltec forced convection mass reflow ovens with nitrogen capability
• Asymtek Axiom x-1020 for dispensing or jetting of underfill, dam and fill, die attach, thermal compounds, fluxes
• OK International APR 5000XL Area Array Rework Station
• Metcal VPI-1000 BGA Inspection station
• Dage XD7600 X-ray microscope
• Sonoscan D6000 scanning acoustic microscope (C-SAM)

Metrology:

• Laser profilometer
• White light interferometer for measurement of bump heights distributions across wafers, as well as for topography
• Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM)
• PEMI Moiré for cross-sectional warpage measurements
• Shadow Moiré for surface warpage and PCB degradation measurements
• Strain gauges
• Mettler AT20 micro balance
• Optical Profiler
• Dektac Profiler
• Spectroscopic Ellipsometer
• Dektac Profiler
• Ultra-fast Laser Confocal Imaging System
• Particle Imaging Velocimeter

Analysis:

• Environmental SEM (ESEM)
• Energy Dispersive X-ray/Spectroscopy (EDX/EDS)
• Electron probe microanalysis with wavelength dispersive x-ray spectrometer
• Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD)
• Optical microscopy (up to 1000x with high resolution image capture)
• Metallograph
• Ion Chromatograph
• Ionic Contamination analysis
• X-ray Fluorescence (XRF)
• Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA)
• Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)
• Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) coupled with thermogravimetric infrared (TGIR) analysis of resulting gases
• Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) Infrared Spectrometry
• Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR)
• Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS)
• Time-of-flight (TOF) SIMS
• Auger Analysis
• Glow Discharge Mass Spectroscopy (GDMS)
• Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS)
• Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP)
• Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
• Manual and automated cross sectioning and flat sectioning
• Dye penetration analysis
• ESD/EoS testing via chemical depotting of overmold
• Dual Beam FIB
• Field Emission TEM
• Wavelength Dispersive Spectroscopy
• SEM Ion Etching and Coating
• Scanning Probe Microscope
• Upright and Inverted Compound Microscopes
• Stereo Zoom Microscope
• X-ray Diffraction
• X-ray Imaging
• Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)

Test Equipment:

• Surface Insulation Resistance (SIR) testing
• Knoop Hardness testing
• Wetting balance
• Cone plate viscometer with constant temperature bath
• Numerous Air-to-Air thermal cycling (AATC) with Anatech event detectors
• Air-to-Air thermal shock chamber with Anatech event detectors
• Liquid-to-Liquid thermal shock (LLTS) with Anatech event detectors
• HAST chamber
• Temperature/Humidity chambers (30°C/60%RH, 85°C/85%RH,.…) and baking ovens
• Cyclic torsion testers
• Cyclic bend testers
• Solder ball pull and shear testers for strength and fatigue life measurements
• Drop tester (-50°C to 100°C)
• Cathodic-anodic filament (CAF) test chamber
• Vibration testing (-70°C to 190°C)
• Electrochemical migration testing
• Lead Free solder pot
• Hull cell for electroplating