Those of us who grew up in the "through-hole" age of electronic
packaging are probably more amazed and appreciative than are our
children at the incredible growth of electronic performance capability.
My son, an electrical engineering student, seems almost to take for
granted the innovations that leave me somewhat awestruck at times.
Electronic circuit designers delight in packing more punch into less
volume, while reminding us that their job has become increasingly
challenging. The lay person also has learned from the media that the
industry has been working wonders in shrinking the transistor and
expanding the power of "the chip. " Much attention is focussed on the
silicon and on the marvelous production and entertainment tools we now
see in our offices and homes. Between the silicon and the end product
lies the less publicized world of circuit-level packaging. We leave it
to a cadre of technologists to take the schematics and parts lists and
to develop the processes that tum the designers' concepts into physical
reality. And while the silicon transistor is shrinking, the engineering
challenges of packaging multiple chips and associated components into
increasingly dense subsystems are growing. Further, the transistor may
have to function without failure through severe industrial or military
environments over the lifetime of the product.
