ELECTRONIC SUBSTRATE AND PACKAGE CERAMICS

advanced industrial materials that, owing to their insulating qualities, are useful in the production of electronic components. Modern electronics are based on the integrated circuit, an assembly of millions of interconnected components such as transistors and resistors that are built up on a tiny chip of silicon. In order to maintain their reliability, these circuits depend on insulating materials that can serve as substrates (that is, the bases on which the microscopic electronic components and their connections are built) and packages (that is, the structures that seal a circuit from the environment and make it a single, compact unit). The insulating properties of ceramics are well known, and these properties have found application in advanced ceramic materials for substrates and packages. The materials and products are described in this article. Additional reading Materials on electronic substrate and package ceramics may be found in A.J. Moulson and J.M. Herbert, Electroceramics: Materials, Properties, Applications (1990); Larry L. Hench and J.K. West, Principles of Electronic Ceramics (1990); and the section titled Electrical/Electronic Applications for Advanced Ceramics, in Theodore J. Reinhart (ed.), Engineered Materials Handbook, vol. 4, Ceramics and Glasses, ed. by Samuel J. Schneider (1991), pp. 110566.A good introduction to ceramics in general is provided by David W. Richerson, Modern Ceramic Engineering: Properties, Processing, and Use in Design, 2nd ed., rev. and expanded (1992). The processing of both traditional and advanced ceramics is described in James S. Reed, Introduction to the Principles of Ceramic Processing (1988); I.J. McColm and N.J. Clark, Forming, Shaping, and Working of High Performance Ceramics (1988); George Y. Onoda, Jr., and Larry L. Hench, Ceramic Processing Before Firing (1978); and four sections of the Reinhart book cited above: Ceramic Powders and Processing, pp. 41122; Forming and Predensification, and Nontraditional Densification Processes, pp. 123241; Firing/Sintering: Densification, pp. 242312; and Final Shaping and Surface Finishing, pp. 313376. Thomas O. Mason