MICROTESTER "STRESSES" ELECTRONIC PACKAGING.Throughout its 100 year history, NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, Washington, DC, www.nist.gov) The standards-defining agency of the U.S. government, formerly the National Bureau of Standards. It is one of three agencies that fall under the Technology Administration (www.technology. has been known as a leader in testing large objects (such as bridges, cars and sections of ship hulls) for stress and strain effects. Now, NIST at Boulder, CO, has added stress and strain testing at the other end of the spectrum with a new ability to test electronic interconnects at the micrometer micrometer (mīkrŏm`ətər, mī`krōmē'tər). 1 Instrument used for measuring extremely small distances. level. Today's electronic products, such as cell phones or personal computers, contain complex microchips that can be subject to the same stress and strain as a bridge girder girder In building construction, a large main supporting beam, commonly of steel or reinforced concrete, that carries a heavy transverse (crosswise) load. In a floor system, beams and joists transfer their loads to the girders, which in turn frame into the columns. or a train rail. To measure resistance to these stresses, NIST has developed special mechanical test apparatus and techniques. A recent technical paper discusses a microscale "skyhook sky·hook or sky-hook n. A helicopter whose fuselage is configured so as to be mounted with a steel line and hook used to lift and transport heavy objects. Noun 1. " type tensile-test technique that has been used successfully to evaluate electron-beam-evaporated aluminum films with gauge sections 1 [micro]m by 10 [micro]m by 180 [micro]m, under both optical and scanning electron microscopes. The "skyhook" is a sharp-pointed tungsten rod whose tip is slightly blunted to match the diameter of a hole in the specimen. It is mounted on a base instrumented for force measurement and the combination is called the "force probe." Platforms for the microscopes used with this system accommodate a three-axis micromanipulator micromanipulator /mi·cro·ma·nip·u·la·tor/ (-mah-nip´u-la-ter) an instrument for the moving, dissecting, etc., of minute specimens under the microscope. micromanipulator an instrument for the moving, dissecting, etc. to hold the force probe. During the test, tension is provided by moving the appropriate axis of the the diameter of the sphere which is perpendicular to the plane of the circle. See also: Axis micromanipulator. The force signal from the deflection of the springs on the force probe and the axial displacement of the micromanipulator are recorded several times a second. Surface images of the deforming specimen are stored every few seconds. This procedure for tensile testing of thin films is believed to be the first that has been demonstrated to be applicable to specimens fabricated through a conventional commercial CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Pronounced "c-moss." The most widely used integrated circuit design. It is found in almost every electronic product from handheld devices to mainframes. (Complementary Metal Oxide Silicon) process. The specimen footprint, approximately 400 [micro]m by 700 [micro]m, can be accommodated within a test chip. Only the postprocessing step to remove the silicon from beneath the specimen is nonstandard. |
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