Weiner & Associates is now offering a suite of private company seminars and workshops on the most recent technology developments in the materials and process elements of the electronic interconnect and packaging industries. These are designed to help you assess your capabilities to choose a successful strategy and path forward for your company.
Topics include printed electronics, nanotechnology, embedded passives and other components, and microelectronic processes and materials.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information.
Printed Electronics Technology (PET)
Recent advances in the field of printable functional inks have enabled the formation of printed integrated circuits, analogous to the first devices that Texas Instruments developed in 1958. Printed Electronics Technology (PET) encompasses a suite of applied sciences and technologies that are positioned to not only replicate the growth of the silicon based semiconductor industry, but in numerous ways expand upon it. The low cost and flexible nature of PET devices opens new market opportunities for using these uniquely fabricated devices.
The PET value chain spans: 1) materials, 2) processing equipment platforms, 3) printing services, 4) system testing, and 5) design and applications. As opportunities exist along the value chain for companies to extract value, established companies as well as start-ups are positioning themselves to be players in this growing field. Novel systems solutions to printing, electronic design and integrated products provide a wealth of opportunities for new products and new markets.
PET devices have been demonstrated for 1) Printed Transistors, Logic Devices and Printed Integrated Circuits, 2) Printed Displays, 3) Printed Energy and 4) Printed Sensors. While these devices make use of similar printing technologies, the functional ink systems used in the printing processes are fundamentally different, and provide a unique basis for each technology space.
Printing technologies are ideally suited for producing large volumes of material at relatively low cost. While reel-to-reel or sheet-fed processes cannot presently match the sub-micron resolutions typically realized in conventional wafer fabs today, significant business opportunities exist for PET-based devices that don’t require that level of technical sophistication. The successful strategy is to complement the silicon semiconductor industry, not compete with it.
Weiner and Associates is pleased to offer private company seminars in the Printed Electronics Technology space. We can provide seminars across the complete spectrum of the PET value chain:
- Materials systems for printing transistor and integrated circuit structures, printed displays and printed energy.
- Printing processes including ink-jet, screen printing, flexography and gravure.
- Printed display including electrophoretic and electroluminescent processes.
- Printed energy technology including batteries and electrochemical capacitors
- Printed sensors including printed Chem-FETs
- Designs and applications
- Technology and company benchmarking
- Market opportunities
With the ability to print logic devices, energy sources, displays and sensors, the Printed Electronics Technology space is poised to produce a new industry.
Nanotechnology
Addressing size scales less than 1 micron, Nanotechnology is the field of applied science and technology whose focus is the control and manipulation of matter and fabrication of devices below that boundary region. With the passage of the US National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) in FY2001 the nanotechnology field saw unprecedented growth in US federal funding. This spurred significant university research and launched numerous start-ups. Additionally, investments by established industrial companies increased significantly.
With the NNI providing funding for a broad range of technologies including biology, chemistry, solid state physics and materials sciences, an explosion in nanotechnology research occurred. Separating the research that could be translated into marketable product from the immense hype overwhelming the technical space became challenging. The broad based nature of Nanotechnology required that the field be bounded by technical or market drivers so that value chains and market opportunities could be properly assessed and established.
Weiner and Associates is pleased to offer private company seminars in the Nanotechnology space that address value chains of interest to companies that address the electronics market. Typically addressing the impact of nanotechnology on the surface, structure and assembly of materials and devices, these seminars will be of value to the electronics fabricator, assembler or designer We can provide seminars across the Nanotechnology value chain including:
- Nanotechnology materials and systems for electronic and photonic devices
- Free Standing Quantum Dots: theory and device applications
- Nano-particle doped polymers: impact on mechanical properties
- Mechanical adhesion and assembly
- Surface finishes and surface color
- Environmental concerns with nanotechnology materials
- Business models and market opportunities
Products incorporating nanotechnology based solutions are already being commercialized. Opportunities exist to use nanotechnology to improve your products and produce them more cost effectively.
Embedded Passives and Other Components
As new product features drive opportunities in the marketplace, the ability to design and manufacture products incorporating novel feature-enabling technologies in a small form factor becomes an increasing challenge. Beyond size constraints, the designer must also cope with manufacturability, reliability and cost issues, any of which can derail a promising technical solution. While product miniaturization is a common goal across consumer electronics, embedding components into the printed wiring board (PWB) provides a unique opportunity to increase the PWB’s functionality and value.
The opportunity to embed resistors, capacitors and inductors as well as active components in the PWB opens a new path to cost effective product miniaturization. Not only does embedding reduce assembly cost by reducing the number of placed parts, it can increase system packaging efficiency by opening up more PWB real estate for placement of feature-rich active components rather than simple passive devices. Concurrently, product reliability is increased as the number of solder joints is reduced.
Advanced High Density Interconnect (HDI) PWB manufacturing processes mimic the semiconductor industries additive and subtractive processes. This opens up the opportunity to produce devices that resemble silicon Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) devices, but produced on a PWB cost structure rather than that of a wafer fab. Additional assembly options include embedding discrete components into the PWB.
Weiner and Associates is pleased to offer private company seminars that address state of the art PWB embedded passives technology, their associated manufacturing processes and the unique materials technologies that enable them. Typically addressing the PWB fabricators, manufacturers, and supply chain members, these seminars will be of value to electronic products assemblers spanning the consumer electronics, automotive and medical electronics industry. We can provide seminars across the entire embedded passives value and supply chain including:
- Embedded technology for resistors, capacitors and inductors
- MEMS type devices in PWB
- Embedded devices in PWB
- Industry trends and roadmaps
- Packaging and assembly technologies
- Technology gaps and challenges
- Environmental concerns
- Business models and market opportunities
Since the PWB forms the foundation upon which electronic devices are fabricated, embedding expanded functionality within the PWB provides a path for the PWB fabricator to move up the value chain.
Microelectronic Processes and Materials for Product Miniaturization
Numerous market projections suggest that over 1 billion cell phones will be purchased in 2007. To meet this market opportunity, over 1 billion cell phones must be manufactured in the same time frame. Assuming 24/7 manufacturing, the cell phone industry must manufacture over 2.7 million cell phone per day or over 114,000 cell phones per hour. If yields are less than 100%, then the number of devices manufactured must be even larger. Leading edge component devices and assembly processes drive this industry.
Although some cell phone products can command large margins, in general cell phones migrate along a path where they quickly become commodity type products. Consequently, the supply chain that supports this industry is challenged to produce component parts in high volume and at low cost. To meet this challenge, the supply chain must continually develop and introduce state-of-the-art technologies and manufacturing processes to meet the demand.
The cell phone industry is just one part of a microelectronics assembly industry that uses many of the same processes, materials and components across a spectrum of products and markets. While these microelectronics and manufacturing technology solutions drive the cell phone industry, the technologies are applicable across a variety of other industries. The underlying goal for product miniaturization is to maximize customer value in the smallest possible form factor.
Weiner and Associates is pleased to offer private company seminars that address the miniaturization of microelectronics, their associated manufacturing processes and the unique materials technologies that enable them. Typically addressing the cell phone manufacturing and supply chain these seminars will be of value to other electronic products assemblers spanning, for example, the consumer electronics, automotive, and medical electronics industry. We can provide seminars across the entire miniaturization value chain including:
- Industry trends and roadmaps for microelectronics miniaturization
- Packaging and assembly technologies
- Technology gaps and challenges
- Environmental concerns
- Business models and market opportunities
Product miniaturization lessons learned in the cell phone industry can be expanded beyond the cell phone industry to impact numerous other industries.