RTD profiles

• TWI Ltd UK
• Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUTE) Hungary
• University of Greenwich, Centre of Numerical Modelling and Process Analysis

TWI Ltd UK

TWI near Cambridge, UK is an independent international research and development organisation which supports over 3,500 industrial companies in over 60 countries world-wide. Employing 450 people, with an extensive laboratory complex for developing materials, joining, manufacturing and testing technology for a wide range of industry sectors, gives TWI a unique skill and experience base to assist organisations to develop products and processes to meet market needs.

The Microtechnology and Reliability Centre at TWI (www.twi.co.uk) specialises in materials and joining technology for the electronics, photonics, sensor, medical and instrumentation industries. The purpose-built Centre houses a cleanroom with a comprehensive array of electronics, microstructural and sensor packaging, assembly and testing facilities with state-of-the-art microjoining and machining equipment. This activity is supported by a working lead-free assembly line (screen-print, pick and place, wave and re-flow soldering and manual processes) based at TWI's facility at Middlesbrough, UK.

TWI's expertise in electronics based industries has been developed over more than 40 years and a well-deserved international reputation has been built up for applying established technologies and innovation to achieve best practice.

TWI also runs the UK's Faraday Partnerships on Electronics and Photonics Packaging and Inter Connect (www.eppic-faraday.com) (EPPIC) and Medical Devices (www.medical-devices-faraday.com). These programmes encourage, co-ordinate and disseminate the research and training in the electronics and medical sectors. TWI has used the above know-how and award-winning knowledge based web site to assist (training, consultancy, design and product reviews) a large number of SMEs through programmes supported by European Structural and UK Government funds. This together with its International network gives TWI a comprehensive view of available technologies that can be applied to this project together with extensive experience and technology transfer mechanisms to apply it to the needs of SMEs.

Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUTE) Hungary

The University is a teaching and research University, in all branches of engineering, mathematics, physics, and economics. It is one of the largest Hungarian higher education institutions. The research is individual and co-operative, scientific and industrial, national and international. At the same time the university fosters an extensive series of long established relationships with various branches of industry. Several Nobel Prize laureates have been associated with the University of Budapest including John von Neumann, the inventor of the computer. The departments of BUTE were involved in 41 projects within the 5^th Framework RTD programme of the EU. BUTE participated in the Phare Multi-Country Programme in Higher Education, European Dimension of Institutional Quality Management project (1999-2000).

The Department of Electronics Technology deals with different aspects of microelectronics packaging technology, including components, sensors and actuators physics, processing technologies, materials characterisation, design of interconnect substrates and boards, development of CAD tools, thermal management and characterisation of packages, and life time tests and modelling.

In the field of research the Department of Electronics Technology lays special emphasis on the interconnection and packaging technology of microelectronics circuit modules and systems, which acts as a driving engine for continued progress in electronics in the third millennium. In the Fifth Framework Program the department served as Training Access Support Centre in the EuroTraining and as Satellite Support Centre in the EASIT European networking projects. It was partner or was involved in the following RTD or Network projects: 'Fine Pitch/High Density Flex Iterconnection' (FLEXIL), IST-1999-12288 'Local Integrated Direct Chip Attach Technology' (LIDCAT), IST-1999-10852 'Network of Excellence in Microelectronic System Integration Technologies - Packaging' (NETPACK), IST- 2001-33013 'Provision of Microsystems and Related Training in Europe' (EUROTRAINING), IST-2001-37348 'Customer Support and Design Centre for Physical Measurement Systems' (CCMESYS2), IST-2001-37496 'Performance Centred Vocational Education: The Link between Work and Education' (IPCI), F/02/B/P/PP-118074 (Socrates/Leonardo) 'European Thematic Network on Polar Electroceramics' (POLECER), GRD1-2000-28021 (Growth Thematic Network). In the Sixth Framework Program the Department is involved in four additional project proposals which are under the evaluation procedure.

The research, development and networking activity of the Department results in numerous publications and participation at acknowledged workshops and conferences, contributing to organisation of scientific events.

Research fields in addition to the activity of the department

Laser Processing: trimming of thin and thick film resistors, engraving, ablation, and micro-machining. Film Deposition and Mounting: thin and thick film technologies, surface mounting, automation of assembling and inspection.
Personnel working on the project
Dr. Zsolt Illyefalvi-Vitéz Associate Professor

Fields of Activity

Education and research in the area of technologies associated with or applied to the realisation of electronic circuits and systems, including all fields listed at the department's activity.

University of Greenwich, Centre of Numerical Modelling and Process Analysis

The team at Greenwich, led by Professor Chris Bailey, has over ten years of experience in providing modelling expertise and solutions to the electronics industry. The group focuses its efforts on the development and exploitation of computational numerical modelling tools. Working with industrial and academic partners, the group provides modelling expertise to help predict potential failure mechanisms during the life cycle of a product. Greenwich has modelling skills in a number of areas that will be used in the project, including: finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, optimisation, micro-structural modelling, and physics of failure and reliability analysis.

The group has access to a range of modelling tools including its own computational mechanics code: PHYSICA. This modelling tool has been used to predict fluid flow, temperature, stress and electromagnetic phenomena associated with Microsystems fabrication, packaging and performance. It has been written to exploit high performance computing architectures - allowing parallel processing and large scale simulations. Other computational tools used include: Flothern, Surface Evolver, Phoenics, Fluent, Ansys, Femlab, Visual-Doc.

Previous projects of relevance which the group have worked on have included investigations into the reliability of COTS, lead free flip chip assembly, lead free wave soldering technology and assessment of fillet-lifting for through-hole components.