Exposed Die-Top Encapsulation Molding for an Improved High- Performance Flip Chip BGA Package

The recent advancement in high- performance semiconductor packages has been driven by the need for higher pin count and superior heat dissipation. A one-piece cavity lid flip chip ball grid array (BGA) package with high pin count and targeted reliability has emerged as a popular choice. The flip chip technology can accommodate an I/O count of more than five hundreds500, and the die junction temperature can be reduced to a minimum level by a metal heat spreader attachment. None the less, greater expectations on these high-performance packages arose such as better substrate real estate utilization for multiple chips, ease in handling for thinner core substrates, and improved board- level solder joint reliability. A new design of the flip chip BGA package has been looked into for meeting such requirements. By encapsulating the flip chip with molding compound leaving the die top exposed, a planar top surface can be formed. A, and a flat lid can then be mounted on the planar mold/die top surface. In this manner the direct interaction of the metal lid with the substrate can be removed. The new package is thus less rigid under thermal loading and solder joint reliability enhancement is expected. This paper discusses the process development of the new package and its advantages for improved solder joint fatigue life, and being a multichip package and thin core substrate options. Finite-element simulations have been employed for the study of its structural integrity, thermal, and electrical performances. Detailed package and board-level reliability test results will also be reported     

Use of radial forces for fault detection in tapping

A model-based method for fault detection in tapping based on torque and radial forces is proposed. The method allows the identification of faults typical of a tapping operation including axial misalignment, tap runout, tooth breakage both singly and together. The validation experiments have been run on aluminum 356 workpieces for different combinations of process faults. Results have shown that the model predictions are in good agreement with the experimental radial force and torque signals under various fault conditions.     

A new approach to study organic solar cell using Lambert W-function

Organic photovoltaic solar cells bear an important potential of development in the search for low-cost modules for the production of domestic electricity. One of the main differences between inorganic and organic solar cells is that photo-excitation in these materials does not automatically lead to the generation of free charge carriers, but to bind electron–hole pairs (exciton) with a binding energy of about 0.4 eV. Till now various numerical methods using approximations have been reported to study different aspects of organic solar cells. For the first time an accurate method using Lambert W-function is presented to study different parameters of organic solar cells.     

CARD: A Contact-based Architecture for Resource Discovery in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

Traditional protocols for routing in ad hoc networks attempt to obtain optimal or shortest paths, and in doing so may incur significant route discovery overhead. Such approaches may be appropriate for routing long-lived transfers where the initial cost of route discovery may be amortized over the life of the connection. For short-lived connections, however, such as resource discovery and small transfers, traditional shortest path approaches may be quite inefficient. In this paper we propose a novel architecture, CARD, for resource discovery in large-scale wireless ad hoc networks. Our mechanism is suitable for resource discovery as well as routing very small data transfers or transactions in which the cost of data transfer is much smaller than the cost of route discovery. Our architecture avoids expensive mechanisms such as global flooding and complex hierarchy formation and does not require any location information. In CARD resources within the vicinity of a node, up to a limited number of hops, are discovered using a proactive scheme. For resources beyond the vicinity, each node maintains a few distant nodes called contacts. Contacts help in creating a small world in the network and provide an efficient way to query for distant resources. Using contacts, the network view (or reachability) of the nodes increases, reducing the discovery overhead and increasing the success rate. On the other hand, increasing the number of contacts also increases control overhead. We study such trade-off in depth and present mechanisms for contact selection and maintenance that attempt to increase reachability with reduced overhead. Our schemes adapt gracefully to network dynamics and mobility using soft-state periodic mechanisms to validate and recover paths to contacts. Our simulation results show that CARD is scalable and can be configured to provide desirable performance for various network sizes. Comparisons with other schemes show overhead savings reaching over 93% (vs. flooding) and 80% (vs. bordercasting or zone routing) for high query rates in large-scale networks.     

The generalized Kuhn model of linear viscoelasticity

We propose a generalization of the Kuhn model of linear viscoelasticity. This generalization, which has four material parameters, is able to provide a near frequency independent response over a wide range of frequencies. It is useful for highly dissipative materials such as asphalt concrete. It is derived by generalizing Lubliner and Panoskaltsis’s modified Kuhn model, but we also show that it is closely related to fractional derivative models. We show that the model admits a rheological approximation, that is, an approximation by classical springs and dashpots. The model and rheological representation are compared to experimental data.     

Implementations of a four-level mechanical architecture for fault-tolerant robots

This paper describes a fault tolerant mechanical architecture with four levels devised and implemented in concert with NASA (Tesar, D. & Sreevijayan, D., Four-level fault tolerance in manipulator design for space operations. In First Int. Symp. Measurement and Control in Robotics (ISMCR '90), Houston, Texas, 20–22 June 1990.) Subsequent work has clarified and revised the architecture. The four levels proceed from fault tolerance at the actuator level, to fault tolerance via in-parallel chains, to fault tolerance using serial kinematic redundancy, and finally to the fault tolerance multiple arm systems provide. This is a subsumptive architecture because each successive layer can incorporate the fault tolerance provided by all layers beneath. For instance a serially-redundant robot can incorporate dual fault-tolerant actuators. Redundant systems provide the fault tolerance, but the guiding principle of this architecture is that functional redundancies actively increase the performance of the system. Redundancies do not simply remain dormant until needed. This paper includes specific examples of hardware and/or software implementation at all four levels.     

A bi-criteria model for the inventory aggregation problem under risk pooling

Inventory aggregation, also called Risk Pooling, is one of the most efficient ways to reduce the level of safety stocks thereby reducing inventory across the supply chain. Determining the best level of aggregation is a difficult problem and needs extensive study of all the possible scenarios that can affect this decision. Minimizing costs in a supply chain is no longer the sole priority of businesses. Maintaining a high level of responsiveness is also considered equally important. The conflicting nature of these two criteria makes the solution of the problem difficult. In this paper, we develop a bi-criteria nonlinear stochastic integer programming model to determine the best supply chain distribution network to meet customer demands, where minimizing costs while maintaining high levels of responsiveness is important. We develop a two-stage optimization algorithm to solve this problem.     

Relationship of provider characteristics to outcomes, process, and costs of care for community-acquired pneumonia

OBJECTIVES: The authors describe the relation of provider characteristics to processes, costs, and outcomes of medical care for elderly patients hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia. METHODS: Using Medicare claims data, Medicare beneficiaries discharged from Pennsylvania hospitals during 1990 with community-acquired pneumonia were identified. Claims data were used to ascertain mortality, readmissions, use of procedures and physician consultations, and the costs of care. The relationship of these measures to provider characteristics was analyzed using regression techniques to adjust for patient characteristics, including comorbidity and microbial etiology. RESULTS: Among 22,294 pneumonia episodes studied, 30-day mortality was 17.0%. After adjusting for patient characteristics, 30-day mortality and readmission rates were unrelated to hospital teaching status or urban location or to physician specialty. Use of procedures and physician consultations was more common and costs were 11% higher among patients discharged from teaching hospitals compared with nonteaching hospitals. Similarly, costs were 15% higher at urban hospitals compared with rural hospitals. General internists and medical subspecialists used more procedures and had higher costs than family practitioners. CONCLUSIONS: Processes and costs of care for community-acquired pneumonia varied by provider characteristics, but neither mortality nor readmission rates did. These differences cannot be explained by clinical variables in the database. Further studies should determine whether less costly patterns of care for pneumonia, and perhaps other conditions, could replace more costly ones without compromising patient outcomes.