The PIs plan to develop a novel research instrument designed for the interdisciplinary research of future connections with I/O counts higher than 5,000 per chip and placement precision better than 1 micron. All the assembly processes will be performed by the institute thus controlling cleanliness, temperature pressure, chemical compositions, surface, reactions, solidification, contact formation, and thermomechanical forces. Successive assembly steps are grouped into separate chambers that are clustered together into one instrument. Transfers between steps are also done under controlled conditions The instrument will be placed into the Advanced Facility for electronic Packaging (AFEP) at Cornell University for shared use. The proposed Instrument opens a new frontier for integrated interconnect research and education for the next 15 years. This instrument will help explore fundamental materials, interfaces, contact physics, interconnect structures, fabrication process, manufacturing, assembly, and reliability issues in future high density, and high precision interconnect packages.
