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FEBRUARY 2020 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 67 the constant hunt for minimizing package par- asitics when we transition from through-hole to SMT, fine-pitch, ball-grid array (BGA), chip- scale package (CSP), bottom-terminated com- ponent (BTC), and bare or flip-chip with no package at all with the inherent pros and cons of each of these packages. The next level of interconnect that is slowing the silicon's performance is the interconnect substrate. The traditional and widely used sub- strate fabrication technology cannot accom- modate fine lines and microvias needed for interconnecting high pin count and lower pitch packages (or silicon). While package technol- ogy has not made the comparable progress achieved in the silicon technology over the last decade, the substrate technology is in the horse and buggy days compared to package technol- ogy. Unless the industry makes comparable progress in substrate and package technolo- gies, the desire to achieve that performance in picoseconds will remain only a dream. There are a variety of packages with their advantages and disadvantages. The key distin- guishing feature in them is their pitch, the way the pins are arranged, and the type of housing material used (plastic or ceramic). SMT007 Ray Prasad is the president of Ray Prasad Consultancy Group and author of the textbook Surface Mount Technology: Principles and Practice. Prasad is also an inductee to the IPC Hall of Fame—the highest honor in the electronics industry—and has decades of experience in all areas of SMT, including his leadership roles imple- menting SMT at Boeing and Intel; helping OEM and EMS clients across the globe set up strong, internal, self- sustaining SMT infrastructure; and teaching on-site, in-depth SMT classes. He can be reached at smtsolver@ rayprasasd.com and has an upcoming SMT class April 20–22, 2020. More details at www.rayprasad.com. To read past columns or contact Prasad, click here. Have you ever wondered about the process of cor- rosion and the formation of tin whiskers? The third epi- sode of the popular webinar series, Coatings Uncoated, is now available to view. Author of The Printed Circuit Assembler's Guide to Conformal Coatings for Harsh Envi- ronments and topic expert Phil Kinner from Electrolube shares highly focused educational information on confor- mal coating and encapsulation. If you are in the assembly business, an EMS, or responsible for specifying confor- mal coating and/or encapsulation, then this free series is for you. Watch the latest segment, Corrosion and Tin Whisker Mitigation Understood, which covers the elements re- quired to invoke corrosive damage and the role of clean- ing. How can conformal coating and cleaning protect the board from corrosion and mitigate against the effect of tin whiskers? In this engaging, 12-part webinar series, Kinner will delve even deeper into the subject, examining conformal coating chemistries in further detail, including their prop- I-007e Micro Webinar: Corrosion and Tin Whisker Mitigation Understood erties, applications, issues to be mindful of and the pro- cesses you should follow to achieve a successful coating outcome. The entire "Coatings Uncoated!" webinar series can be viewed in an hour and covers a comprehensive range of hot topics and application-relevant case-study overviews, as well as back-to-basic subject matter and issues, such as condensation and contamination. Each of the 12 segments can be viewed in about five minutes. Got five minutes? Visit iconnect007.com/webinar/cu.