IMAPS-CPMT 2013 Poland
Article Type: Guest editorial From: Circuit World, Volume 40, Issue 1
The International Microelectronics and Packaging Society (IMAPS) Poland Chapter was established in September 1982. In the beginning, it was the ISHM-Poland Chapter and from 1997 it became the IMAPS-Poland Chapter.
The IMAPS is a non-profit making organization whose aim is to spread knowledge relating to hybrid microelectronics; a key technology in the assembly and application of semiconductors, thin film circuits and printed circuit boards (PCBs) to form practical miniaturized electronic equipment. In 2008, the IMAPS joined with the IEEEs Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology (CPMT) Society, bringing into formation the IMAPS-CPMT organization.
The 37th IMAPS-CPMT Poland International Conference was held in Kraków at the hotel Swing and took place between the 22 and 25 September 2013. This event was organized by the Institute of Electron Technologys, Krakow division. The scope of the conference covered "everything in electronics between the chip and the system". It was attended by over 100 participants, including 16 guests from abroad. During the Conference 14 invited lectures and 65 posters were presented. It was supported by one domestic and five international journals indexed by Thomson Reuters.
In this special issue of Circuit World, which is dedicated to showcasing the conference presentations, six example papers have been selected for publication which cover the processes and procedures associated with printed circuit board and related interconnect design, manufacture and reliability. (All of them were subjected to the journals regular reviewing procedures before approval for publication).
The first paper by Sitek et al. describes an investigation of new compositions of electrically conductive adhesives (ECA) designed for printed electronics applications which require as low as possible assembly temperatures. The results showed that the quality of the prints made with the use of the elaborated adhesive compositions was related mainly with the amount and type of filler used in the ECA, and especially the type of metal flakes employed.
The next paper by Stęplewski et al. discusses the environmental behaviour of resistors embedded into PCBs and compares them with discrete chip resistors assembled to standard PCBs.
Słoma et al. then report on a study of new types of substrates for the fabrication of printed electroluminescent structures. The fabricated printed electroluminescent structures were fully functional, and emitted blue coloured ambient light.
The paper of Winiarski et al. discusses the results of the thermal analysis of cermet resistors made on alumina or LTCC substrates and polymer thick-film resistors embedded in FR-4 substrates.
Next is a paper by Drabczyk and Panek who analyzed the influence of screen printing parameters on the front metallic electrode geometries of solar cells. The significant influence of printing speed on the front metallic electrodes geometry was underlined.
The last paper, by Stęplewski et al., describes the thermal stability of embedded resistors over a range of temperatures between 40 and 155°C.
I would like to thank all of the authors for their scientific work and contributions that have led to the development and publication of this special issue of Circuit World. I do hope that it will be of interest to readers of the journal and that it will help them to find novel solutions, contribute to the creation of new ideas and initiate many varied discussions about PCBs and related interconnect technologies. I believe that this branch of science and technology has much to offer the electronics industry and that there will be many continuing new developments in the future.
Agata Skwarek
Guest Editor
