Emerging technologies in electronic packaging
Benson Chan, Emerging Technologies Technical Committee Chair
The following are fifteen recent Binghamton University’s Integrated Electronics Engineering Center (IEEC) “Flashes” that pertain to emerging technologies in electronic packaging. These Flashes are published by the IEEC monthly and is meant to bring the latest news relating to electronics packaging. If you are interested in reading more about these news briefs, the titles have hyperlinks to the source articles.
Shrunken nanolasers enable on-chip optical connections
Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology cleared the obstacle that had prevented the creation of electrically driven nanolasers for ICs. The approach enables a coherent light source design on the scale smaller than the wavelength of light emitted by the laser. This enables ultrafast optical data transfer in microprocessors. The proposed new scheme for electrical pumping is based on a double heterostructure with a tunneling Schottky contact. It makes the ohmic contact with its strongly absorbing metal redundant. The pumping now happens across the interface between the plasmonic metal and semiconductor, along which SPPs propagate.
Electronics cooling using additive manufacturing
Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a new type of air jet cooler that overcomes previous barriers to jet cooling systems. Using additive manufacturing, they created an air jet cooling system in a single component that can direct high-speed air onto multiple electronics hot spots. They manufactured the cooling system using polymer materials that can withstand the harsh conditions associated with high-speed air jets (200 mph). The research focused on heat removal from high-power electronic devices in a host of applications including electric vehicles, aircraft, and automotive.