Built for What’s Next: The End of Flat Thinking
Elementary, Mr. Watson: The Empty Chair—The Greatest Fear in PCB Design
Connect the Dots: Design With the Quote in Mind
From wafer-level inspection and precision dispensing to interconnected computing architectures and electronics designed for extreme environments, the November issue of Advanced Electronics Packaging Digest (AEPD) explores how increasing complexity is driving new approaches to performance, reliability, and process control.
At SEMICON West, Allen Phung of Koh Young America discusses the growing inspection challenges associated with advanced semiconductor packaging. As bump sizes shrink, pitches tighten, and reflective surfaces complicate measurement, manufacturers need sophisticated inspection capabilities. Phung highlights Koh Young's latest 3D inspection solutions and explains how AI-driven automation is improving measurement accuracy, production yields, and process control at the wafer level.
Jeanine Norlin and Liam Thorp from Nordson Electronic Solutions examine the challenge of expanding advanced packaging capacity while protecting yield. As AI and high-performance computing drive greater packaging complexity, precision and consistency are critical. They discuss how plasma surface treatment improves wettability and underfill flow, how advanced dispensing equipment accommodates large-panel warpage, and why coordinated process expertise is essential to maintaining manufacturing reliability.
Chetan Patil continues his series on the three levels of semiconductor scaling with an examination of scale-out architectures. Building on his previous discussion of scale-up, Patil explores how connecting servers, compute nodes, and racks via high-speed networks enables computing systems to meet the growing demands of AI and data-intensive applications. He considers the evolution of interconnected computing infrastructure, the challenges of maintaining communication efficiency, and the role advanced packaging plays in supporting the networking technologies these systems require.
Chandra Gupta of Remtec Inc. turns the discussion toward electronics operating in harsh environments, where temperature extremes, shock, and vibration can expose weaknesses in seemingly sound designs. Moving beyond conventional approaches such as thicker copper, heat sinks, and enclosure protection, Gupta examines how small design compromises can accumulate into significant reliability risks. He explores the practical considerations engineers must address to develop electronics capable of withstanding demanding operating conditions.
The November issue of Advanced Electronics Packaging Digest will be delivered to I-Connect007 subscribers on Monday, Nov. 16, 2026. I-Connect007 Substack subscribers will receive exclusive early access on Friday, Nov. 13.
