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EPTE Newsletter from Japan: Nanotechnology-Another Trendy Phrase

I recently perused a thick report published by a Japanese marketing research company addressing recent progress with nanotechnology. More than a thousand companies, universities and research organizations dedicate resources toward business applications or R&D activities for nanotechnologies. There are many questionable projects relating to this subject, and I scratched my head and wondered what the phrase "nanotechnology" truly encompasses. 

Well, let's break it down. The original designation for "nano" was meant as a prefix to indicate the number of powers used for metric units. Other prefixes are listed below:

• Milli: one thousandth
• Micro: one millionth
• Nano: one billionth
• Pico: one trillionth
• Kilo: thousand times
• Mega: million times
• Giga: billion times
• Tera: trillion times.

Most of these prefixes can be attached to units of length or weight as kilograms, milliliters and micrometers. Storage devices in computer desktops and notebooks increased significantly, and a common term to reference their size is giga bytes. As hard drives continue to increase storage capacities, we will probably be measuring them in "tera bytes" soon. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has an even larger word bank of prefixes to measure even smaller or larger items; however, there are limited chances to use them in the real world, and most are reserved for astronomy or particle physics.   

Most assume when an industry uses the phrase "nanotechnology," it is referring to a unit of measure (length), specifically a nanometer. While the dictionary does include nanotechnology, the scale for it has no formal definition; however, from an academic standpoint, its meaning is accepted as smaller than 100 nanometers. Generally, we name the range of 100 nanometers to 1,000 nanometers (one micrometer) "submicron," and do not designate them as nanotechnologies.  

Nowadays, the line width of wiring in semiconductor devices decreased to 30 nanometers, and can certainly be considered nanotechnology. However, we do not call the traditional sputtering process and the electroless plating process nanotechnologies even though they generate layers thinner than 100 nanometers. Most plastic resins have a molecule size within the 1 and 100 nanometers range, but are not considered nanotechnologies.   

All of the projects listed in the report I mentioned earlier have the tag line "nanotechnologies" associated with them, but many have no direct relationship. A senior research manager from a large chemical company explained to me that any new project needs a chic, swank or trendy name to secure a larger budget and reserve more staffing; "nanotechnologies" fits that bill. This overused phrase is thrown around as a way to procure new projects or business for some companies. Unfortunately, continuous employment seems to be the agenda for researchers and professors at large organizations. Most companies save face by declaring they are contributing to the pursuit of discovering new technologies.        

I don't think our printed circuit industry needs to address "nanotechnologies" for a while. The majority within the industry is still considering double digit micrometers, and, recently, some leading manufacturers have hinted at single digit micrometers for the finest trace. It may take a few more years before we start to reach submicron range.

Dominique K. Numakura

DKN Research, www.dknresearch.com

Headlines of the Week

(Please contact haverhill@dknreseach.com for further information on the news.)

1. Rohm (Major component supplier in Japan) 9/26
The supplier has developed VML0805, a new small transistor package, for portable equipment. Size: 0.8 x 0.5 x 0.35 mm.

2. Toshiba (Major electronics company in Japan) 9/29
The company has unveiled the industry's first 256 GB SSD (solid state drive). Toshiba will begin volume production in the fourth quarter of 2008.

3. AIST (Independent institute organization in Japan) 9/29
The organization has developed a new conductive pattern generation process on plastic films by screen-printing without high-temperature baking. AIST has also developed a new chemical deposition process for 3-D semiconductor packaging where10 micron pitch flip chip connections could be possible.

4. NEC Tokin (Major component supplier in Japan) 9/29
The supplier has developed new HLV108MF and HL0V107MF laminate type capacitors--1000 Farads capacity is in a 140 x 90 x 7 mm package.

5. Yano Research (Market research firm in Japan) 9/30
The firm has forecasted 92.4 billion yen, 42.1% growth in 2008 for the OLED market. The firm also forecasts 67.7% growth in 2009.

6. Sekisui Chemical (Major chemical company in Japan) 10/1
The company will invest 8.5 billion yen to build a new plant in Shiga Prefecture for the production of optical films for LCD devices.

7. Fujikura (Major flex circuit manufacturer in Japan) 10/1
The manufacturer has developed a new thin multi-layer substrate with 150 micron pitch pads for 1000 IO package using semi-additive process and conductive paste.

8. Tory Dow Corning (Silicone resin supplier in Japan) 10/1
The supplier has rolled out a new adhesive resin, Dow Corning TC-2030A&B, with high conductivity for electronics modules for automobiles.

9. SII Nano Technology (Analytical equipment supplier in Japan) 10/1
The supplier has commercialized the new nano-TA2-9 scanning probe microscope. The device has smaller resolution than 100 nanometers for the thermal analysis.

10. Stera Corporation (Equipment and soft wear supplier in Japan) 10/1
The supplier will release a new coordinate measuring machine with AOI capabilities for the inspection of PCBs.

11. Gunze (Major fabric material supplier in Japan) 10/1
The supplier will invest 1.4 billion yen to build a new plant in Taiwan for the production of ITO films. The new plant will begin operations in October 2009.

12. LPKF Japan (Laser equipment supplier in Germany) 10/1
The supplier has begun a laser processing service in Japan for flexible circuits, electronic devices and the patterning of thin film materials.

13. Sanyo Kasei (Specialty plastic supplier in Japan) 9/30
The supplier has developed a new heat resistant encapsulation resin by combining epoxy resin and silicone resin for the packaging of bright LED devices.

14. Furukawa Electric (Major wire & cable manufacturer in Japan) 10/1
The manufacturer has developed NU Series, a new lead-free surface finish technology, for printed circuits boards and components. It has good affinity with soldering without whiskers.

15. Mitsui Metal Smelting (Major copper foil supplier in Japan) 10/2
The supplier has developed AEC-1, a new copper laminate, as the high capacitance materials of embedded passives, featuring 1 micro Farads per square cm.

Interesting Literature Concerning the Packaging Industry

Articles from DKN Research

1. "Screen Printing for High-Density Flexible Electronics," Robert Turunen, Masafumi Nakayama and Dominique Numakura, Printed Circuit FAB, October, 2007, http://pcdandm.com/cms/content/view/3846/95/.

2. "Total Process Solution for the High-Density Multi-layer Flexible Printable Electronic Circuits," Dominique Numakura, Denshi Zairyo, October, 2007 (Japanese only).

3. New "Roll to Roll Production of Flexible Circuits, Possibilities and Issues," Dominique Numakura, Joho Kiko, Tokyo, March, 2008 (Japanese only).

4. "Coombs' Printed Circuits Handbook, 6^th Edition, Part 15-Flexible Circuits," Dominique Numakura, McGraw Hill, New York, September, 2007.

5. New "Screen Printing Process for High Density Flexible Electronics," Robert Turunen, Dominique Numakura, Masafumi Nakayama and Hisayuki Kawasaki, IPC Printed Circuit Expo/APEX and the Designers Summit, April, 2008.

6. New "Global Flexible Circuit Industry, Market Trends and Technology Trends by Applications," Dominique Numakura, International Symposium of KPCA Show, April, 2008 (English PowerPoint file is available).

From the Major Industry Magazines

1. "PCB and Package Convergence," Per Viklund, CircuiTree, September, 2008.

2. "Cutting Machine Programming Time," Edward Faranda, Circuits Assembly, August, 2008.

3. "Innovation - Design Focus Redefined," Rob Evans, SMT, August, 2008.

4. "Product Development Challenges in a GLOBAL MARKET," John Isaac, Printed Circuit Design & FAB, August, 2008.

5. "Advanced Micro Imaging of Gold-gold MEMS Wafer Bonds," Tom Adams and Kevin Turner, Advanced Packaging, July, 2008.

6. "Microflex Circuit Applications for Medical Devices," Luke Volpe, MD & DI Magazine, January, 2008.