DuPont

Thick Film News

Global Edition
Number 5
April 1995

Welcome DERDUG! Precision electronic

In this issue of Horizons, we introduce
J. Stan Erickson, who became Global
Business Manager for the Microcircuit
Materials business on lst February
1995.
6WDQ Erickson started with DuPont
in the Instruments Division and has
been involved with the electronics indus-
try for more than 18 years.
"In 1985, I was transferred to the UK
to start up a joint venture between Brit-
ish Telecom and DuPont, called BT&D
Technologies, where I had my first expe-
rience of working with thick film hybrid
microcircuits.
control circuit for heavy-duty
hydraulic systems
D anfoss, a world leader in the pro-
duction of precision mechanical
and electronic components, especial-
ly in the field of temperature control
equipment, recently took up the chal-
lenge for a new application in the
area of heavy-duty transport. This
called for the development by Dan-
foss's thick film hybrids division of
electronic servo-control circuits for
crane and forklift hydraulic valve
systems, where safety is a very im-
portant factor. The applications re-
quire low and medium power and
have a need for high stability and
tight resistor tolerances.The module
is moulded and integrated into the
valve and this leads to very stringent
specifications on operating tempera-
ture (-30 C to +125 C), vibration,
mechanical and thermal shock, hu-
midity and temperature cycling.
Danfoss had been working with
DuPont's 'QM' multilayer system of
conductor and dielectric pastes, and
HS80 resistors, using a 60 minute fir-
ing cycle. The resistors were norPal-
ly fired as the last step.
In this latest development, the
circuit requires a very tight resistor
tolerance, low TCR and very close
TCR tracking. The design called for
the resistors to be positioned in very
narrow windows in the dielectric.
cont'd on page 2

In 1989, I joined Printed Circuit

Materials back in the USA and was in-
volved in the manufacture and technolo-
gy of "Pyralux" flexible laminates. For
the last two years, I have been Global
Manager for DuPont's solder mask and
laminates activities, which has brought
me into frequent contact with the Asian
market.
I firmly believe that the route to suc-
cess is to have close connections with our
customers, and their customers, and to
provide technical offerings and solutions
which add value to the customer and al-
low the end-user to grow.
I am excited by this new challenge
and look forward to playing an active
role in fostering the health and growth of
the hybrid industry."

MCM-Cmade
using Diffusion Patterning
provides the answer
M etallux of Mendrisio, Ticino,
Switzerland, has developed a
new Ceramic Multichip Module for a
telephone application using DuPont's
Diffusion Patterning materials and
process. The system of materials used
is the DuPont 'QM' system for silver
multilayers, including the Q42DP die-
lectric and the Q99IP patterning ink.
The circuit, which measures
34 mm x 32 mm, consists of 3 conduc-
tive layers with 180 m lines/spaces
and a total of 550 vias of 180 m di-
ameter. The circuit interconnects six
complex ICs including one ASIC, one
EPROM, one digital Signal Processor
and three memory chips. The ICs are
connected on the top layer with a to-
tal of 255 bonds using chip and wire
technology.
This research project (calling for a
30 minute speech memory module for
an automatic answering machine)
cont'd from cover
The options for processing were
designed around a single firing of the
resistors, necessitating co-firing of
the top conductor and dielectric, a
process which was not sufficiently re-
liable in production. An alternative
option, printing the resistors after the
final dielectric layer, was unaccepta-
ble for adequate thickness control of
the resistors. Danfoss therefore de-
cided that the preferred option would
be to design the process to allow two
firings of the resistors, and to evalu-
ate a new resistor series from
DuPont, whose performance was
known to be largely unaffected by re-
firing.
2
DU PONT THICK FILM NEWS
has been managed by the BWI (Labor-
atory of the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology ETH, Technopark,
Zurich), in association with ASCOM,
and is aimed at demonstrating the ad-
vantages of innovative MCM technol-
ogies. Design and manufacturing
have been done in collaboration with
Swiss manufacturers. Through its
management of the project, the BWI
will help to enhance the technical ex-
change of information among Swiss
companies with a view to comparing
the different interconnect technolo-
gies available for the manufacture of
complex MCMs.
Several companies participating
in this project opted for different so-
lutions (thick film, thin film, fine line
PCB, combination of technologies) .
Metallux chose to build the Multichip
Module using Diffusion Patterning
technology. According to Patrick
Schmid, the Metallux senior engineer
in charge of the project: "We select-
ed Diffusion Patterning for this ap-
plication because it fully met the
technical requirements and allowed
Metallux to build a complex MCM cir-
cuit without investing in costly new
production equipment." Adds Mr.
Sergio Valsecchi, Metallux produc-
tion manager: "We were able to intro-
duce this technology into the Metal-
lux production environment in a
relatively short time, due to the sim-
DuPont's 2000 resistor Series was
accordingly introduced into the cir-
cuit production process, where it
proved entirely successful due to its
insensitivity to refiring, its outstand-
ing laser trim stability, its low TCR
and its very narrow TCR tracking at
different resistor values. In fact, Dan-
foss discovered that 2000 Series pro-
duced only 50 per cent of the drift
found with HS80 after laser trim-
ming. Apart from these advantages,
2000 Series was shown to print thin-
ner, reaching its specified resistivity
at a dried thickness of 20 m , with
the result that it could be laser-
trimmed faster.
plicity of its processing steps." Metal-
lux built a total of ten MCMs , all of
which passed a 'go-no go test'. These
are presently undergoing further
testing at ETH's Reliability Laborato-
ry in Zurich, along with MCMs built
with the four alternative technolo-
gies . The Multichip Module made
with the DuPont Diffusion Pattern-
ing process will be cost-competitive
with the present module using a
printed circuit board, but will be
about five times smaller (1,090 mm2
for the MCM-C compared to
5,800 mm 2 for the PCB).
Another recent Metallux develop-
ment using Diffusion Patterning is a
robot controller being built under the
IMAS Project. The module, currently
in production, measures 46.6 x 12. 7
mm, is built with three conductive
layers and has 200 m diameter vias.
It also has nine ICs to be intercon-
nected with chip and wire technolo-
gy and screened thick film resistors
laser adjusted to a tolerance of
one per cent.
.
Located in Mendrisio, Switzer-
land, Metallux has 80 employees and
specialises in the manufacture of cus-
tomised hybrids and special resistors
for industrial use. The company has
been awarded ISO 9001 certification
and is diversifying and expanding its
offering in the area of MCM-Cs and
sensors.
Since most members of the 'QM'
system have been developed for fir-
ing on a 30 minute cycle, Danfoss
and DuPont ran an exercise to look
at the resistivity and TCR of 2000 Se-
ries when fired on a 30 minute cycle
as compared to a 60 minute firing
cycle.
The study enabled Danfoss to op-
timise the material system and the
production process to meet the very
stringent requirements of the elec-
tronic servo-control circuit. Values
achieved were virtually zero per cent
drift after laser trimming, a TCR of
< 50 ppM and TCR tracking for differ-
ent resistors of< 20 ppM.

Hybrid Circuit is Key
to ABS Development
T hanks to an interactive effort be-
tween DuPont Electronic Materi-
als and Delco Electronics, Delco now
has a new thick film materials system
and process flow for the manufacture
of an automotive hybrid anti-lock
brake circuit that lets drivers main-
tain control during emergency brak-
ing. ABS electronic systems continu-
ously monitor wheel speed and
update the braking system 100 times
a second.
Delco chose hybrid circuit technol-
ogy because of the ability to achieve a
high density circuit which is small
enough to fit into, and be integral
with, the hydraulic braking system.
The thick film technology used in the
circuits helped the modules to pass
tests including vibration, fluid expo-
sure, ice-water immersion, water jet
spray, electrostatic discharge, electro-
magnetic susceptibility, electromag-
netic radiation, biased humidity,
biased thermal shock and biased tem-
perature cycling.
Delco is now manufacturing the
circuits and ramp-up to high volume
production is under way for three
versions: ABS, a system for providing
independent control of braking pres-
sure to each wheel; ABSNES (vari-
able effect steering), which includes
control of steering-wheel power as a
function of speed; and ABS9ES/TCS
Agreement to promotef/7&&tecKnology
DU PONT THICK FILM NEWS
(traction control system), which adds
wheel slip control during accelera-
tion and engine torque reduction
where required. The circuit incorpo-
ABS
ABS/VES
ABS/VES/TCS
D uPont, IBM Deutschland Pro-
duktion GmbH. and SOREP S.A.,
have signed an agreement to jointly
promote the . wider adoption of
low temperature co-fired ceramic
(LTCC) technology in Europe. Alcatel
SEL is also associated with the pro-
ject, under a separate agreement
with IBM.
As a consequence of the agree-
ment, a multi-sourcing capability for
LTCC circuits will be available in Eu-
rope for the first time.
LTCC technology is already used
for small- to medium-volume produc-
rates multilayer thick film technolo-
gy; solder attachment of components,
including power and microprocessor
flip chips on alumina and dielectric
using two different solders; and
10 mil (250 m ) Al wire bonding.
These features help the circuit meet
needs for power dissipation, inter-
connect density and reliability.
The circuit has a stratified dielec-
tric system comprising three print
layers per dielectric level. The first
layer is DuPont QM42, a filled recrys-
tallisable dielectric which resists sil-
ver diffusion and migration and elim-
inates changes in the R and TCR of the
circuit's resistors. The second and
third layers are DuPont 5707H, a
filled glass dielectric, which provides
wide conductor compatibility and
good mechanical strength.
Conductors include DuPont
7484F, a 3:1 silver-palladium con-
ductor for device attachment on alu-
mina and dielectric with 60Sn-40Pb
solder, wire bonding on alumina and
all second metal level traces; and
DuPont QSl 79, a silver-platinum
conductor for flip chip attachment
with solder on alumina as well as for
first metal level traces and via fills.
Both conductor compositions are for-
mulated as fine line printing compo-
sitions for which 125 m lines and
spaces have been achieved in long
print runs using 290 mesh high-
tensile stainless steel screens with a
20 m wire diameter.
Blends ofDuPont's 1900 Series re-
sistors are also used on the circuits.
The resistors, with a TCR of
100 ppm, are laser trimmable and ex-
hibit less than 1 per cent change in re-
sistance following laser trimming,
without encapsulation.
tion in the military, medical and in-
strumentation fields. However, its
main potential lies in the automotive
area, and in telecommunications
equipment, where it opens up the pos-
sibility of designing and producing
high density multilayer circuits with
a large number oflayers and via di-
ameters down to 100 microns at re-
duced costs.
While working together to pro-
mote LTCC technology, the partners
to the agreement will remain free to
pursue their commercial interests on
an independent basis.
3

Improving paste
manufacturing cycle times
,Q 1993, the Microcircuit and Com-
ponent Materials (MCM) group of
DuPont Electronic Materials under-
took a comprehensive review of its op-
erations with a view to identifying
those areas where a fundamental
change in the way the group operates
would have a significant impact on
the business. One of the areas identi-
fied for improvement was manufac-
turing cycle time.
A detailed analysis of the process
showed that, for some products, the
time taken to purchase the raw mate-
rials, make the intermediates and to
blend and test the paste was far too
long. So, a global team was estab-
lished with the objective of reducing
manufacturing cycle time by 50 per
cent by the end of 1994, with a further
50 per cent reduction in 1995.
Nobody in the team really be-
lieved that the first objective could be
met, let alone the one set for the sec-
ond year. However, the team went
through a detailed examination of all
the activities involved and the first
few months were spent filling a num-
ber of walls with maps and layouts de-
tailing the different manufacturing
processes.
The team very soon discovered
areas of work which added nothing to
the process, or areas where the pro-
cess could not progress pending the
transfer of papers and activities from
one group to another, and tests that
could have been performed in the
DU PONT THICK FILM NEWS
manufacturing area rather than be-
ing transferred to the laboratory. No
activity was excluded from this
thorough-going examination and no
operation was considered to be 'sa-
cred'. The team's underlying princi-
ple was always that any change
made to the process should have as
its final result either improved ser-
vice and/or improved quality for the
customer.
Of course, one of the quickest
ways to reduce cycle time was found
to be the elimination of 'waiting
times' between operations. This was
accomplished by altering work prac-
tices and by extending the applica-
tion of manufacturing control sys-
tems to better schedule the manufac-
turing processes .
. These and other changes have
been applied to the group's global
manufacturing operations, including
its pricipal plant in Puerto Rico, as
well as to the regional blending and
distribution facilities in Bristol, U.K.,
Yokohama, Japan, and Taipei, Tai-
wan.
During 1994, the Microcircuit and
Component Materials group achieved
a 48 per cent reduction in manufac-
turing cycle times and plans are in
place to attain further significant re-
ductions in 1995. Thanks to this ini-
tiative, DuPont is now much better
placed to meet increasing customer
demands for fast, reliable service and
improved quality.
Manufacturi
A market study conducted by
DuPont's Microcircuit and CoP-
ponent Materials group in the early
nineties showed that the fastest
growing region in the world for its
products was South-East Asia. The
decision to invest in this area was
taken in 1993, resulting in the an-
nouncement of a joint venture for the
construction of a new plant in China
(as reported in issue No. 3 of Hori-
zons). A parallel decision was made to
expand the existing manufacturing
facility in Taiwan.
Located in the Chungli Industrial
Zone in Taoyuan county, the DuPont
plant is only 15 minutes by car from
Taipei International Airport and less
than an hour away from Taipei. The
Chungli site employs over 70 people
and hosts three operations: the thick
film materials blending facility, the
'Riston' dry film slitting operation
and the mixing of titanium dioxide
slurry.
During the 20 years it has been in
operation, DuPont's thick film manu-
facturing plant in Taiwan has contin-
uously increased the range of prod-
ucts manufactured on site, which
include conductors, dielectrics, defog-
ger materials, MLC terminations and
electrodes, and adhesive pastes.
These are produced in support of the
hybrid, electronic component and au-
tomotive glass industries.
)ilament-free
lamp .uses DuPont
silver conductor
A new filament-free bulb has been
developed by Tungsram in Hun-
gary. This new lamp can be used for
commercial as well as for industrial
applications, such as in hotels, restau-
rants and industrial plants, where a
long service life is required.
Compared to conventional fila-
ment-type bulbs, the new Tungsram
development provides the following
advantages:

&capacity expands in South-East Asia
The thick film paste manufac-
turing site in Taiwan is one of the
most cost-effective and productive
operations of its type in the world.
In addition, manufacturing and
marketing functions are well inte-
grated to create the team spirit
needed to serve customers in South-
east Asia.
Sales of thick film pastes for pas-
sive and discrete components are
a) a very long service life (there is
a 10 year warranty)
b) an energy saving of more than
75 per cent, since a power consump-
tion of only 23 W will provide the
same lighting efficiency as a tradition-
al 100 W bulb.
The technical operation of the new
type of bulb is based on the formation
of plasma inside the bulb by means of
a microwave emitter. The plasma is
ignited and in turn excites the inner
reflector layers. To ignite the plasma,
a capacitor had to be integrated into
the structure using the inner metal
oxide layers, the glass itself and an
outer metallisation that needs to be
solderable.
DU PONT THICK FILM NEWS
much higher in Asia than in the
United States and Europe, due to
the fact that most of the manufac-
turers of electronic components are
located in this region. This has led to
the expansion of the Taiwan plant to
meet increased market demand,
with the result that thick film paste
production capacity is expected to
grow by approximately 50 per cent
in 1995.
The thick film paste plant in Tai-
wan is ISO 9002-certified and has re-
ceived excellent quality ratings from
customers such as Rohm, Kyocera,
Yageo and USI, to mentionjust a few.
In addition, the distribution centre for
microcircuit materials is being moved
from Yokohama, in Japan, to Taipei,
Taiwan, in order to improve customer
service and to provide faster delivery
and response times to customers.
DuPont 7713, a low temperature-
fireable Ag conductor, met Tungsram's
requirements for the outer electrode.
The material had to be thinned for
brush application and maintain good
adhesion on glass as well as good sold-
erability. When the bulb is attached to
the screw-fitting base, a copper elec-
trode is soldered onto 7713.
Part of US General Electric,
Tungsram's bulb manufacturing site
is located at N agykanicza, where the
development of the filament-free bulb
took place. Volume production of the
new bulb, which meets the IEC 968
noise standard, started in September
1994, just over one year after the pro-
ject was initiated. 
 DU PONT THICK FILM NEWS

DuPont introduces
new green' products
New regulations on product safety have been imple- Cadmium-free Au 5744
mented in the EC which place new limits on the DuPont has introduced a new
content of some of the commonly used ingredients cadmium-free version of 5723 Au con-
ductor. Called 5744, the new gold con-
in thick film pastes. The materials concerned are ductor has been developed for auto-
lead compounds, nickel oxide and cadmium oxide. matic wire bonding with Al and Au
As a result of continued elimination of such materials from new
$VDUHVXOWRI wires. It is used for bonding pads on
alumina and on dielectric and, as
product developments in recent years, DuPont already has a wide such, can be employed in single-layer
range of products that meet the new regulations. The introduction and crossover circuits, as well as in
of some of these new products onto the market is reviewed below. multilayer circuits.
57 44 exhibits a wide latitude on
bonding parameters optimised at a
fired gold thickness of 7-9 m and
'Stainless' Pd-Ag 5104 ily set up on the printer for high vol- shows high wire pull strengths after
DuPont has introduced a new highly ume production. The new conductor is storage at 150C for 1000 hours. 
solderable, palladium-silver conduc- fireable using a 30 minute firing cycle
tor called 5104, which exhibits a wide profile and exhibits very good solder
process tolerance, especially under leach resistance and aged adhesion on
high throughput conditions. alumina.
Developed as a general purpose 5104 is cadmium- and nickel
conductor for hybrid microcircuits and oxide-free and has also been formu- 44 encapsulant for aqueous
resistor networks, it offers excellent lated with a low lead content. 5104 is cleaning
stain resistance and solder acceptance the first Pd-Ag conductor offered to DuPont has introduced a new
after resistor firing, even in heavily the market which has been specifical- cadmium-free encapsulant suitable for
loaded furnaces. ly designed to meet all EC regula- the protection of hybrid circuits and re-
5104 has a 4:1 Ag-Pd metallurgy, tions on lead, cadmium and nickel sistor networks where aqueous clean-
can be printed easily and can be read- toxicity.  ing is required for solder flux removal.
Designated QQ600, the encapsu-
lant is fired at a temperature of 600-
C and is resistant to both alka-
line and acidic solutions. QQ600 has a
low viscosity and is particularly suit-
able for high printing speeds. The new
product can be used for encapsulation
of conductor tracks and resistors and
is laser-trimmable.
QQ600 is compatible with DuPont
resistor and conductor compositions
and shows excellent performance in
lateral migration tests when used to
protect Pd-Ag or Pt-Ag conductor met-
allurgies. 
Using best Pd-Ag conductor (standard type) after Using 5104 after resistor firing in highly
resistor firing in highly loaded furnace loaded furnace
 DU PONT THICK FILM NEWS

Thick Film Materials

Give Advantages in Video Filter

T hick film ceramic hybrid circuit

technology and thick film materials
from DuPont were selected by C-MAC
Industries for its new line of SMArt
video filters. Thick film technology pro-
vides increased performance, lower cost
and lower power consumption than ex-
isting passive filter solutions.
C-MAC's double-sided de-
sign allows for increased
function in a configuration
that minimises area and pack-
age height. The video filters are
comprised of miniature, fully
buffered, active phase equalised
devices and are housed in 12-pin
SIP modules, featuring 75 ohm
line driving capability and select-
able gains ofunity or 6 dB. SMArt
video filters are ideally suited for
the broadcast and multimedia in-
dustries.
The filters' building block materials
include DuPont's 6:1 palladium/silver
conductors, 1700 Series resistors and
9137 encapsulant.

per second, and offers 96 million bytes

of bulk storage.
The signal processor requires
board technology capable of accom-
modating high device densities while
managing significant thermal loads.
The signal processor features a low K

'XSRQW
i!
thick film dielectric, con-
ductor, and via fill materials are
being used as building blocks for a
signal processor used by the United
States Navy.
The AN/8<S-2A Signal Processor
from AT&T is designed for the Navy's
Airborne Low Frequency Sonar (ALFS)
programme. The powerful helicopter-
borne signal processor packs super-
computer power into a 3.5 cubic
foot package weighing less than
160 pounds (-kilos). It is capable of
720 million floating point instructions
dielectric material, mechanically ro-
bust substrate, and a board with a co-
efficient of thermal expansion
matched closely to that of the ceram-
ic surface mount devices. Sophisticat-
ed materials and manufacturing
techniques enable the processor to
operate consistently in severe envi-
ronments.
AT&T, which has been using
DuPont thick film pastes on various
military programmes since the early
1980s, uses for this application
DuPont gold conductor and via fill
with a DuPont low K dielectric.

1(:6
'95, Copenhagen
c 7KLFNILOP
Printed on Recyclab le paper
(5 M) 5.95 Prin ted in Switzerland
DU.PONT THICK FILM NEWS
Forum EMC'95,
(OHFWURQLTXH
Paris
The 6th Forum Micro-
DuPont will have a booth
in the Exhibition area
electronique took place in
the Palais des Congres,
Paris-Porte Maillot, on
February 15th and 16th.
DuPont Electronic Materi-
als participated with a
stand at the ISHM France
annual meeting which
hosted about 100 exhibi-
tars and was attended by
more than 700 visitors.
MES 1995,
OmiyaCity
The 9th Micro Electronics
Symposium (MES) was
held on April 18th-20th at
Omiya City, just ouside
Tokyo. MES is held every
second year and alter-
nates with IMC. The Sym-
posium is organised by the
Society for Hybrid Micro-
electronics (SHM in Japan
compared to ISHM in the
USA and Europe). The
Symposium hosted an ex-
hibition in which DuPont
Electronic Materials par-
ticipated with a stand.
The theme for this year's
MES was "Packaging
Technologies for the
Multi-media Era". 90 pa-
pers were presented at
the Symposium, all in the
Japanese language.
DuPont participated in
the product promotion
session with a presenta-
tion on 'Epoxy Silver
Adhesive for Crack-free
Packaging'.
of the EMC (ex-ISHM)
Conference in Copenhag-
en on May 14th-17th.
Major features will be the
company's new Series
2000 resistor series for
hybrid microcircuits and
resistor networks, as well
as its new stain-resistant
Pd-Ag conductor 5104.
DuPont will also fea-
ture some of the most
recent products developed
in accordance with the lat-
est EC health and safety
regulations. A paper on
"Meeting Environmental
Challenges and Market
Needs for Thick Film
Pastes" will be presented
at the Conference by
Dr. John Cocker of
DuPont Electronic Materi-
als, Bristol. Copies of
the paper will be available
on request. 
SMT'95,
Nrnberg low sensitivity to termina-
DuPont is again partici-
pating in the 1995 edition
ofSMT/Hybrid/ASIC in
Nurnberg on May 3rd-5th
with a booth in Halle B,
Stand No. 132. This year,
the company will be fea-
turing some of its most
recent products developed
in accordance with
the latest EC health and
safety regulations.
Thick )LOP
Materials
Product Guide
DuPont has updated its
Thick Film Product Selec-
tor Guide for Microcircuit
Compositions to include
the new, state-of-the-art
materials for hybrid
circuits and components.
The updated selector
guide also shows those
products which comply
with the new EC environ-
mental, health and safety
regulations. The new
Thick Film Materials
Product Guide bears the
reference No. L-10036,
and is available upon
request.
Series
2000 resistors
DuPont has launched in
Europe a new series of re-
sistor materials for hybrid
microcircuits and resistor
networks. The major fea-
tures of Series 2000 are its
tion effects on resistivity
and TCR, low TCR and
excellent TCR tracking,
improved power handling
and very low noise. The
Series offers high perfor-
mance on small dimen-
sions (down to 0.5 mm
length), coupled with
very low process and size
sensitivity.