Project Brief
General Competition (March 1991)
Printed Wiring Board Interconnect Systems
Used in virtually all electronics equipment. AT&T, Texas Instruments, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Hamilton Standard Interconnect are joined through NCMS to develop new PWB materials and production technology for a $25 billion world market.
Sponsor: National Center For Manufacturing Sciences, Inc.
900 Victors Way
Ann Arbor, MI 48108-1779
- Project Performance Period: 4/15/1991 - 4/14/1996
- Total project (est.): $28,457,474.00
- Requested ATP funds: $13,782,990.00
Printed wiring boards (PWBs) are often overlooked in discussions of microchips and other advanced electronic components, but they form the backbone of virtually every electronic product, providing connections between individual electronic devices. Although to date PWB technology has kept pace with the increased speed and complexity of microelectronics, it is approaching fundamental limits in materials and processes that must be overcome if the U.S. industry is to maintain a competitive position. (The U.S. share of the $25 billion world market dropped from 42 to 29 percent in 3 years.) Four members of the NCMS consortium, AT&T, Texas Instruments, the Digital Equipment Corporation, and Hamilton Standard Interconnect, Inc., will work with the Sandia National Laboratories (U.S. Dept. of Energy) to develop a more consistent epoxy glass material with improved mechanical characteristics for PWBs, improved processes and process-control techniques to produce more reliable solder connections, improved methods and technologies for fine-line imaging on the boards, and a better technical understanding of the chemistry underlying key copper-plating processes. Nine hundred U.S. firms in the PWB industry could benefit.
- For project information:
- Edward Miller, (313) 995-0300
- Active Project Participants
-
- AT&T Micro Electronics (Berkley Heights, NJ)
[Original, Active Member, Secondary Location]
- AlliedSignal Laminate Systems (Buffalo, NY)
[New Member since original JV was formed, Secondary Location]
- AlliedSignal Laminate Systems (Kansas City, MO)
[New Member since original JV was formed, Secondary Location]
- AlliedSignal Laminate Systems (La Crosse, WI)
[New Member since original JV was formed]
- Endicott Interconnect Technologies (formerly IBM Corporation) (Endicott, NY)
[New Member since original JV was formed]
- Hughes Aircraft Company (El Segundo, CA)
[New Member since original JV was formed, Secondary Location]
- Hughes Aircraft Company (Orangeburg, SC)
[New Member since original JV was formed]
- Hughes Aircraft Company (Tuscon, AZ)
[New Member since original JV was formed, Secondary Location]
- Lucent Technologies, Inc. (formerly AT&T Bell Laboratories) (Hopewell Township, NJ)
[Original, Active Member, Secondary Location]
- Lucent Technologies, Inc. (formerly AT&T Bell Laboratories) (Richmond, VA)
[Original, Active Member, Secondary Location]
- Lucent Technologies, Inc. (formerly AT&T Bell Laboratories) (Whippany, NJ)
[Original, Active Member]
- National Center For Manufacturing Sciences, Inc. (Richardson, TX)
[Original, Active Member, Secondary Location]
- Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM)
[Original, Active Member]
- Sandia National Laboratories (Livermore, CA)
[Original, Active Member, Secondary Location]
- Texas Instruments, Inc. (Austin, TX)
[Original, Active Member]
- Texas Instruments, Inc. (Dallas, TX)
[Original, Active Member, Secondary Location]
- Texas Instruments, Inc. (McKinney, TX)
[Original, Active Member, Secondary Location]
- United Technologies Corporation, Hamilton Standard Division (Windsor Locks, CT)
[New Member since original JV was formed]
- United Technologies Corporation, Hamilton Standard Division, Research Div. (East Hartford, CT)
[New Member since original JV was formed, Secondary Location]
- ATP Project Manager
- Gerald Castellucci, (301) 975-2435
gerald.castellucci@nist.gov
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