Graduate Courses Descriptions: Electronic Products and Systems
This area of concentration addresses the fundamental methods to attain more cost-effective and reliable electronic packaging. Areas of specialization include: Electronic packaging; Materials characterization; Accelerated testing; Condition monitoring; Computer aided life cycle engineering (CALCE).
Examples of current research topics include: Development of physics-of-failure of electronic equipment; Experimental validation of electronic packaging designs; New material combinations; Incorporating reliability, producibility, supportability, and life-cycle parameters into integrated product design and manufacturing; Plastic encapsulated microcircuits; Thermal management; Connectors and contacts; Electro-optics; High temperature electronics.
The research is supported by the following dedicated laboratories:
- Electromagnetic Propagation and Compatibility Laboratory
- Electronic Systems Cost Modeling Laboratory
- Environmental Conditional and Acceleration Testing Laboratory
- Failure Analysis and Materials Characterization Laboratory
- Permanent Interconnects and Acceleration Testing Laboratory
In addition, research is supported in the following centers:
- Center for Energetic Concepts Development
- Center for Environmental Energy Engineering
- Computer Aided Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE) Electronic Products and Systems Center
- Small Smart Systems Center
ENME 660 (formerly ENME 808X) - Microelectronic Componants Engineering (3)
Prerequisites: Graduate student standing or permission of instructor. The process of component selection lies at the heart of the design of electronic systems. This process includes application-independent considerations such as part manufacturer selection, manufacturer quality, part family quality, and integrity and distributor quality assessment; as well as application-specific considerations, including: determination of the life cycle environment, reliability assessment, performance assessment, assembly assessment, life cycle mismatch (obsolescence) assessment, legal liabilities, and risk management. This course will cover all the aspects of part selection and management and tie them in with the knowledge of electronic component materials, construction and manufacturing. It will present case studies, and involve students in projects and case studies with electronic equipment manufacturing companies.
ENME 690 (formerly ENME 808Z)-Mechanical Fundamentals of Electronic Systems(3)
Prerequisites: None. This course will provide the student with an understanding of the fundamental mechanical principles used in the design of electronic devices and their integration into electronic systems. It will focus on the effect of materials compatibility, thermal stress, mechanical stress, and environmental exposure on product performance, durability, and cost. Both electronic devices and package assemblies will be considered. Analysis of package assemblies to understand thermal and mechanical stress effects will be emphasized through student projects.
ENME 693 (formerly ENME 808Q) - HIGH-DENSITY ELECTRONIC ASSEMBLIES AND INTERCONNECTS (3)
Prerequisites: None. This course presents the mechanical fundamentals needed to address reliability issues in high-density electronic assemblies. Potential failure sites and the potential failure mechanisms are discussed for electronic interconnects at all packaging levels from the die to electronic boxes, with special emphasis on thermo-mechanical durability issues in surface mount interconnects. Models are presented to relate interconnect degradation and aging to loss of electrical performance. Design methods to prevent failures within the life cycle are developed.
ENME 695 (formerly ENME 808K) - FAILURE MECHANISMS AND RELIABILITY (3)
Prerequisites: None. This course will present classical reliability concepts and definitions based on statistical analysis of observed failure distributions. Techniques to improve reliability, based on the study of root-cause failure mechanisms, will be presented; based on knowledge of the life-cycle load profile, product architecture and material properties. Techniques to prevent operational failures through robust design and manufacturing practices will be discussed. Students will gain the fundamentals and skills in the field of reliability as it directly pertains to the design and the manufacture of electrical, mechanical, and electromechanical products.
ENME 760 (formerly ENME 808Y) - MECHANICS OF PHOTONIC SYSTEMS (3)
Prerequisites: None. This course presents key principles for the design of photonic component packages to achieve reliable performance in high performance environments. Methods in thermal, mechanical, and optical analysis, and the impact of thermal, mechanical and chemical stresses are reviewed. General approaches using life-cycle engineering principles are also covered.
ENME 765 (formerly ENME 808W) - THERMAL ISSUES IN ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS (3) Prerequisites: Thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, transfer processes (undergraduate level). Corequisite: ENME 473 (or equivalent). This course addresses a range of thermal issues associated with electronic products life cycle. Topics include: Passive, active, and hybrid thermal management techniques for electronic devices and systems. Computational modeling approaches for various levels of system hierarchy. Advanced thermal management concepts, including single phase and phase change liquid immersion, heat pipes, and thermoelectrics.
ENME 770 (formerly ENME 808H) - LIFE CYCLE COST ANALYSIS (3)
Prerequisites: None. This course melds elements of traditional engineering economics with manufacturing process modeling and life cycle cost management concepts to form a practical foundation for predicting the cost of commercial products. Methodologies for calculating the cost of systems will be presented. Product life cycle costs associated with scheduling, design, reliability, design for environment (life cycle assessment), and end-of-life scenarios will be discussed. In addition, various manufacturing cost analysis methods will be presented, including: process-flow, parametric, cost of ownership, and activity based costing. The effects of learning curves, data uncertainty, test and rework processes, and defects will be considered. This course will use real life design scenarios from integrated circuit fabrication, electronic systems assembly, and substrate fabrication, as examples of the application of the methods mentioned above.
ENME 775 (formerly 808P)-Manufacturing Technologies for Electronic Systems (3)
Prerequisite: ENME 690 (Mechanical Fundamentals of Electronic Systems). This highly multi-disciplinary course presents the mechanical fundamentals of manufacturing processes used in electronics assemblies. The emphasis is on quantitative modeling of the intrinsic impact that processing has on structure, properties, performance and durability. Students will learn how to quantitatively model many of the key manufacturing steps from mechanistic first principles, so that sensitivity studies and process optimization can be performed in a precise manner. Processes considered include: wafer-level processes such as polishing, lithography, etching and dicing; packaging operations such as die attachment, wirebonding, flip chip bonding, and plastic encapsulation; multilevel high-density substrate fabrication processes; and assembly processes such as reflow and wave soldering of surface-mount components to electronic substrates.
ENME 780 (formerly ENME 808I) - MECHANICAL DESIGN OF HIGH TEMPERATURE AND HIGH POWER ELECTRONICS (3)
Prerequisites: ENME 220, ENME 382, ENME 473 or ENME 690. This course will discuss issues related to silicon power device selection (IGBT, MCT, GTO, etc.), the characteristics of silicon device operation at temperatures greater than 125C, and the advantages of devices based on SOI and SiC. It will also discuss passive component and packaging materials selection for distributing and controlling power, focusing on the critical limitations to the use of many passive components and packaging materials at elevated temperatures. In addition it will cover packaging techniques and analysis to minimize the temperature elevation caused by power dissipation. Finally, models for failure mechanisms in high temperature and high power electronics will be presented together with a discussion of design options to mitigate their occurrence.
ENME 785 (formerly ENME 808T) - EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION OF MICRO- AND NANO-SCALE STRUCTURES (3)
Prerequisites: ENME 690. This course teaches various methodologies for characterization of macro- to nano-scale structures. The specific areas include: (1) advanced failure analysis, (2) characterization of material properties and (3) quantitative stress analysis. The students will learn the basic principles of the methods and will develop skills for research investigations by participating in student projects.
ENME 808E - NANOMECHANICS (3)
Prerequisite: None. The success of nanotechnology depends on unexpected material behavior due to nanoscale phenomena, many of which cannot be explained by conventional continuum mechanics. This course examines the mechanics of nanoscale phenomena, the applicability of conventional continuum mechanics, and the alternate techniques available for addressing nanomechanics. Examples of alternate modeling techniques include discrete models based on molecular dynamics, as well as enriched continuum models (based on strain-gradient effects, non-local effects, surface effects, dipole mechanics, and micro-continuum mechanics). This is an advanced graduate course and assumes some framiliarity with conventional continuum mechanics.
ENME 808F - SENSORS AND MEMS PACKAGING (3)
Prerequisite: None. Advances in electronics can be measured by the benefits real products provide to customers. Many of the key benefits depend upon the ability of electronics to interface with the environment using electronic sensors. Examples of every day electronic systems using sensors range from the mundane grocery store door opener to Doppler radar based systems to complex weather satellites. For example, electronic sensors are now common in automobile anti-lock braking, airbag deployment, police radar, ignition control and emissions control systems. This course will provide a detailed overview of electronic sensor operation, selection, component packaging and mechanical and architectural integration into practical electronic systems. New advances in the MEMS or optical based sensor technologies need to pass the hurdle of economic and reliable packaging before their realization as viable products. These current challenges and future development potential in sensors will offer opportunities for engineers to work in innovative and exciting new applications.
ENME 808H - LIFE CYCLE COST ANALYSIS
Please refer to ENME 770.
ENME 808I - Mechanical Design of High Temperature & High Power Electronics
Please refer to ENME 780.
ENME 808J - ADVANCED PACKAGING: MEMS, SENSORS, 3-D, MULTI CHIP MODULES
Prerequisite: ENME 473 (or equivalent graduate course). Concepts and technologies associated with the design and analysis of advanced packaging of electronic components and systems. Technologies treated include: hybrids, multichip modules, wafer scale integration, MEMS and 3D packaging. Concepts introduced in the course include mechanical reliability, system testability and design for testing, advanced electrical systems, and various design topics ranging from system partitioning and tradeoff analysis to layout and routing.
ENME 808K - FAILURE MECHANISMS AND RELIABILITY
Please refer to ENME 695.
ENME 808P - MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES FOR ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS
Please refer to ENME 775.
ENME 808Q - HIGH-DENSITY ELECTRONIC ASSEMBLIES AND INTERCONNECTS
Please refer to ENME 693.
ENME 808T - Experimental Characterization of Micro and Nano-Scale Structures
Please refer to ENME 785.
ENME 808U - PRINCIPLES FOR ELECTRONIC ENCLOSURE DESIGN & MANUFACTURE (3)
Prerequisite: ENME 690 - Mechanical Fundamentals of Electronic Systems. This course examines the impact of enclosure and joint design on electromagnetic interference (EMI) in electrical systems. It reviews fundamental relationships between material properties and electrical behavior, in the context of EMI effects. Students will learn systematic strategies for design and evaluation of electronic enclosures, and analytical methods for testing and assessment. Methodologies will include computational solutions to Maxwell's equations, as well as simple closed form approximations. Empirical and heuristic guidelines will also be presented.
ENME 808W - THERMAL ISSUES IN ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS
(Please refer to ENME 765.)
ENME 808X - MICROELECTRONIC COMPONENTS ENGINEERING
Please refer to ENME 660.
ENME 808Y - MECHANICS OF PHOTONIC SYSTEMS
Please refer to ENME 760.
ENME 808Z - DESIGN IN ELECTRONIC PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT (3)
Prerequisite: ENME 473. Merges technology, analysis, and design concepts into a single focused activity that results in the completed design of an electronic product. A set of product requirements are obtained from an industry partner, the students create a specification for the product, iterate the specification with the industry partner, then design and analyze the product. Students will get hands-on experience using real design implementation tools for requirements capture, tradeoff analysis, scheduling, physical design and verification. Issues associated with transferring of the design to manufacturing and selection of manufacturing facilities will also be addressed.
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