Presidential Young Investigator Awards

聚合物在电子材料加工中发挥着关键作用，包括电子元器件的封装和互连、光刻、用作钝化涂层和层间绝缘体。电子设备的性能通常取决于在这些应用中使用的聚合物薄膜的性能。结构-性质关系对于开发新的化学体系、制定过程模型和预测最终用途性能至关重要。我的研究兴趣集中在电子封装和互连中的这些材料问题上。我正在进行的两个研究项目是：1)集成电路封装。芯片封装操作中采用快速聚合工艺，包括树脂传递模塑工艺。这些过程将受益于在线监测技术，该技术提供关于固化状态的即时信息，并且不干扰制造过程。通过使用微传感器对介电性能进行现场监测可能是阐明结构和力学性能的一种有价值的方法。本研究的目标是建立电导率与结构和流变性之间的基本关系，并开发一种用于控制包覆过程的介电固化监测系统。2)聚酰亚胺薄膜的无损分析。电子工业对聚酰亚胺薄膜和涂层提出了高性能的要求。这些聚酰亚胺的性质对集成电路的制造和性能至关重要。热固化历史、制造环境和浇注预聚体的基材类型都会对聚合物的化学结构产生重大影响，进而影响薄膜的最终性能。在这项研究中，原位光谱分析、双折射、X射线衍射、热分析和介电分析将与微细加工的载荷-偏转试验场相结合，以研究聚酰亚胺薄膜的工艺、环境和结构对性能的依赖关系。

Polymers play a critical role in electronic materials processing, including packaging and interconnection of electronic components, photolithography, use as passivant overcoats and interlevel insulators. The performance of an electronic device often hinges on the properties of the polymer film used in these applications. Structure-property relationships are crucial for developing new chemical systems, formulating process models and predicting end-use performance. My research interests are focused on these materials issues in electronic packaging and interconnection. Two of my ongoing research projects are: 1) Integrated Circuit Encapsulation. Rapid polymerization processes, including resin transfer molding, are employed in chip packaging operations. These processes would benefit from an on-line monitoring technique which provides instantaneous information on the state of cure and does not disturb the manufacturing process. In-situ monitoring of dielectric properties via the use of microsensors may be a valuable method for elucidating structural and mechanical properties. The goals of this study are to establish the fundamental relationships between conductivity and structural and rheological properties, and to develop a dielectric cure monitoring system for controlling the encapsulation process. 2) Non-Destructive Analysis of Polyimide Films. High performance polyimide films and coatings are required by the electronics industry. The properties of these polyimides are critical in the fabrication and performance of integrated circuits. Thermal cure history fabrication environment and type of substrate upon which the pre-polymer is cast all can have a significant effect on the chemical structure of the polymer, which in turn affects the final performance properties of the film. In this study, in-situ spectroscopic, birefringence, X-ray diffraction, thermal and dielectric analysis will be combined with microfabricated load-deflection test sites to study the processing, environmental and structural dependence of performance properties for thin polyimide films.