- Access hole
- A hole or series of holes in successive layers
of a multilayer board that provide(s) access to the surface of
the land in one or more layers of the board.
- Ag
- Silver; a metallic element, capable of a high
polish.
- Al
- Aluminum; a silvery metallic element, remarkable
for its lightness.
- Alloy
- A composite of two or more elements, of which
at least one is metal.
- Aluminum oxide
- An abrasive used in grinding operations. Also,
the native oxide growth that occurs on freshly deposited aluminum.
- Ambient
- The environment that surrounds a system or component.
- Ambient temperature
- 1: The temperature of the surrounding environment,
that comes into contact with the device. 2: the temperature of
the environment that comes into contact with a semiconductor
device being tested for thermal resistance.
- American National Standards Institute
(ANSI)
- An organization that compiles and publishes computer
industry standards.
- Antifuse
- A two-terminal device that is a highly resistive
element in its unprogrammed state and is programmed to a low
impedance. Typical programmed impedances range from 25 to 500
ohms, depending on the specific antifuse material, process, manufacturing,
technology, and programming.
- Antifuse FPGA
- An FPGA based on a technology that utilizes amorphous
silicon to make the interconnect. Antifuse FPGAs are one-time-programmable,
nonvolatile, live at power up, and secure from tampering and
readback.
- Au
- Gold; a malleable yellow metallic element.
- Backgrind
- An operation using an abrasive on the back side
of a substrate to achieve the necessary thinness for scribing,
cutting, and packaging of die.
- BGA
- Ball Grid Array; a type of IC packaging featuring
solder ball pin connections.
- Burn-in
- A process where a device is subjected to electrical
or physical stress to simulate actual or accelerated use. It
is designed to verify the function of the device under test and
also to weed out any possible devices with latent defects.
- CFC
- Chlorofluorocarbon
- CPGA
- Ceramic Pin Grid Array
- CPLD
- Complex Programmable Logic Device. Usually a
simple low-density programmable logic solution. Typically contains
macrocells that are interconnected through a central Global Routing
Pool. This type of architecture provides moderate speed and predictable
performance. Traditionally targeted towards low-end consumer
products.
- CQFP
- Ceramic Quad Flat pack
- CS
- Chip Scale Package
- Dissipative material
- An ESD protective material having a surface resistivity
greater than 106 but not greater than 1012 ohms/square. (106=1,000,000,000
and 1012=1,000,000,000,000).
- Delamination
- A separation of materials within a package; typically
delamination refers to a separation of the die from the substrate.
- EIA
- Electronic Industries Association
- EIAJ
- Electronic Industries Association of Japan
- ESD
- Electrostatic discharge; a sudden transfer of
an ESD voltage potential from one object to another with a lower
potential either by inductance or direct contact.
- ESD label
- Industry standard ESD labels are placed on packing
materials to inform users that ESD precautions and proper handling
procedures must be utilized to insure the quality of the inside
of the IC.
- ESD packaging material
- A material capable of limiting the generation
of static electricity. ESD packaging materials are classified
in accordance with their surface resistivity as conductive, static
dissipative, and the less effective antistatic.
- ESD protective packaging
- Packaging with ESD protective materials or properties
to prevent damage to ESD sensitive devices.
- FBGA
- Fine Pitch (1.0 mm) Plastic Ball Grid Array
- Flash
- A nonvolatile memory element that uses charge
stored on a floating gate to indicate a logic state of 1 or 0.
- Flash FPGA
- An FPGA (See FPGA) that is
based on Flash technology for controlling the switching of the
interconnect. Flash-based FPGAs are nonvolatile, live on power-up,
reprogrammable, and secure from reverse engineering or cloning.
- FPGA
- Field Programmable Gate Array. A very complex
PLD. The FPGA usually has an architecture that comprises a large
number of simple logic blocks, a number of input/output pads,
and a method to make random connections between the elements.
The largest fastest programmable logic devices have gate counts
running into the millions. These devices are user customizable
and programmable on an individual device basis. Valued for their
flexibility by designers.
- Fuse
- This is a two-terminal device that is normally
a low resistive element and is programmed or "blown"
resulting in an open or high impedance connection. Typical materials
are nichrome and polysilicon. This element is inherently radiation-hardened.
- GaAs
- Gallium Arsnide, a semiconductor compound of
gallium and arsenic used for the fabrication of semiconductor
devices.
- Green
- Components free of halides, bromide, chlorine,
antimony, phosphorus, tributyltin oxide (TBTO)
- Heat sink/Heat spreader
- A heat-conductive metal form attached to a device
package to transmit heat away from the source.
- Hermetic
- A condition of seal between the device cavity
and the outside environment.
- Hermetic seal
- A coat applied in the final stage of thermal
processing to seal the ceramic package and to protect the device
from the external environment.
- IC
- Integrated circuit. A single chip of silicon
duplicates a semiconductor device where the function of a circuit
is composed of many components such as transistors, resistors,
capacitors, etc.
- J-Lead
- An integrated circuit package lead configuration
that in cross-section resembles the letter J.
- JTAG
- Joint Test Action Group, set of specifications
that enables board and functional verification.
- JEDEC
- Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council,
an international organization that establishes industry standards
for IC manufacturers.
- Junction temperature (TJ)
- The temperature of the semiconductor junction,
where the major part of the heat is generated, when measuring
the thermal resistance of semiconductor device packages. The
measured junction temperature is indicative only of the temperature
in the immediate vicinity of the element used to measure the
temperature. Junction temperature is measured in degrees Celsius.
- Lead coplanarity
- In the manufacture of molded plastic packages,
the vertical position of a lead foot with respect to a reference
plane that is created by the three leads with feet most extended
from the bottom surface of the package body.
- Leadframe
- Sheet metal framework upon which an integrated
circuit is attached, wirebonded, and transfer molded with epoxy.
- MSL
- Moisture Sensitivity Level, a level assigned
a device family derived from testing that indicates that device's
ability to accept exposure to moisture without failure during
manufacturing.
- MTBF
- Mean Time Between Failures, a measure of device
reliability expressed in hours.
- MTTF
- Mean Time To Failure, a measure of device reliability
expressed in hours typically used to measure the time to initial
failure.
- N
- Nitrogen, a gaseous element
- Ni
- Nickel, a metallic element
- Nonvolatile
- Describes a memory element that keeps its contents/configuration
state when power is removed from the device. The element may
be one-time-programmable or "reprogrammable."
- One-Time Programmable
- (OTP) This device can be programmed only once;
it's contents cannot be changed. Typically these devices are
fuse or antifuse based.
- Package
- A container for a die (often plastic or ceramic)
that provides protection and connection to the next higher level
of integration.
- Passivation
- Deposition of a scratch-resistant material, such
as silicon nitride and/or silicon dioxide, to prevent deterioration
of electronic properties caused by water, ions, and other external
contaminants. The final deposition layer in processing.
- PCB
- Printed Circuit Board
- Pb
- Lead, a heavy, soft, bluish-gray, metallic element
used in solder compositions and other alloys.
- PBGA
- Plastic Ball Grid Array
- Pd
- Palladium, a metallic element resembling platinum.
- PLCC
- Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier, A package with J-leads
on all sides.
- PLD
- Programmable Logic Device, IC that can be programmed
to perform a variety of logical operations, a network of programmable
electronic gates used to create a custom logic circuit.
- Polyamide
- Typically used as passivation on the die surface.
- Popcorn
- May be electrically detected as an open or intermittent
contact. Visual defects may not be obvious, but may include cracked
package, missing package material, bulging or deformed package.
- Power dissipation
- The heating power applied to the device to cause
a junction to specified reference point temperature difference,
used in the measurement of the thermal resistance of semiconductor
devices.
- PQFP
- Plastic Quad Flat Pack
- Printed Circuit Board (PCB)
- A composite of organic and inorganic material,
with external and internal conducting or low-resistivity paths
that allow mechanical support and electrical connection of components.
- QFN
- Quad Flat No-lead, term for surface mount technology
flat packages with no-leads on the sides of the packages.
- QFP
- Quad Flat Pack, generic term for surface mount
technology flat packages with leads on four sides.
- Reflow
- The process of creating the solder interconnection
from the component to the PCB.
- Reliability
- The reliability of a device or package is the
probability that it will adequately perform its specified purpose
for a specified period of time under specified environmental
conditions.
- Reprogrammable
- These devices can have their configuration loaded
more than once. SRAM-based devices may be reloaded without restriction.
Many other forms of reprogrammable elements have restrictions
on the number of write cycles, although they are high enough
not to be of practical concern for most applications.
- RoHS
-
Reduction of Hazardous Substances, Directive issued by the
European Union to reduce the use of 6 hazardous substances.
- Lead and its compounds
- Mercury and its compounds
- Cadmium and its compounds
- Hexavalent Chromium and its compounds
- PBB (polybromobiphenyl)
- PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ethers)
- RQFP
- Power Plastic Quad Flat Pack
- Sn
- Tin, a metallic element
- SiN
- Silicon Nitride, typically used as passivation
on the die surface.
- SRAM
- Static RAM. SRAM is used for the cache memory
and registers in computer systems. SRAM typically requires four
or six transistors per bit.
- Temperature cycling
- A stress test in which components are repeatedly
exposed to extreme heat and cold.
- Tie bars
- The metal bars that hold the die attach pad of
a leadframe to the rails of the leadframe. After molding, these
connections to the rails are trimmed away.
- TiN
- Titanium Nitride
- Tin whisker
- A hair-like single crystal growth formed on the
metal surface.
- TQFP
- Thin (1.4 mm) Plastic Quad Flat Pack
- Voids
- Over etch defect.
- Vacuum wand
- A tool that uses suction on the back of an individual
wafer or package device to pick up the wafer or device.
- VQFP
- Very Thin (1.0 mm) Plastic Quad Flat Pack
- Wafer
- A thin slice with parallel faces cut from a semiconductor
crystal.
- Wave soldering
- A technique for solder application and reflow
in which a wave of liquid solder is directed onto the underside
of a printed circuit board to solder the components.
