Joseph Fjelstad, Reza Ghaffarian and Young-Gon Kim
Published by Electrochemical Publications

Although John Lau authored a title covering chip scale packages (CSPs) in some detail, this is only the second book to deal exclusively with the issues associated with CSPs. The book is a logical progression from the authors' successful introduction of ball grid arrays (BGAs).

I have known Joe Fjelstad for a number of years and look forward to meeting the other contributing authors. The content of the book is strong and timely, but it is a pity that the publisher takes so long to bring books to the marketplace.

Although many textbooks lack good illustrations, this one is full of excellent illustrations and photography. Fjelstad obviously spent a fair bit of time on his computer drawing the graphics, with great results.

Eighteen chapters and a total of 430 pages cover each aspect of CSP technology, including componentry, design, assembly inspection and quality control. The book combines the practical with theory, making it interesting for many different engineering disciplines.

The chapter on the birth of CSP is well written by Young Gon Kim of Tessera, who most would acknowledge as the CSP technology innovators. Reading about the innovations used to produce Tessera's technology and the manufacturing challenges they faced is interesting. Many subtle issues in the design and manufacture of CSPs are now taken for granted.

Some well-known industry gurus have also contributed to the text. The likes of Gilleo, Solberg, Vardaman and Ghaffarian are featured, along with many component producers relating the developments of their package innovations.