MORRISVILLE, NC — iNEMI has released three additional chapters from its 2019 Roadmap. The Ceramic Interconnect & Photovoltaics, Connectors, and Passive Components chapters are now available online, along with 13 additional chapters already published.

The Ceramic Interconnect & Photovoltaics chapter provides an update on several ceramic interconnect technologies, such as thick film, high- and low-temperature co-fired, thin film, pure copper metallization on ceramic, and lead-free thick film. It provides direction on industry and technology needs, including design tool, material and processing developments and cost-reduction opportunities to address future market expectations in terms of performance and cost. Innovative ceramic interconnection substrate technology is a key enabling technology for mobile device applications, future networks (e.g., 5G), and IoT devices and applications. In addition, the chapter updates on the status of the photovoltaic industry and includes a section covering crystalline silicon solar cell design, fabrication and testing.

The Connectors chapter provides comprehensive information about electronic connectors. This chapter includes an overview of the current situation, as well as projected technology enhancements and challenges over the 10-year roadmap horizon. It presents business, component, and substrate trends, and the impact of these trends on the manufacturing processes for surface mount, part placement, wave and selective soldering, press-fit and rework/repair.

The Passive Components chapter discusses technology needs and recommendations for capacitors, resistors, magnetics and circuit protection components, which are the highest volume passive components in electronic devices. They support power management, signal conditioning, and protection of active devices. This chapter, developed in collaboration with the ECIA, presents four areas of common cross-cut requirements: 1) environmental compliance with rapidly changing regulatory requirements, 2) component sensitivity to board mount conditions, 3) increased customer sensitivity to non-graceful failure modes of components, and 4) issues with counterfeit components. It also focuses on the specific needs for passives components in key markets such as automotive, medical and high-end systems.

The 2019 Roadmap is available at https://www.inemi.org/2019-roadmap-overview.