Polymer Thick Film:

Today's Emerging Technology for a Clean Environment Tomorrow

Ken Gilleo, Alpha Metals Inc, Jersey City, New Jersey

Polymer Thick Film (PTF) technology represents an intrinsically clean, profoundly simple, and remarkably logical approach to producing circuitry and creating electrical interconnects. PTF is a technology wherein electronic polymers are selectiveely applied to a substrate or existing circuit to produce the desired electrical / electronic characteristics or to create electromechanical junctions. ALthough the concept of using polymers for electronics is even older than polymer chemistry itself, Polymer Electronics is a young, emerging technology which has traveled only a short distance along its learning curve. Is PTF the solution for today's printed circuit limitations and the ever-increasing environmental problems?

Ken Gilleo's Polymer Thick Film provides you with all the essential concepts, process descriptions, performance data, and general information you will need to reach your own conclusions. The focus will be on Polymer Thick Film's major subsets, which include conductive inks, printed resistors, dielectric fils or pastes, and polymer assembly material. Simply by printing them, PTF can be used to make simple electronic components and high density interconnects via a cleaner manufacturing process andprovides lower cost methods for connecting components and subassemblies.

Considerable effort has gone into describing and discussing the unique materials used in PTF and the surprisingly simple processes for transforming them into reliable electronic products. The reader will find that complete electronic products can be manufactured without etching, soldering, or even the use of water. The author also shows how PTF can be used with existing subtractive copper, ceramic hybrid, and thin film technologies to achieve a high level of synergy.

With chapters on such important technologies as printed resistors and a component assembly that is completely free of hazardous lead solder and ozone-depleting CFC's, Gilleo provides ample evidence that PTF technology offers the safe and friendly building blocks for electronic manufacturing that reduce waste, cost, and dangers to workers, consumers, and the earth itself.

Whether you are an electronic designer, circuit manufacturer, or a student in electronics packaging, Polymer Thick Film will be a valuable addition to the bookshelf of thosse involved in the exciting field of polymer electronnics.

Contents: Introduction; Materials; Construction schemes and strategies; Membrane switch; Printed circuits; Printed components; Resistors; Manufacturing; Assembly; General design guidelines; Testing performance and reliability; Applications and case histories; PTF advantages and limitations; The economics of PTF; The future of PTF; PTF and the environment; Glossary and Appendix

1995: 6 x 9: 421pp: 45 halftones, 45 line drawings
Hardback: 0-442-01220-9: $69.95

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