Role of polyimides and insulators in the design of microelectronic devices

The ever increasing trend towards higher materials costs in all industrial operations has made it mandatory to find or develop lower-cost, technically acceptable and easily processable materials to replace conventionally used materials. With this objective in mind, an attempt is made to analyze effects of various phenomena and parameters on insulation systems to solve for 2-dimensional electromagnetic and electrostatic problems specifying the appropriate geometry, material properties and excitations for a device or system of devices. The properties required for an insulating layer are satisfied by the capability of polyimides specially in semiconductor applications. The application areas of polyimides and commercially available polyimides are dealt with in this paper. Comparison of field plots towards material selection is also described.