Laser processing for electronic circuit restructuring

The Center for Microelectronics Research (CMR) at the University of South Florida has pursued the development of high density interconnect technologies for advanced electronic systems. Primary focus has been in the area of Laser created interconnects for quick-turn around prototyping of electronic circuits fabricated using standard Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) process techniques. The Laser Restructuring of a specific application circuitry at the wafer or packaged chip level is accomplished by creating low electrical resistance links between conductors and cutting conductor lines using an integrated computer controlled Laser system. Laser restructuring of generic electronic circuits, is an excellent technique for low-cost, quick turn around custom programmed circuits. A great effort was put into developing an infrastructure within the Laboratory that will conduct state of the art research while keeping manufacturing capabilities for rapid turn around of restructured circuitry using optimized process parameters. Total system control, flexibility, high data quality, and full documentation are examples of this R&D developed environment. Using Design of Experiment techniques and statistical data analysis, Laser created interconnects were studied. Optimum process parameters were obtained using this methodology. The complete process development will be presented at the conference including among others the design and software development of a stand alone interconnect controller (ICON), testing procedure for packaged, and the statistical data analysis for generating the optimum process parameter.