• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2014

A differential-cascode CMOS power amplifier (PA) with a supply modulator for envelope tracking (ET) has been implemented by 0.18 ${\mu}m$ RF CMOS technology. The loss at the output is minimized by implementing the output transformer on a FR-4 printed circuit board (PCB). The CMOS PA utilizes the $2^{nd}$ harmonic short at the input to enhance the linearity. The measurement was done by the 10MHz bandwidth 16QAM 6.88 dB peak-to-average power ratio long-term evolution (LTE) signal at 1.85 GHz. The ET operation of the CMOS PA with the supply modulator enhances the power-added efficiency (PAE) by 2.5, to 10% over the stand-alone CMOS PA for the LTE signal. The ET PA achieves a PAE of 36.5% and an $ACLR_{E-UTRA}$ of -32.7 dBc at an average output power of 27 dBm.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.337-343
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• 2009

In this study, we optimized Pb-free Sn/Ni plating thickness and conditions were optimized to counteract the environmental regulations, such as RoHS and ELV(End-of Life Vehicles). The $B_{10}$ life verification method was also suggested to have been successful when used with the accelerated life test(ALT) for assessing Pb-free solder joint life of piezoelectric (PZT) ceramic resonator. In order to evaluate the solder joint life, a modified Norris-Landzberg equation and a Coffin-Manson equation were utilized. Test vehicles that were composed of 2520 PZT ceramic resonator on FR-4 PCB with Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu for ALT were manufactured as well. Thermal shock test was conducted with 1,500 cycles from $(-40{\pm}2)^{\circ}C$ to $(120{\pm}2)^{\circ}C$, and 30 minutes dwell time at each temperature, respectively. It was discovered that the thermal shock test is a very useful method in introducing the CTE mismatch caused by thermo-mechanical stress at the solder joints. The resonance frequency of test components was measured and observed the microsection views were also observed to confirm the crack generation of the solder joints.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.1031-1041
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• 2009

A small microstrip monopole antenna for macro-micro frequency tuning over multiple bands is presented. The meander-shape antenna is fabricated on a conventional printed circuit board(FR-4, $\varepsilon_r=4.4$ and tan $\delta=0.02$). The antenna operates over WiBro(2.3~2.4 GHz) and WLAN a/b(2.4~2.5 GHz/5.15~5.35 GHz) service bands with an essentially constant antenna gain within each service band. Two diodes, a PIN diode and a varactor, are embedded into the antenna for frequency reconfiguration. The PIN diode is used for frequency switching(macro-tuning) between 2 GHz and 5 GHz bands while the varactor is used for frequency tuning(micro-tuning) within the service bands, 2.3~2.5 GHz and 5.15~5.35 GHz. Unwanted resonances between the two frequency bands(2 GHz and 5 GHz) are suppressed by filling up the gaps between the meander lines. The antenna gain is essentially constant and higher than 2 dBi within each service band. The measured performance of the proposed antenna system suggests the macro-micro frequency tuning techniques be useful in reconfigurable wireless communication systems.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.521-530
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• 1993

According to the Montreal Protocol, CFC 113, one of the ozone-depleting substances, will be prohibited to use as a cleaning solvent essentially in the electronic industry. Therefore, the development of the alternative cleaning solvents to CFC 113 is being accelerated. A number of the alternative cleaning solvents are avialable on the market. The alternatives of Axarel 32(DuPont), Cleanthru 750H(KAO Chemical), and EC-Ultra(Petroferm) are chosen for the comparison of cleaning performance with CFC 113. The test methods for measuring the cleaning performance were composed of the measurement of the physical properties, the experiments on the material compatibility with cleaning solvents, the measurement of the evaporation rate, and finally the experiments of the removal efficiency. Normally the basic physical properties of the alternatives had higher boiling points, viscosity and surface tension, which were quite different to those of CFC 113. In terms of solubility of rosin-based flux, the solubilities of abietic acid (nonpolar organic) were similar, but those of the activator (polar organic) in the alternatives were better than CFC 113. The evaporation of the alternatives was very slow, compared to CFC 113, which had much lower boiling point. All the cleaning solvents showed the good material compatibility with FR4 and Cu-coated PCB. The better removal efficiencies of abietic acid were obtained when using the ultrasonic mechanical energy over the dipping method. The experiments also indicated the very slow-eavaporating solvent was not desirable with the dipping cleaning method, and the differences in the removal efficiency of the alternatives with the ultrasonic cleaning method were negligible. Among the alternatives, the overall cleaning performances were obsorved as almost similar. Before selecting the ultimate cleaning solvent, the application of cleaning machine, environmental issues, and economics are simultaneously considered with the cleaning performance.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.383-390
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• 2020

Wedge locks have been widely used for spaceborne electronics for mounting or removal of a printed circuit board (PCB) during integration, test and maintenance process. However, it can basically provide a mechanical constraint on the edge of the board. Thus, securing a fatigue life of solder joint for electronic package by limiting board deflection becomes difficult as the board size increases. Previously, additional stiffeners have been applied to reduce the board deflection, but the mass and volume increases of electronics are unavoidable. To overcome the aforementioned limitation, we proposed an application of multi-layered PCB sheet with viscoelastic adhesive tapes to implement high-damping capability on the board. Thus, it is more advantageous in securing the fatigue life of package under launch environment compared with the previous approach. The basic characteristics of the PCB with the multi-layered sheet was investigated through free-vibration tests at various temperatures. The effectiveness of the proposed design was validated through launch vibration test at qualification level and fatigue life prediction of electronic package based on the test results.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.49 no.9
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• pp.244-250
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• 2012

This paper describes a 4-Gb/s receiver circuit for a low-swing ground-referenced differential signaling system. The receiver employs a common-gate level-shifter and a continuous linear equalizer which compensates inter-symbol-interference (ISI) and improves voltage and timing margins. A bias circuit maintains the bias current of the level-shifter when the common level of the input signal changes. The receiver is implemented with a low-power 65-nm CMOS technology. When 4-Gb/s 400mVp-p signals are transmitted to the receiver through the channel with the attenuation of -19.7dB, the timing margin based on bit error rate (BER) of $10^{-11}$ is 0.48UI and the power consumption is as low as 0.30mW/Gb/s.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.55-61
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• 2022

In this study, properties of Pb-free solder joints which were combined using Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC305) Pb-free solder with a mid-temperature type of melting temperature and Sn-57Bi-1Ag Pb-free solder with a low-temperature type of melting temperature were reported. Combined Pb-free solder joints were formed by reflow soldering processes with ball grid array (BGA) packages which have SAC305 solder balls and flame retardant-4 (FR-4) printed circuit boards (PCBs) which printed Sn-57Bi-1Ag solder paste. The reflow soldering processes were performed with two types of temperature profiles and interfacial properties of combined Pb-free solder joints such as interfacial reactions, formations of intermetallic compounds (IMCs), diffusion mechanisms of Bi, and so on were analyzed with the reflow process conditions. In order to compare reliability characteristics of combined Pb-free solder joints, we also conducted thermal shock test and analyzed changes of mechanical properties for joints from a shear test during the thermal shock test.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.82-88
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• 2007

Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu lead fee solder was generally utilized in electronics assemblies. But it is insufficient to research about activation energy(Q) that is applying to evaluate the solder joint reliability of environmental friendly electronics assemblies. Therefore this study investigated Q values which are needed to IMC formation and growth of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Cu and Sn-40pb/Cu solder joints during aging treatment. We bonded Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu and Sn-40Pb solders on FR-4 PCB with Cu pad$(t=80{\mu}m)$. After reflow soldering, to observe the IMC formation and growth of the solder joints, test specimens were aged at 70, 150 and $170^{\circ}C$ for 1, 2, 5, 20, 60, 240, 960, 15840, 28800 and 43200 min, respectively. SEM and EDS were utilized to analysis the IMCS. From these results, we measured the total IMC$(Cu_6Sn_5+Cu_3Sn)$ thickness of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Cu and Sn-40Pb/Cu interface, and then obtained Q values for the IMC$(Cu_6Sn_5,\;Cu_3Sn)$ growth of the solder joints.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.421-421
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• 2008

Generally, the polymer thick-film resistors for embedded organic or hybrid substrate are patterned by screen printing so that the accuracy of resistor pattern is not good and the tolerance of resistance is too high(${\pm}$20~30%). To reform these demerits, a method using Fodel$^{(R)}$ technology, which is the patterning method using a photosensitive resin to be developable by aqueous alkali-solution as a base polymer for thick-film pastes, was recently incorporated for the patterning of thermosetting thick-film resistor paste. Alkali-solution developable photosensitive resin system has a merit that the precise patterns can be obtained by UV exposure and aqueous development, so the essential point is to get the composition similar to PSR(photo solder resist) used for PCB process. In present research, we made the photopatternable resistor pastes using 8 kinds of epoxy acrylates and a conductive carbonblack (CDX-7055 Ultra), evaluated their developing performance, and then measured the resistance after final curing. To become developable by alkali-solution, epoxy acrylate oligomers with carboxyl group were prepared. Test coupons were fabricated by patterning copper foil on FR-4 CCL board, plating Ni/Au on the patterned copper electrode, applying the resistor paste on the board, exposing the applied paste to UV through Cr mask with resistor patterns, developing the exposed paste with aqueous alkali-solution (1wt% $Na_2CO_3$), drying the patterned paste at $80^{\circ}C$ oven, and then curing it at $200^{\circ}C$ during 1 hour. As a result, some test compositions couldn't be developed according to the kind of oligomer and, in the developed compositions, the measured resistance showed different results depending on the paste compositions though they had the same amount of carbonblack.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.152-159
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• 2007

When the electronics are tested with thermal shock for Pb-free solder joint reliability, there are temperature conditions with use environment but number of cycles for test don't clearly exist. To obtain the long term reliability data, electronic companies have spent the cost and times. Therefore this studies show the test method and number of thermal shock cycles for evaluating the solder joint reliability of electronic components and also research bonding strength variation with formation and growth of intermetallic compounds (IMC). SMD (surface mount device) 3216 chip resistor and 44 pin QFP (quad flat package) was utilized for experiments and each components were soldered with Sn-40Pb and Sn-3.0 Ag-0.5 Cu solder on the FR-4 PCB(printed circuit board) using by reflow soldering process. To reliability evaluation, thermal shock test was conducted between $-40^{\circ}C\;and\;+125^{\circ}C$ for 2,000 cycles, 10 minute dwell time, respectively. Also we analyzed the IMCs of solder joint using by SEM and EDX. To compare with bonding strength, resistor and QFP were tested shear strength and $45^{\circ}$ lead pull strength, respectively. From these results, optimized number of cycles was proposed with variation of bonding strength under thermal shock.