The advent of multichip modules (MCMs) is revolutionizing the ways in which electronic systems and equipment are designed, tested and manufactured. This evolving technology for packaging printed circuit boards (PCBs) is commanding both interest and excitement.

Far from being the passive containers for semiconductor devices of the past, the packages in today's high performance computers pose numerous challenges in interconnecting, powering, cooling and protecting devices. While semiconductor circuit performance measured in picoseconds continues to improve, computer performance is expected to be in nanoseconds for the rest of this century -a factor of 1000 difference between on-chip and off-chip performance which is attributable to losses associated with the package. Thus the package, which interconnects all the chips to form a particular function such as a central processor, is likely to set the limits on how far computers can evolve. Multichip packaging, which can relax these limits and also improve the reliability and cost at the systems level, is expected to be the basis of all advanced computers in the future. In addition, since this technology allows chips to be spaced more closely, in less space and with less weight, it has the added advantage of being useful in portable consumer electronics as well as in medical, aerospace, automotive and telecommunications products. The multichip technologies with which these applications can be addressed are many. They range from ceramics to polymer-metal thin films to printed wiring boards for interconnections; flip chip, TAB or wire bond for chip-to-substrate connections; and air or water cooling for the removal of heat.

Conceptual Design of Multichip Modules and Systems treats activities which take place at the conceptual and specification level of the design of complex multichip systems. These activities include the formalization of design knowledge (information modeling), tradeoff analysis, partitioning, and decision process capture. All of these functions occur prior to the traditional CAD activities of synthesis and physical design. Inherent in the design of electronic modules are tradeoffs which must be understood before feasible technology, material, process, and partitioning choices can be selected. The lack of a complete set of technology information is an especially serious problem in the packaging and interconnect field since the number of technologies, process, and materials is substantial and selecting optimums is arduous and non-trivial if one truly wants a balance in cost and performance. Numerous tradeoff and design decisions have to be made intelligently and quickly at the beginning of the design cycle before physical design work begins. These critical decisions, made within the first 10% of the total design cycle, ultimately define up to 80% of the final product cost. Conceptual Design of Multichip Modules and Systems lays the groundwork for concurrent estimation level analysis including size, routing, electrical performance, thermal performance, cost, reliability, manufacturability, and testing. It will be useful both as a reference for system designers and as a text for those wishing to gain a perspective on the nature of packaging and interconnect design, concurrent engineering, computer-aided design, and system synthesis.

MCMs today consist of complex and dense VLSI devices mounted into packages that allow little physical access to internal nodes. The complexity and cost associated with their test and diagnosis are major obstacles to their use. Multi-Chip Module Test Strategies presents state-of-the-art test strategies for MCMs. This volume of original research is designed for engineers interested in practical implementations of MCM test solutions and for designers looking for leading edge test and design-for-testability solutions for their next designs. Multi-Chip Module Test Strategies consists of eight contributions by leading researchers. It is designed to provide a comprehensive and well-balanced coverage of the MCM test domain. Multi-Chip Module Test Strategies has also been published as a special issue of the Journal of Electronic Testing: Theory and Applications (JETTA, Volume 10, Numbers 1 and 2).

Advanced Array Systems, Applications and RF Technologies adopts a holistic view of arrays used in radar, electronic warfare, communications, remote sensing and radioastronomy. Radio frequency (RF) and intermediate frequency (IF) signal processing is assuming a fundamental importance, owing to its increasing ability to multiply a system's capabilities in a cost-effective manner. This book comprehensively covers the important front-end RF subsystems of active phased arrays, so offering array designers new and exciting opportunities in signal processing. - Provides an up to date record of existing systems from different applications - Explores array systems under development - Bridges the gap between textbook coverage of idealized phased arrays and practical knowledge of working phased arrays - Recognises the significance of cost to the realization of phased arrays - Discusses future advances in the field that promise to deliver even more affordable arrays ['intelligent' or self-focussing/-cohering arrays]

Physical Design for Multichip Modules collects together a large body of important research work that has been conducted in recent years in the area of Multichip Module (MCM) design. The material consists of a survey of published results as well as original work by the authors. All major aspects of MCM physical design are discussed, including interconnect analysis and modeling, system partitioning and placement, and multilayer routing. For readers unfamiliar with MCMs, this book presents an overview of the different MCM technologies available today. An in-depth discussion of various recent approaches to interconnect analysis are also presented. Remaining chapters discuss the problems of partitioning, placement, and multilayer routing, with an emphasis on timing performance. For the first time, data from a wide range of sources is integrated to present a clear picture of a new, challenging and very important research area. For students and researchers looking for interesting research topics, open problems and suggestions for further research are clearly stated. Points of interest include : Clear overview of MCM technology and its relationship to physical design; Emphasis on performance-driven design, with a chapter devoted to recent techniques for rapid performance analysis and modeling of MCM interconnects; Different approaches to multilayer MCM routing collected together and compared for the first time; Explanation of algorithms is not overly mathematical, yet is detailed enough to give readers a clear understanding of the approach; Quantitative data provided wherever possible for comparison of different approaches; A comprehensive list of references to recent literature on MCMs provided.

Computing systems researchers confront two serious problems. (1) The increasingly monolithic, or pseudo-monolithic, integration of complex com puting functions and systems imposes an environment which integrates ad vanced principles and techniques from a broad variety of fields. Researchers not only must confront the increased complexity of topics in their specialty field but also must develop a deeper general understanding of a broadening number of fields. (2) There has been a proliferation of journals, books, workshops and conferences through which research results are reported. Remaining familiar with recent advances in our specific fields is a major challenge. Casually browsing through journals and conference proceedings to remain aware of developments in areas outside our specialization has become an even greater challenge. Frontiers of Computing Systems Research has been established to ad dress these two issues. With the assistance of an advisory board of experts from a wide variety of specialized areas, we hope to provide roughly annual volumes of invited chapters on a broad range of topics and designed for an interdisciplinary research audience. No single volume can cover all the rel evant topics and no single article can convey the full set of directions being pursued within a given topic. For this reason, a chapter listing technical reports available from universities is also included. Often, such unpub lished reports are designed for a general research audience and provide a good, informal look at trends in specialized research topics.

Lists citations with abstracts for aerospace related reports obtained from world wide sources and announces documents that have recently been entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database.

The general understanding of design is that it should lead to a manufacturable product. Neither the design nor the process of manufacturing is perfect. As a result, the product will be faulty, will require testing and fixing. Where does economics enter this scenario? Consider the cost of testing and fixing the product. If a manufactured product is grossly faulty, or too many of the products are faulty, the cost of testing and fixing will be high. Suppose we do not like that. We then ask what is the cause of the faulty product. There must be something wrong in the manufacturing process. We trace this cause and fix it. Suppose we fix all possible causes and have no defective products. We would have eliminated the need for testing. Unfortunately, things are not so perfect. There is a cost involved with finding and eliminating the causes of faults. We thus have two costs: the cost of testing and fixing (we will call it cost-1), and the cost of finding and eliminating causes of faults (call it cost-2). Both costs, in some way, are included in the overall cost of the product. If we try to eliminate cost-1, cost-2 goes up, and vice versa. An economic system of production will minimize the overall cost of the product. Economics of Electronic Design, Manufacture and Test is a collection of research contributions derived from the Second Workshop on Economics of Design, Manufacture and Test, written for inclusion in this book.