1996 Electronics Industry Environmental Roadmap - Civil and ...

Appendix A
NEMI Photonics
Critical for communications applications; enabler for NII
Key environmental issue is the reliance on III/IV materials
Ceramic Packaging
Developments in components and subsystem assembly (i.e., lead-free
solders) should be immediately applicable)
Significant need for equipment and test procedures
The major driver is cost reduction, including labor, materials, and
capital equipment. Semiconductor process yield improvement,
especially in high performance devices, is important. Other key issues
are evolution of semiconductor devices to integrated functionality in
order to reduce the number of parts and the associated precision
assembly for fiber coupling; application of CAD at the semiconductor
and package design level.
With respect to environmental concerns, photonics manufacturing
differs from conventional electronics manufacturing primarily in the
area of reliance of III-V semiconductor materials and devices. These
materials systems are significantly more exotic and of more concern
than silicon-based devices. Technology development in the materials
growth and processing area will be of primary importance in
minimizing the environmental manufacturing impact. Component and
sub-system assembly are essentially equivalent to the analogous
operations in electronics manufacturing, and developments there (e.g.,
substitutes for lead and solders) should be immediately applicable to
photonics manufacturing.
The consistent trend in electronics technology is for increasing
integration of systems and to a chips or even a single chip, with all the
functionality and the value-added provided by the component chips.
Recent examples include the cellular phone, which in the 1970s
required over 120 chips and presently requires less than 50; the
modem, which in the mid-1980s required over 20 chips and now
requires only a single chip; and the personal computer which once
required nearly 80 ICs and now requires less than 20 – all of which
provide higher functionality at a lower cost because of this increasing
integration.
IPC
137