From: John Fields on
On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 11:44:51 -0700, "William Sommerwerck"
<grizzledgeezer(a)comcast.net> wrote:

>>> Correct. The original writer was probably confused by the
>>> fact that the materials ceramic ICs are made of can contain
>>> radioactive materials that can cause errors.
>
>> No, the alphas from lead are a real problem. Ten years ago, there were
>> folks going round to churches with lead roofs, offering them a new lead
>> roof in exchange for their old--and now low-alpha--lead ones.
>
>But where is the lead /within/ ICs? (The wires are bonded, not soldered.)
>Alpha particles have poor penetrating power.

---
In the lead frame? ;)

From: Phil Hobbs on
William Sommerwerck wrote:
>>> Correct. The original writer was probably confused by the
>>> fact that the materials ceramic ICs are made of can contain
>>> radioactive materials that can cause errors.
>
>> No, the alphas from lead are a real problem. Ten years ago, there were
>> folks going round to churches with lead roofs, offering them a new lead
>> roof in exchange for their old--and now low-alpha--lead ones.
>
> But where is the lead /within/ ICs? (The wires are bonded, not soldered.)
> Alpha particles have poor penetrating power.
>
>

Only a problem with flip-chip (C4) bonding. At one point I worked in
the packaging research group at IBM Yorktown lab (no, I'm not a
packaging guy--it's a long story).


Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal
ElectroOptical Innovations
55 Orchard Rd
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058
hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net
From: krw on
On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:47:15 -0400, Phil Hobbs
<pcdhSpamMeSenseless(a)electrooptical.net> wrote:

>William Sommerwerck wrote:
>>>> Correct. The original writer was probably confused by the
>>>> fact that the materials ceramic ICs are made of can contain
>>>> radioactive materials that can cause errors.
>>
>>> No, the alphas from lead are a real problem. Ten years ago, there were
>>> folks going round to churches with lead roofs, offering them a new lead
>>> roof in exchange for their old--and now low-alpha--lead ones.
>>
>> But where is the lead /within/ ICs? (The wires are bonded, not soldered.)
>> Alpha particles have poor penetrating power.
>>
>>
>
>Only a problem with flip-chip (C4) bonding. At one point I worked in
>the packaging research group at IBM Yorktown lab (no, I'm not a
>packaging guy--it's a long story).

The C4 balls were lead-indium, IIRC.
From: Phil Hobbs on
krw(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz wrote:
> On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:47:15 -0400, Phil Hobbs
> <pcdhSpamMeSenseless(a)electrooptical.net> wrote:
>
>> William Sommerwerck wrote:
>>>>> Correct. The original writer was probably confused by the
>>>>> fact that the materials ceramic ICs are made of can contain
>>>>> radioactive materials that can cause errors.
>>>> No, the alphas from lead are a real problem. Ten years ago, there were
>>>> folks going round to churches with lead roofs, offering them a new lead
>>>> roof in exchange for their old--and now low-alpha--lead ones.
>>> But where is the lead /within/ ICs? (The wires are bonded, not soldered.)
>>> Alpha particles have poor penetrating power.
>>>
>>>
>> Only a problem with flip-chip (C4) bonding. At one point I worked in
>> the packaging research group at IBM Yorktown lab (no, I'm not a
>> packaging guy--it's a long story).
>
> The C4 balls were lead-indium, IIRC.


Lead-tin eutectic in my era (1987-2008), followed by gold-tin currently,
IIRC.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal
ElectroOptical Innovations
55 Orchard Rd
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058
hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net
From: krw on
On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 20:32:22 -0400, Phil Hobbs
<pcdhSpamMeSenseless(a)electrooptical.net> wrote:

>krw(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz wrote:
>> On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:47:15 -0400, Phil Hobbs
>> <pcdhSpamMeSenseless(a)electrooptical.net> wrote:
>>
>>> William Sommerwerck wrote:
>>>>>> Correct. The original writer was probably confused by the
>>>>>> fact that the materials ceramic ICs are made of can contain
>>>>>> radioactive materials that can cause errors.
>>>>> No, the alphas from lead are a real problem. Ten years ago, there were
>>>>> folks going round to churches with lead roofs, offering them a new lead
>>>>> roof in exchange for their old--and now low-alpha--lead ones.
>>>> But where is the lead /within/ ICs? (The wires are bonded, not soldered.)
>>>> Alpha particles have poor penetrating power.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Only a problem with flip-chip (C4) bonding. At one point I worked in
>>> the packaging research group at IBM Yorktown lab (no, I'm not a
>>> packaging guy--it's a long story).
>>
>> The C4 balls were lead-indium, IIRC.
>
>
>Lead-tin eutectic in my era (1987-2008), followed by gold-tin currently,
>IIRC.

The last time I dealt with any of this was in the mid '70s. Before TCMs, even
(LEMs). I'm pretty sure they were lead-indium, but there may have been tin in
there too. There was also an issue of polonium contamination causing
uncorrectable L1 errors, but that's a completely different issue.