Electronic and Electro-Optical Packaging at APL: Guest Editor's Introduction

Imagine a billion transistors on a piece of silicon the size of a thumbnail connected to an electronic system with gold wires several times finer than a human hair-each shaped and precisely placed in fractions of a second. Further imagine that such operations are repeated over 10 billion times daily around the world! In addition, consider that new semiconductor devices can operate at temperatures approaching 1000 C. Also, there are other single devices that can switch, emit light, change carrier type, and oscillate all under external electronic control. Such is the modern world of electronics and electro-optics: a world faced with huge promise and major challenges, especially in the packaging arena.