Develop new materials and technology needed to allow existing integrated-circuit fabrication facilities using conventional surface mount technology to handle new "direct chip attach" components, enabling more efficient production of these high-performance devices.

Requested ATP funds: $4,190 K
Est. project budget: $8,684 K
Announced: October 1998

Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
MicroModule Systems (Cupertino, CA)

Develop a new breakthough technology based on lithographically formed "micro springs" for high-density, high-reliability interconnects for semiconductor devices, relieving manufacturing bottlenecks in both testing and packaging.

Requested ATP funds: $4,933 K
Est. project budget: $9,896 K
Announced: October 1998

Develop new technologies for focused-ion beam systems, a critical tool in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, to replace today's gallium-ion beams that are nearing the limits of effectiveness as semiconductor devices continue to shrink.

Requested ATP funds: $1,582 K
Est. project budget: $2,309 K
Announced: October 1998

Membrane Probes for Wafer, Package, and Substrate Testing
Cascade Microtech, Inc., Beaverton, OR

Design and demonstrate large-area membrane probes for massively parallel testing of integrated-circuit wafers and other electronic assemblies requiring dense arrays of contact probes, substantially reducing the costs of testing ICs, chip-scale packages and high-density interconnect substrates, while enhancing the high-frequency capabilities of parallel testing and increasing product yields.

Requested ATP funds: $1,997 K
Est. project budget: $5,366 K
Announced: October 1998

Develop a high-current gas-cluster ion-beam technology suitable for use in high-yield manufacturing lines, enabling the reliable production of ultrathin films with precise compositions and very low contamination levels, for next-generation semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

Requested ATP funds: $2,000 K
Est. project budget: $4,137 K
Announced: October 1998

Develop new thermoplastic underfill materials for "flip-chip" and other advanced integrated-circuit packaging techniques to expand the underfill chemistry beyond today's epoxy materials, enabling much of the processing to be performed at the wafer stage, for greater efficiency and control.

Requested ATP funds: $2,852 K
Est. project budget: $5,761 K
Announced: October 1998

Develop and test new high-performance integrated-circuit insulation materials based on nanoporous polymeric materials and evaluate their suitability for long-term use through several future generations of high-density chips as feature sizes shrink and the demands on the dielectric get tougher.

Requested ATP funds: $8,557 K
Est. project budget: $17,606 K
Announced: October 1998

Develop the materials, manufacturing techniques, and design tools necessary for embedding the majority of passive electrical devices—resistors and capacitors—into the structure of the circuit board, thus reducing costs and space requirements and improving reliability and performance of a wide class of electronic devices.

Requested ATP funds: $7,805 K
Est. project budget: $16,107 K
Announced: October 1998

Analyze the types of defects to be expected in future-generation IC photomasks for electron-beam and extreme-ultraviolet lithography, and develop a practical inspection system to detect these defects—a critical technology for the semiconductor industry as it moves into the regime of sub-100 nanometer feature sizes.