NEMI's activities to strengthen the electronics manufacturing supply chain

This paper describes the roadmapping process used by the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative to identify future research, development, and implementation needs to continue the growth of the world-wide electronics industry. The presentation highlights how the roadmapping process benefits the electronics supply chain. The biennial National Electronic Manufacturing Technology Roadmap is over 1000 pages long and is produced by over 350 individuals from over 170 industrial, government, and academic institutions through out the world, in cooperation with ITRS (International Technology Roadmaps for Semiconductors), IPC, IMAPS (International Microelectronics and Packaging Society), USDC (United States Display Consortium), NSIC (National Storage Industry Consortium), IEEE CPMT, and OIDA (Optoelectronics Industry Development Association). It contains eighteen individual technology roadmaps covering all aspects of the global electronics industry and its supply chain. One of these eighteen roadmaps is the Environmentally Conscious Electronics (ECE) Roadmap. The output of this roadmapping process is used to establish projects to close gaps identified in the roadmap. The three generations of NEMI projects to eliminate Pb solder were developed to close identified gaps from the 1998, 2000, and 2002 roadmaps. This presentation will highlight some the technical results from the first two phases of this activity completed by the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) to develop a Pb-free solder technology base. It will also highlight the status of the current projects to expand this technology base, and focus on the new initiatives being established to support the business/supply chain issues associated with the transition to Pb-free products and meeting RoHS and WEEE requirements. This presentation will conclude by presenting preliminary results from the 2004 NEMI ECE Roadmap and key research and development needs that have been identified by the world-wide electronics industry as being important to its continued success over the next decade.