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The Computer Aided Life Cycle Engineering Electronic Packaging Research Center at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, continues to build its international reputation for leading edge research directed at improving the reliability of electronic products. The activities of the Center are focused on development of an in-depth understanding of electronic packaging issues. Through research and subsequent technology transfer to sponsoring member companies, the Center seeks directly to affect the reliability of complex electronic systems. Center personnel currently include 6 full-time faculty, 5 part-time faculty, 25 research scientists, 8 Ph.D candidates and 27 MS candidates.

A 24 month contract was awarded on June 1, 1990, to the Computer Aided Life Cycle Engineering Center (CALCE) at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland, to develop design guidelines for the materials, dimensions and construction and assembly processes used in microelectronic packaging which will enable the user to design packages suitable for specific end-use environments. The CALCE Center is at present working with the University of West Virginia-CERC. The CALCE Center effort involves developing techniques to monitor quality parameters and aid in decision support during the design of electronic printed wiring board assemblies.

Baltimore, Maryland-based University of Maryland Computer Aided Life Cycle Engineering Center for Electronic Packaging is continuing to expand its research in electronic packaging innovations for electronic products. The original 12 corporate sponsors have been joined by Boeing Commercial Airplane, Honeywell Inc., North American Rockwell Collins, ELDEC Inc., and AMP Inc. Also, it is hoped that additional state funding will become available in 1991 as a result of a proposal to expand the scope of the center. The use of electronics in consumer products is growing in importance and has more than doubled in the past threeyears. It has been estimated by the Society of Automotive Engineers that the cost of electronics in a car will go from $150 to $500 over the next three years, and the Ford Motor Co. expects this to reach $2000 within ten years.

Baltimore, Maryland-based University of Maryland's Computer Aided Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE) Electronic Packaging Research Center, has developed a generic physics-of-failure methodology and associated software tools for design and reliability assessment at the microelectronic packaging level called Computer Aided Design of Electronic Packages (CADMP). The effort in 1993 was sponsored by the U.S. Army Materiel Command. The software was tested at over 60 alpha and beta sites over a period of one year and supported by the 28 members of the CALCE Center. The physics-of-failure approach uses scientific knowledge of failure mechanisms to prevent product failures. Product reliability is assessed using failure models that relate, at potential failure sites, product geometry, materials and stresses due to operational and environmental conditions. CADMP consists of design and analysis utilities supported by reusable libraries.