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Anisotropic conductive film (ACF) offers miniaturization of package size, reduction in interconnection distance and high performance, cost‐competitive packaging and improved environmental impact. However, a major limitation for ACF is the instability caused by thermal warpage. The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of thermal warpage on contact resistance in real time i.e. make online measurements of contact resistance fluctuations while the assembly undergoes thermal shock.

The ACF assemblies are subjected to thermal cycling with different temperature profiles that have peak temperatures either below or above the glass transition temperature (T_g) of the ACF. The flex substrate used was made of polyimide film, with Au/Ni/Cu electrodes and a daisy‐chained circuit matched to the die bump pattern. The ACF used was based on epoxy resin in which nickel and gold‐coated polymer particles are dispersed. A comparative study was carried out on the results obtained.

The results showed that the glass transition temperature (T_g) of the ACF material plays an important role in the high temperature contact resistance. Above T_g, the ACF matrix becomes less viscous, which reduces its adhesive strength and allows the bumps on the chip to slide away from the pads on the substrate. Even though a flex substrate was used in this study, the sliding effect is severe at the corner bumps of the chip, where cumulative forces are generated due to the thermal expansion mismatch. For every thermal cycling profile, there is an incubation period encountered from this work that would have a significant impact in the application of ACF. After the incubation period the contact resistance increased rapidly and the assemblies were therefore no longer reliable.

The work in this paper focuses on contact resistance changes during thermal shock. The paper discusses the reliability issue of ACF during thermal warpage, which is useful to industries using ACF for flip‐chip assemblies.

The purpose of this work is to undertake a comparison of accelerated test regimes for assessing the reliability of solder joints, in particular those made using lead‐free solders.

Identical samples of 1206, 0805 and 0603 resistors were subjected to six different cycling regimes to investigate the effect of thermal excursions, ramp rates and temperature dwells.

The most damage to joints was found to be caused by thermal cycling between −55 and 125°C, with a 10°C/min ramp rate and 5 min dwells. Large thermal excursions were shown to give faster results without compromising the failure mode.

Similar degrees of damage in the lead‐free solder joints were experienced from thermal shock regimes with ramp rates in excess of 50°C/min. However, these regimes, although faster to undertake, appeared to cause different crack propagation modes than observed with the thermal cycling regimes. However, these differences may be small and thermal shock testing may still be used to differentiate between, or enable ranking of, the effects of changes to materials or processes on the reliability of the solder joints. Hence, it is envisaged that if a wide range of conditions are to be tested a first sift can be completed using thermal shock, with the final work using typical thermal cycling conditions.

The difference between the SAC (95.5Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu) and SnAg (96.5Sn3.5Ag) solder alloy results across all types of cycles showed very little difference in the rates of joint degradation.

This paper compares relative reliability (remaining shear strength) of three chip components soldered with two lead‐free alloys based on various thermal cycling conditions.

This paper aims to present a new micro‐impact tester developed for characterizing the impact properties of solder joints and micro‐structures at high‐strain rates, for the microelectronic industry, and the results evaluated for different solder ball materials, pad finishes and thermal histories by using this new tester. Knowledge of impact force is essential for quantifying the strength of the interconnection and allows quantitative design against failure. It also allows one‐to‐one comparison with the failure force measured in a standard quasi‐static shear test.

An innovative micro‐impact head has been designed to precisely strike the specimen at high speed and the force and displacements are measured simultaneously and accurately during the impact, from which the failure energy may be calculated.

The paper demonstrates that, peak loads obtained from the impact tests are between 30 and 100 percent higher than those obtained from static shear tests for all combinations of solder alloy and pad finish. The SnPb solder alloy had the maximum energy to failure for all pad finishes. Of all the lead‐free solders, the SnAg solder alloy had the highest energy to failure. Static shearing induces only bulk solder failure for all combinations of solder alloy and pad finish. Impact testing tends to induce bulk solder failure for SnPb solder and a mixture of bulk and intermetallic failure in all the lead‐free solder alloys for all pad finishes. In general, the peak loads obtained for solder mask defined pads are significantly higher than those for non‐SMD (NSMD) pads. The results obtained so far have highlighted the vulnerability of NSMD pads to drop impact.

The work provides a new solution to the microelectronics industry for characterizing the impact properties of materials and micro‐structures and provides an easy‐to‐use tool for research or process quality control.

The new micro‐impact tester developed is able to perform solder ball shear testing at high speeds, of up to 1,000 mm/s, and to obtain fracture characteristics similar to those found in drop impact testing using the JEDEC board level testing method JESD22‐B111 – but without the complexity of preparing specialized boards. This is not achievable using standard low‐speed shear testers.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how intra-industry strategic alliances (SAs) seek to assess supplier risk related to sustainability, what motivation drives single members to form or join such an SA, and how such a joint endeavor affects supplier risk management.

An embedded single case study with multiple units of analysis was conducted. The main data were collected through semi-structured interviews with key respondents from seven leading chemical companies, three of which were founding members of the SA, while four were new members.

This paper shows that forming/joining an SA concerning sustainability-related supplier risk assessment, results in the reduction of task uncertainty and equivocality as well as the increase of information processing capacities. Based on the implemented sharing routines, a higher overall efficiency can be achieved. Moreover, the members benefit from an enhanced identification of varying stakeholder expectations, a facilitated capability building and a more comprehensive supplier risk assessment. In particular, the joint endeavors result in assessment processes of higher robustness, which provide outcomes of higher quality.

This paper is the first to investigate companies’ efforts toward improving their supplier risk management in the area of sustainability by establishing/joining an intra-industry SA. By providing insights into the motivation to form or join such a collaborative platform and illustrating the effects that arise from the SA’s work from an organizational information processing perspective, it provides a contribution to both academics and managerial practice.

Smart card-based E-payment systems are receiving increasing attention as the number of implementations is witnessed on the rise globally. Understanding of user adoption behavior of E-payment systems that employ smart card technology becomes a research area that is of particular value and interest to both IS researchers and professionals. However, research interest focuses mostly on why a smart card-based E-payment system results in a failure or how the system could have grown into a success. This signals the fact that researchers have not had much opportunity to critically review a smart card-based E-payment system that has gained wide support and overcome the hurdle of critical mass adoption. The Octopus in Hong Kong has provided a rare opportunity for investigating smart card-based E-payment system because of its unprecedented success. This research seeks to thoroughly analyze the Octopus from technology adoption behavior perspectives.

Cultural impacts on adoption behavior are one of the key areas that this research posits to investigate. Since the present research is conducted in Hong Kong where a majority of population is Chinese ethnicity and yet is westernized in a number of aspects, assuming that users in Hong Kong are characterized by eastern or western culture is less useful. Explicit cultural characteristics at individual level are tapped into here instead of applying generalization of cultural beliefs to users to more accurately reflect cultural bias. In this vein, the technology acceptance model (TAM) is adapted, extended, and tested for its applicability cross-culturally in Hong Kong on the Octopus. Four cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede are included in this study, namely uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism, and Confucian Dynamism (long-term orientation), to explore their influence on usage behavior through the mediation of perceived usefulness.

TAM is also integrated with the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) to borrow two constructs in relation to innovative characteristics, namely relative advantage and compatibility, in order to enhance the explanatory power of the proposed research model. Besides, the normative accountability of the research model is strengthened by embracing two social influences, namely subjective norm and image. As the last antecedent to perceived usefulness, prior experience serves to bring in the time variation factor to allow level of prior experience to exert both direct and moderating effects on perceived usefulness.

The resulting research model is analyzed by partial least squares (PLS)-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. The research findings reveal that all cultural dimensions demonstrate direct effect on perceived usefulness though the influence of uncertainty avoidance is found marginally significant. Other constructs on innovative characteristics and social influences are validated to be significant as hypothesized. Prior experience does indeed significantly moderate the two influences that perceived usefulness receives from relative advantage and compatibility, respectively. The research model has demonstrated convincing explanatory power and so may be employed for further studies in other contexts. In particular, cultural effects play a key role in contributing to the uniqueness of the model, enabling it to be an effective tool to help critically understand increasingly internationalized IS system development and implementation efforts. This research also suggests several practical implications in view of the findings that could better inform managerial decisions for designing, implementing, or promoting smart card-based E-payment system.

The concept of company culture is now playing an ever‐increasing role in the continuing endeavour to work towards ever better company management, particularly in the industrial field. This monograph reviews the history and development of both national and company cultures, and then goes on to demonstrate the significance of a culture to proper company management. Well‐managed companies will have both a “quality culture” and a “safety culture” as well as a cultural history. However, it has to be recognised that the company culture is subject to change, and effecting this can be very difficult. Of the many national cultures, that of Japan is considered to be the most effective, as is demonstrated by the present dominance of Japan on the industrial scene. Many industrialised nations now seek to emulate the Japanese style of management, but it is not possible to copy or acquire Japan′s cultural heritage. The text is illustrated by a large number of practical examples from real life, illustrating the way in which the company culture works and can be used by management to improve company performance.

This paper gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied to the analysis of ceramics and glass materials. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations on the subject that were published between 1977‐1998. The following topics are included: ceramics – material and mechanical properties in general, ceramic coatings and joining problems, ceramic composites, ferrites, piezoceramics, ceramic tools and machining, material processing simulations, fracture mechanics and damage, applications of ceramic/composites in engineering; glass – material and mechanical properties in general, glass fiber composites, material processing simulations, fracture mechanics and damage, and applications of glasses in engineering.

The current research aims to investigate the relationship between supply chain (SC) processes maturity and SC performance in the context of an emerging market (i.e. Morocco). Based on the SCOR model, the authors propose and test a thorough conceptual framework in which information systems moderates the relationship between SC processes maturity and performance. The effects of firm age and size are also taken into account.

Based on data collected from 175 top and middle managers using self-administered questionnaires, the authors empirically assessed the conceptual model using a partial least squares (PLS) estimation.

The study's findings demonstrate that SC processes maturity has a significant effect on SC performance. Second, information systems act as a moderator in the relationship between SC maturity and performance, e.g. the impact of supply chain processes maturity on supply chain performance measures is stronger in the presence of information systems support. Ultimately, firm size and age were found to have no significant impact on supply chain performance.

The study's findings help SC managers to better understand how SC maturity contributes to SC performance. A firm effectively executing maturity factors in its SC processes is more likely to achieve a better SC performance. The authors also established the key role of information systems in strengthening the impact of SC maturity on performance. SC managers should capitalize on the use of information systems to achieve superior SC performance.

The present research bridges a gap pertaining to the impact of supply chain maturity on SC performance, particularly in emerging markets. It is the first of its kind to investigate the influence of SC maturity on SC performance the context of emerging markets.

New product development (NPD) is necessary for business sustenance and customer satisfaction. Six Sigma and Design for Lean Six Sigma (DLSS) efficiently employ the repetitive stages for NPD, leading to quality performance and profitability. This study aims to map the quality performance through NPD attributes through the Lean methodology.

The data on NPD were collected from 267 respondents from manufacturing companies to map the relationship between Six Sigma and DLSS for NPD. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to confirm model fit, while structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the empirical data for framework testing. The study included nine variables and fourteen hypotheses identified from the literature.

The statistical results of this study show that NPD attributes such as innovation, marketing, organization, customer, product and technology positively influence the Lean Six Sigma structured improvement process (LSSSIP) and DLSS. Moreover, integrating these attributes in Lean planning enhance quality performance. This empirical investigation's findings indicate that ten of the 14 hypotheses were supported, giving the study a strong foundation.

The data collection was limited to northern India; therefore, the results may not be generalizable to other areas of the world.

NPD involves handling technical issues and factors such as cost, operational bottlenecks, economic changes, competitors' strategy and company policy. This study helps understand the various NPD parameters and their relationship to Lean, which enables an effective NPD implementation strategy.

The current philosophy of NPD calls for a concurrent engineering approach; therefore, the entire organization must be part of this process. This study uses the holistic framework by optimizing NPD with Lean Six Sigma (LSS) principles. The study is unique in that, to date, research does not integrate NPD attributes with the objectives of LSS to develop an efficient NPD implementation strategy.

The key objective of the study is to understand the best processes that are currently used in managing talent in Australian higher education (AHE) and design a quantitative measurement of talent management processes (TMPs) for the higher education (HE) sector.

The three qualitative multi-method studies that are commonly used in empirical studies, namely, brainstorming, focus group discussions and semi-structured individual interviews were considered. Twenty-three individuals from six Australian universities participated in this study.

The qualitative study explored three key themes and ten subthemes of TMPs that are used in AHE. These were: (1) talent attraction, (2) talent development and (3) talent retention.

This study only targeted one country (Australia) and one sector (HE).

This study offers three major contributions as follows: theoretical, practical and policy aspects. Theoretically, the study provides a value-add to Talent Management (TM) theory through designing a guide (conceptual model) of TMPs for the HE sector. Practically, it collects original qualitative data regarding TM in the HE domain. From a policy point of view, this study adds more debate around adding new ideas to Australian education strategic plans for HE.

This study has a unique methodology because of strengthening the effect of an in-depth case study. For instance, two different techniques were used for data analysis for the same research objective as follows: (1) both manual methods and content analysis software (NVivo 11) and (2) the three-stage approach. Using these techniques for the same purpose in one study can provide greater flexibility to examine the relationship between theory and data.