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The evolution of IC manufacturing technology has led to a decrease in feature size on the silicon die from around 2μm nowadays down to 0.18μm, and in the near future down to 0.13μm. This implies a simultaneous decrease in the distance of the individual contact pads (pitch), decreasing from a moderate 0.5mm to nowadays 0.1mm or even 0.07mm for leading edge ICs. The near future will not allow this trend to continue. Instead of peripheral contacts, several rows of contacts or even use of the entire die area to accommodate the contacts will allow the numbers of IOs to increase to the required value. Following the roadmap of electronic devices the PCB has its design continuously changed. Accordingly we need today PCBs with high density interconnects, realized by sequential build‐up technology (SBU) including microvias. We see at the end of the next decade that the semiconductor technology will be introduced at the PCB level. At this time we are also able to transfer the chip design into the PCB directly. This dependence of the development from chip‐ and PCB‐technology is the subject of the paper.

FOR MORE THAN 15 years a team of colleagues, scientists and practicians, have been working in our country officially and voluntarily with the object of reforming Plant Lubrication by appropriate investigations and measures, as well as by recommendations to the competent offices of our government. It was appreciated that it was necessary to make recommendations to the managements of the plants if sufficient interest was to be aroused. Therefore, in 1960 the State Planning Commission of the German Democratic Republic commissioned a selected group of scientists and practicians to investigate :

This paper focuses on the project “Development of electronic components on circuit boards made of renewable resources” which has the aim of developing materials and technologies for the production of electronic components with printed wiring boards (PWB) completely made of renewable resources.

Reviews the use of renewable resources in the electronics industry where there is potential for fostering sustainable development through its technological innovations.

Outlines that ARBOFORM, a high‐quality thermoplastic engineering material for applications that demand high technological standards, combines the positive properties of natural wood with the processing capabilities of thermoplastic materials.

The motivation for the substitution of non‐renewable raw materials is not only given by ecological aspects but could also be boosted in future as reserves of fossil resources are further depleted and costs increase.

This paper outlines the current position of water based no‐clean liquid fluxes for wave soldering. The primary differences between these and “traditional” alcohol based liquid fluxes are explored using wetting balance methods. Reduced wetting capability (of the flux onto the PCB) can be addressed by using various surfactant additives; improved solderability is due to enhanced acid activator dissociation resulting from increased solvent polarity. Regarding implementation in a production environment, there is only minor impact. A slightly increased preheat capability is required, and foam application demands tight control of the feed gas flow rate. More generally, in addition to the “headline” environmental benefit of reduced VOC emissions, water based liquid fluxes confer significant handling advantages, for example zero flammability and low odour/evaporation at room temperature. Against this background, it is suggested that water based liquid fluxes will become ever more popular.

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.

High density interconnect (HDI) printed circuits are now being designed in ever‐increasing quantities for very high‐speed applications. The challenge of opto‐electronics and integration of photonics into the printed circuit has started to take off. In the next 7 years, expectations are that photonic printed circuit boards will grow to a $2.5 billion industry. This paper looks at the issues, materials and current processes being researched by European, Japanese and North American organizations to create this integrated opto‐electronic circuit board. In addition to reviewing the global players in polymer photonics, this paper will review the current programs of four of the six groups globally, namely EOBC‐OptoFoil (University of Ulm, Fraunhafer Inst., Daimler‐Chrysler, Siemens), PolyGuide (Dupont, HP), TOPCat (NIST, 3M, Goodyear), Truemode™ (Terahertz), NTT and JIEP.

The strength of personal selling lies in the fact that it allows for communicative interchange, a process more subtle but, at the same time, more hazardous than classical methods such as advertising, which rely on one‐way communication. In terms of efficiency, communicative interchange results in a reduction of reach losses; it is of primary importance in the marketing of commodities which have to be explained or demonstrated to the buyer and particularly, therefore, in industrial marketing and the marketing of services. It is recognised, however, that personal selling is a relatively expensive means of communication.The author undertakes a taxonomical review of the various constituents of the personal selling scene, analysing the tasks involved and the composition of the sales force. In the latter half of the monograph he selects certain sales force management problems of special importance to discuss in greater detail with regard to the optimisation of efficiency and job statisfaction.