This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/321,060, filed Dec. 17, 2002 now abandoned.
The thermal conditions to which most electronic devices are subjected may adversely affect those components made out of alternative materials. For example, polymeric ferroelectric random access memory (PFRAM) devices exposed to temperatures of approximately 140 degrees Celsius (° C.) have significantly decreased performance. For example, a process that exposed a PFRAM to 100° C. for 2 hours followed by a ramp up to 125° C. for 7 minutes caused a thirty percent reduction of cells in the device that retained their contents.
Typically, packaging of electronic components such as microprocessors and other integrated circuits involves high temperatures, especially at the formation of the first level of interconnection. The first level of interconnection is where the integrated circuit is mounted onto the printed circuit board (PCB) so as to allow the integrated circuit to be electrically coupled to the PCB. Some examples of current approaches to the first level of interconnects include wire bonding, which has a typical temperature range of about 140° C. to >200° C., and anisotropic conductive films, which have a typical temperature of 180° C.
Thermo-mechanical stressing, caused in part by these high temperatures, may cause first and second level interconnects to fail. The high temperatures may also lead to inter-laminar dielectric, also referred to as inter-layer dielectric (ILD) cracking.