Foreword

Summary form only given, as follows. This issue of the IEEE Transactions on Parts, Hybrids, and Packaging is the fourth annual issue that will be devoted to papers that have been selected from those presented at the 1975 Electronic Components Conference. The Conference is sponsored by the Parts, Hybrids, and Packaging Group and by the Electronic Industries Association. It is held each May and took place this year on May 12-14 in Washington, DC, USA. The papers included in this issue have been selected on the basis of recommendations from the Conference Program Committee and from other reviewers. We are grateful to the reviewers and to the authors fer their cooperation and assistance in the preparation of this issue. The papers in this issue of the Transactions reflect the broad areas of interest to the PHP and the ECC, with the majority dealing with some aspect of the hybrid circuit technology. The first paper by Bulger develops a model that relates end of life drift to the extent of laser trimming on tantalum nitride thin film material. The second paper by Davy is an evaluation of existing leak detection standards and proposes and evaluates alternate leak detection techniques. The third paper by Reiss describes a thin film reactively bonded gold alloy which is compatible with most thick film materials including dielectrics, resistors, and conductors. The fourth paper, by Kinser et at., discusses the relationship between the failure rate of ceramic chip capacitors mounted on alumina substrates and the mounting technique used in bonding the capacitors. The fifth paper, by Hallet at., is an analysis of the reason for decreased strength of gold-plated copper leads on thin film circuits when aged at 200-300°C. The sixth paper by Jellison is a quantitive study of the effects of contamination of thermo compression ball bonding of gold to gold metallization. Papers seven and eight, by Van Horn and Antler, are concerned with connecting devices and the search for a- ternate materials. The ninth paper by Moody describes a new method of loading small current transformers used for current measurements under pulsed or high frequency conditions. The tenth paper, by Domingos and Wunsch is a study of the power required to cause failure in discmte resistors as a function of pulse width.