Search

A study was conducted on three commercially-available, silver-filled, snap cure isotropically conductive surface mount adhesives. Thermo-gravitational, thermal, thermo-mechanical, rheological and dynamic mechanical analyses were employed in fundamental material characterizations. Silver flake size, contact morphology and distribution were determined using Auger, scanning electron microscopy and transverse electromagnetic studies. Results reveal that moisture-induced copper pad oxidation enhances interfacial resistance but reduces bulk resistivity.

Using data from companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 between 1980 and 1994, we examined 5,479 occurrences of changes in employment in terms of two dependent variables: profitability (return on assets) and return on common stock. Firms that engaged in pure employment downsizing did not show significantly higher returns than the average companies in their own industries. However, companies that combined employment downsizing with asset restructuring generated higher returns on assets and stock returns in their own industries. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

An electrical conduction model for silver filled isotropically conductive adhesives has been developed. The model was developed by understanding the microscopic conduction between the silver flake particles and macroscale conduction elucidated by the percolation theory. Two- and three-dimensional computer simulations were done to predict the impact of particle sizes, shapes and distribution on the percolation conduction thresholds and cluster sizes.

A double pass holographic connection system, which is a prototype multichip model, lowers the switching energy and optical link latency for optically interconnected processor arrays. Silicon CMOS and GaAs laser array chips are attached to one side of the MCM substrate while etched computer generated holograms are present on the other side. These optical interconnects reduce the dissipated power.

Studies on metal-loaded polymer adhesives reveal that bulk metal conditions with minimal particle contact effects are responsible for electrically conductive adhesives' resistance. The expected skin effect causes high frequency measurement data. The adhesives studied are predominantly silver based, except for one nickel-polymer composite.

An eight-peak RTD piecewise linear (PWL) equivalent model based on an existing multipeak RTD model is developed. The model is implemented into PSpice using the measured voltage and current values of an eight-peak RTD device, and carried out the dc and transient analyses on personal computer for a nine-state MVM circuit simulations.

Many types of service organizations (both professional and nonprofessional) depend upon client participation to achieve desired levels of service. The more clients are called upon to participate in the service they receive, the less distinct become the lines separating client and employee. A model of client participation describes clients that participate in the rendering of service as 'partial employees'. Client participation is also described as having separate phases within the model. These are: (1) the pre-encounter phase, during which clients define their service expectations; (2) the encounter phase, during which the client contemplates contracting for service; (3) the negotiation phase; (4) the role acquisition and role determination phase, during which the contractual terms are agreed upon; and (5) the 'decoupling' phase, the point at which service is considered to be complete.

Research determining equilibrium pricing in a marketing economy made up of various regions is presented. An equilibrium price for each region allows regional price variances to not exceed unit transportation costs. The regions all have linear supply and demand curves and are part of a larger transportation network. A successive overrelaxation algorithm is formulated and tested. Results indicate that the algorithm is simple to implement and is well-suited to solving the inherent large-scale instances involved.