Electronic packaging
Electronic packaging is the design and production of enclosures for electronic devices, ranging from individual semiconductor devices to complete systems such as mainframe computers. Packaging of electronic systems must consider protection from mechanical damage, cooling, radio frequency noise emissions, and electrostatic discharge. Product safety standards may dictate specific features of consumer products, such as case temperature or grounding of exposed metal parts. Prototypes and industrial equipment manufactured in small quantities may use standardized, commercially available enclosures such as card cages or prefabricated boxes. Mass-market consumer devices may have highly specialized packaging to increase consumer appeal. Electronic packaging is a major discipline in the field of mechanical engineering.
Electronic Packaging Design
Electronic packaging can be organized by levels:
Level 0 - "Chip", protects exposed semiconductor chips from contamination and damage.
Level 1 - Components, such as semiconductor package designs and packaging of other discrete components.
Level 2 - Etched circuit boards (printed circuit boards).
Level 3 - Assembly, one or more terminal blocks, and associated components.
Level 4 - Modules, and components are integrated throughout the chassis.
Level 5 - System, a set of modules combined for a purpose.
The same electronic system can be packaged as a portable device, or it can be fixed mounted in an instrument rack or permanently installed.
Electronic packaging relies on mechanical engineering principles such as dynamics, stress analysis, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics. High-reliability equipment must often withstand the effects of drop tests, loose cargo, vibrations from cargo securing, extreme temperatures, humidity, water immersion or spray, rain, sunlight (UV, IR, and visible light), salt spray, blast shock, and more. These requirements go beyond and interact with the electrical design.
