Challenges of Quality Assurance

As explained in Chapter 2, because of ongoing developments in the technology, MID are now used in very large numbers in series-production applications and, to an ever increasing extent, in safety- and security-relevant systems. It is clear from this range of applications that product quality of the three-dimensional interconnect devices is a crucial aspect. This in turn means that the groundwork for end-to-end quality assurance has to be laid in both the development and production of the modules. 

It is also very important to appreciate the complex interactions of the measures they take and the results they obtain in production with those of all the other subsections involved. For instance, it is not only the direct down-line process of metallization that is affected by a change in the type of plastic. This also has a significant effect on later assembly and connection technology, for example if the new substrate fails to evince the level of temperature resistance required for the soldering process. 

FIGURE 6.1 Networking in quality assurance and derived interfaces an MID metallized by the LPKF-LDS as example, as in [50] 

Another case in point would be a switch in the injection-molding process to a new release agent that could suddenly prevent reliable structuring and metallization on down the line. Consequently, it is often a good idea for the project team to include a central liaison with an overall grasp of MID technology to notify the various experts in good time of possible interactions. [63] 

---