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Multiple automotive systems are now being developed which require an imager or vision chip to provide information regarding vehicle surroundings, vehicle performance, and vehicle passenger compartment status. Applications include lane departure, lane tracking, collision avoidance, as well as occupant position, impaired driver, and occupant identification. These applications share many requirements, including robust design, tolerance for the automotive environment, built in self-test, wide dynamic range, and low cost. In addition, each application has unique requirements for resolution, sensitivity, imager aspect ratio, and output format. In many cases, output will go directly to vehicle systems for processing, without ever being displayed to the driver. Commercial imager chips do not address this wide spectrum of requirements. A CMOS imager chip has been designed to address these unique automotive requirements.

The extensive use of electronics has revolutionized the implementation and scope of many of the features and functions in a modern automobile. This automotive electronic revolution has significantly improved the performance, reliability and comfort of the automobile. In some cases, electronics have also simplified component fabrication and automotive assembly. However, the full potential that electronics have for reducing the assembly complexity of the automobile has yet to be realized. More extensive use of electronics embedded into mechanical components and mechatronic systems will significantly simplify automotive assembly in the future. This paper examines three current and future applications of embedded electronics in automotive applications. These examples illustrate the advantages and challenges associated with embedded electronic concepts. Future applications, new technology development needs, and changes in automotive component sourcing, are discussed.

High power electronic applications in the automotive industry require interconnecting substrates that have high reliability, high thermal conductivity, high current capability, multi-layer potential, and small size. This paper addresses the design requirements for automotive power substrates and how ever increasing demands are challenging the current substrate technology. Four different substrate material types, with various design features, capable of meeting these stringent requirements are described. Thermal impedance testing of each substrate along with design variations to enhance thermal capability was completed. The results of the thermal testing are compared based on appropriate application of the substrate technology.

Flip Chip packaging has found limited use for a technology that was introduced decades ago. Its application widened with the use of underfill, a necessary constituent to minimizing CTE mismatch between the component and substrate. Its reliability has been established on laminate substrates for automotive applications, an important development in light of the continuous increase in vehicle electronic content and function. Unfortunately, the assembly process incorporating underfill is cumbersome and batch-like. Also, the adhesive strength of the underfill depends critically on the cleanliness of the die after reflow, necessitating costly cleaning equipment and complex process monitoring protocols. Hence, the process of manufacturing is not SMT-friendly. A new technology, Wafer Applied Underfill (WAU), addresses the shortcomings of the traditional underfill process.

The Future of new electronic systems application in the automobile is extremely promising. New systems such as mobile multimedia, control-by-wire systems, advanced safety interiors, and collision avoidance coupled with smart sensors and actuators, in a potentially new integrated vehicle wiring system, means significantly more electronic content in the automobile of the future. The challenge of the automotive electronics industry is to develop a vision of these future products, and then follow a defining process to develop the technologies necessary to offer timely, reliable, and cost effective products to the automotive consumer. This paper presents a methodology by which global market trends, market considerations, and engineering developments are combined to create a product vision. This vision is used to generate technology roadmaps that spawn technology development projects. Technology projects in turn help to create product strategies that result in new marketable products.

Multiplexing can be best discussed at three levels - vehicle, ECU or component, and IC. Within each level are partitions for software and hardware, and within each partition are divisions of functionality such as buffer size. The content in this book will help the reader to acquire a basic understanding of vehicle multiplexing systems, primarily from the passenger car and light truck viewpoint. Some discussion of heavy-duty and off-road vehicle multiplexing is presented, along with a look at industrial automation - a fast-growing multiplex field already eclipsing automotive usage.