Imaging Based Material Characterization of Electronics and Their Applications

A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Electronic Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 12609

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Seeing is believing. There is no doubt that imaging is one of the most powerful characterization methods that is applicable to a wide range of different materials, including electronics, construction materials, natural ores, as well as industrial wastes.

This Special Issue aims to provide an excellent forum for scientists and engineers to share and exchange their latest contributions on the imaging base material characterizations of electronics and their applications. Within this context, original articles as well as insightful review articles are expected.

The development of new imaging methods and/or the combination of multiple supplemental imaging (and other) characterization methods for complex/functional materials used in consumer electronics in order to have a better insight into/opportunity of achieving eco-design and/or recycling is particularly welcome. A proper characterization of such complex materials is still a complicated and challenging task, since the majority of the characterization methods available in the market provide either an average property regardless of material/element spatial heterogeneity or the information within a very focused/tiny area (e.g., [1,2]). On the other hand, submissions that are relevant to many other areas of imaging electronics are also highly appreciated. You can find some potential contributions under “keywords”.

We look forward to receiving your contributions, and to future collaborations.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Best regards, 

Dr. Akira Otsuki
Guest Editor

References

[1] Otsuki, A.; Chen, Y.; Zhao, Y. Characterisation and beneficiation of complex ores for sustainable use of mineral resources: Refractory gold ore beneficiation as an example. Int. J. Soc. Mat. Eng. Res. 2014, 20, 126–135.

[2] Otsuki, A. Non-destructive liberation analysis of printed circuit board, Proc. 16th International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium, Sardinia 2017, Sardinia, 2-6 October 2017.

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Keywords

  • Complex/functional materials,
  • New imaging method development, Combination of multiple supplemental characterization,
  • Eco-design, Recycling, Material Processing
  • Process optimization/intensification
  • Multiphase flows (e.g. liquid-gas flows, liquid-solid flows)
  • Neutrons, X-rays
  • In-situ/Operando measurement
  • Tomography/radiography
  • Magnetic resonance imaging
  • Automated image analysis
  • Electron microscope (e.g. SEM, TEM)

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 2332 KiB  
Article
Microstructural and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Analyses on Argon Ion Implantations in Tantalum Thin Films for Microelectronic Substrates
by Amir Hoshang Ramezani, Siamak Hoseinzadeh, Zhaleh Ebrahiminejad, Milad Sangashekan and Saim Memon
Electronics 2021, 10(23), 2941; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10232941 - 26 Nov 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1773
Abstract
In the present study, the microstructural and statistical properties of unimplanted in comparison to argon ion-implanted tantalum-based thin film surface structures are investigated for potential application in microelectronic thin film substrates. In the study, the argon ions were implanted at the energy of [...] Read more.
In the present study, the microstructural and statistical properties of unimplanted in comparison to argon ion-implanted tantalum-based thin film surface structures are investigated for potential application in microelectronic thin film substrates. In the study, the argon ions were implanted at the energy of 30 keV and the doses of 1 × 1017, 3 × 1017, and 7 × 1017 (ion/cm2) at an ambient temperature. Two primary goals have been pursued in this study. First, by using atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis, the roughness of samples, before and after implantation, has been studied. The corrosion apparatus wear has been used to compare resistance against tantalum corrosion for all samples. The results show an increase in resistance against tantalum corrosion after the argon ion implantation process. After the corrosion test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was applied to study the sample morphology. The elemental composition of the samples was characterized by using energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. Second, the statisticalcharacteristics of both unimplanted and implanted samples, using the monofractal analysis with correlation function and correlation length of samples, were studied. The results show, however, that all samples are correlated and that the variation of ion doses has a negligible impact on the values of correlation lengths. Moreover, the study of height distribution and higher-order moments show the deviation from Gaussian distribution. The calculations of the roughness exponent and fractal dimension indicates that the implanted samples are the self-affine fractal surfaces. Full article
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15 pages, 2554 KiB  
Article
Determination of Liberation Degree of Mechanically Processed Waste Printed Circuit Boards by Using the Digital Microscope and SEM-EDS Analysis
by Pedro Pereira Gonçalves and Akira Otsuki
Electronics 2019, 8(10), 1202; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics8101202 - 22 Oct 2019
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4660
Abstract
Characterization of heterogeneous materials, such as particles from mechanically processed waste printed circuit boards, is a challenging task. The majority of characterization methods either give average information or information that is very limited and in a tiny area of specific interest. That said, [...] Read more.
Characterization of heterogeneous materials, such as particles from mechanically processed waste printed circuit boards, is a challenging task. The majority of characterization methods either give average information or information that is very limited and in a tiny area of specific interest. That said, capturing such heterogeneity is significantly important for any kind of processes. Degree of liberation, indicating how much the target component is liberated from the non-valuable components, is a key property to determine the success of subsequent process for valuable material recovery. This work analyzed the degree of liberation of metals within the products of hammer milling process via the combination of image acquisition and analysis. The digital microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with the energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were used for image acquisition and elemental mapping, in order to evaluate the selective liberation under different milling conditions (i.e., feed mass, milling time) for different metals (mainly Cu and Al) and particle size fractions. The obtained liberation degree was also modelled and determined the liberation parameters that were compared. The results showed that the degree of liberation significantly depend on the milling conditions and metals we analyzed, and well correlated with the selective metal enrichment behavior. Results between the two methods showed some similarities and discrepancies. The advantages and disadvantages of the above two methods were identified and discussed in the paper, in addition to their methodological developments. Full article
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16 pages, 4603 KiB  
Article
Defect Estimation in Non-Destructive Testing of Composites by Ultrasonic Guided Waves and Image Processing
by Kumar Anubhav Tiwari, Renaldas Raisutis, Olgirdas Tumsys, Armantas Ostreika, Kestutis Jankauskas and Julijus Jakutavicius
Electronics 2019, 8(3), 315; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics8030315 - 12 Mar 2019
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5100
Abstract
The estimation of the size and location of defects in multi-layered composite structures by ultrasonic non-destructive testing using guided waves has attracted the attention of researchers for the last few decades. Although extensive signal processing techniques are available, there are only a few [...] Read more.
The estimation of the size and location of defects in multi-layered composite structures by ultrasonic non-destructive testing using guided waves has attracted the attention of researchers for the last few decades. Although extensive signal processing techniques are available, there are only a few studies available based on image processing of the ultrasonic B-scan image to extract the size and location of defects via the process of ultrasonic non-destructive testing. This work presents an image processing technique for ultrasonic B-scan images to improve the estimation of the location and size of disbond-type defects in glass fiber-reinforced plastic materials with 25-mm and 51-mm diameters. The sample is a segment of a wind turbine blade with a variable thickness ranging from 3 to 24 mm. The experiment is performed by using a low-frequency ultrasonic system and a pair of contact-type piezoceramic transducers kept apart by a 50-mm distance and embedded on a moving mechanical panel. The B-scan image acquired by the ultrasonic pitch-catch technique is denoised by utilizing features of two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform. Thereafter, the normalized pixel densities are compared along the scanned distance on the region of interest of the image, and a −3 dB threshold is applied to the locations and sizes the defects in the spatial domain. Full article
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