Experimental and numerical investigations of thermo-mechanically stressed micro-components

Reliability and fuctionality of microsystems, i.e. of small scale integrated electronic, mechanical and optical components depend on their mechanical and thermal constitution. The state of the art of microsystem design more and more requires direct "coupling" between simulation tools (including e.g. finite element modelling) and advanced physical experiments. The authors have combined various laser techniques, scanning microscopy, and x-ray diffraction with numerical field simulation. Problems of electronic packaging in microsystems are dealt with. Fracture and crack phenomena, life time estimation of microcomponents and elasto-plastic phenomena are reported.