(32b) Building Bridges - Macro to Micro - to Connect the World

Nowadays you can pull out your cell phone and instantaneously be connected to the other 3.5 billion people carrying smartphones in their pockets around the world. To some of us, life without a cell phone is hard to remember or possibly never even existed. I remember getting my first smartphone in 2011, but at the time had no appreciation for the intricate interplay of chemistry, material science, and engineering that made the device work. I also didn’t realize that in the same year I’d begin a career dedicated to making our world even more connected through the hub of our smartphones. Improving connectivity is not just limited to facilitating virtual connections but starts with the interconnection of the building blocks in our devices. In this talk I will dissect our smart phones and show how they are put together, from the conductive copper features such as through-holes and microvias to how new materials are being used to meet the high-performance criteria for next generation devices.