The European thematic network 'Adhesive joining technology in electronics manufacturing (Adhesives in electronics)' was founded by the European community in March 1998 in order to strengthen the use of adhesives in electronics manufacturing as a key technology for the European electronics industry.. Today more than fifty partners throughout Europe co-operate in order to exchange important information and to co-ordinate new research topics.
The network is co-ordinated by the VDI/VDE-Technologiezentrum Informationstechnik GmbH, a project management agency in Germany. The overall budget is approximately 1.6 mio euro to be shared by the partners. The general management of the thematic network is carried out by a management board consisting of the majority of the working group co-ordinators. This management board organized by the network co-ordinator is steering the general direction of the project, is discussing and negotiating contents and results and approves contributions and accounted costs of all network partners.
The general aim of the thematic network is to overcome the technical, structural and financial impediments, which prevent the application of adhesive joining technology as a more commonly used packaging and interconnection technology in Europe. The threshold for the increasing use of adhesives in electronics manufacturing is lowered. The aim is achieved by stimulating the exchange of information, the technology transfer, and further development of adhesive technologies.
Two main directions of work are considered:
1. Information exchange among partners of the thematic network
2. Improvement of the public accessibility of information on the user of adhesives technologies in eletronics manufacturing.
More detailed information is available from the webpage of the network at
http://www.adhesives.de.