Polyimide is an organic polymer that exhibits the highest level of heat resistance, exhibits excellent mechanical properties and electrical insulation, and is stable for a long period of time. In addition, since it is easy to obtain polymers with different physical characteristics by changing the combination of monomers, it is possible to obtain the desired properties according to the application, and it is used in a wide range of fields such as insulating protective films for semiconductors and electronic components. This chapter describes polyimides used in microelectronics applications such as semiconductors, electronic components, displays, image sensors, and lithium-ion secondary batteries. The development of practical aspects such as photosensitivity, low-temperature curability, and adhesion to copper when used in microelectronics will be described.

This is the first book to provide an in-depth presentation of photosensitive polyimides for electronic and photonic applications. The authors are leading specialists in this field from Japan, Europe and the U.S. From the Preface Aromatic polyimides were developed originally as thermostable flexible polymer films for space applications. Now polyimides have found widespread use in the manufacture of electronic devices and have been employed in increasingly diverse areas of electronics and information technology. In addition to their excellent thermal stability and high processability, a wide range of chemical and physical properties provided by molecular engineering makes polyimides highly versatile in the electronics and information industries. Lithography of polyimides is an inevitable process in using polyimides for microelectronic fields, and hence increasing research has been devoted to developing photosensitive polyimides, which make it unnecessary to use photoresists for patterning polyimides and diminishing markedly the number of steps in fabrication of various electronic devices. In addition, the development of technology of photosensitive polyimides is expected to play a great role in manufacturing photonic devices in the near future, when the design and control of hyper fine structures . . . including higher thermal stability and better processability would be essential.

Polyimide is one of the most efficient polymers in many industries for its excellent thermal, electrical, mechanical, and chemical properties as well as its easy processability. In the electronic and electrical engineering industries, polyimide has widely been used for decades thanks to its very good dielectric and insulating properties at the high electric field and at high temperatures of around 200°C in long term-service. Moreover, polyimide appears essential for the development of new electronic devices where further considerations such as high power density, integration, higher temperature, thermal conduction management, energy storage, reliability, or flexibility are required in order to sustain the growing global electrical energy consumption. This book gathers interdisciplinary chapters on polyimide in various topics through state-of-the-art and original ongoing research.

The topics covered in this proceedings volume include: Synthesis, characterization and processing (including some novel approaches) of a variety of polyimides and other high temperature polymers; structure-property relationships; segmental dynamics in polyimide materials; photoalignable polyimides; photoconductivity and photosensitivity of polyimides; ultrafiltration membranes from polyetherimide; polymer materials for nonlinear optical applications; alignment of SWNTs in rigid-rod polymer compositions; surface modification of polyimide; adhesion of Cu to polyimide surfaces; and polyimide erosion in a low Earth orbit space environment.

The most recent advances in the use of polymeric materials by the electronic industry can be found in Polymers for Electronic and Photonic Applications. This bookprovides in-depth coverage of photoresis for micro-lithography, microelectronic encapsulants and packaging, insulators, dielectrics for multichip packaging,electronic and photonic applications of polymeric materials, among many other topics. Intended for engineers and scientists who design, process, and manufacturemicroelectronic components, this book will also prove useful for hybrid and systems packaging managers who want to be informed of the very latest developments inthis field. * Presents most recent advances in the use of polymeric materials by the electronic industry* Contributions by foremost experts in the field

The object of this book is to review and to discuss some important applications of polymers in electronics. The first three chapters discuss the current primary applications of polymers in semiconductor device manufacturing: polymers as resist materials for integrated circuit fabrication, polyimides as electronics packaging materials, and polymers as integrated circuits encapsulates.