Electronic packaging refers to enclosing, protecting, or providing physical structure to electronic components or finished devices. It can involve multiple packages, such as circuit boards and metal cases. The skills required vary depending on the scale and end use. Primary components are packaged in plastic or epoxy resin, and larger assemblies may be enclosed in plastic, resin, or metal for protection. Outer packaging is often driven by consumer appeal or environmental conditions.
Despite its name, electronic packaging does not refer to the packaging involved in shipping electronics or retail packaging containing electronic devices or components seen in stores. Instead, electronic packaging refers to the method of enclosing, protecting, or providing physical structure to electronic components, component assemblies, or finished electronic devices. For example, a DVD player is an electronic assembly packaged in a rectangular metal case that protects it and allows for the placement of buttons used to operate the device, as well as the connectors needed to connect the DVD player to other devices. Similarly, an integrated circuit, often called an IC or chip, is packaged in electronic packaging consisting of a small black epoxy casing that allows the device to be handled without damage and soldered onto a circuit board.
E-packaging often involves a number of different e-packages. For example, a series of integrated circuits, each in its own electronic package, are soldered onto a circuit board along with other devices, such as diodes and resistors, each of which is also in its own electronic package. The printed circuit board can also be considered an electronic package, as it provides a place and method for connecting integrated circuits, diodes, and resistors, as well as a stable structure that can be connected to a structure. The framework is also an electronic package, as it provides the structure needed to collect the circuit boards into one larger group. The larger set can then fit into a sheet metal case, which is an electronic package that consumers can easily identify as a DVD player.
The skills and qualifications required to work in electronic packaging vary widely, depending on the scale of the electronics involved and the ultimate end use of the package in question. For example, a computer CPU contains within it a silicon chip, which is an electronic package containing all the transistors and other electronic circuits that make up the CPU. A cell phone is housed in a plastic electronic package that protects it from dust and dirt and allows for the placement of all the buttons and displays needed to operate the phone. As you can clearly see, designing a microscopic CPU chip requires very different skills than designing a flashy case for a mobile phone.
At the smaller end of the scale, primary electronic components such as resistors and CPU chips are usually packaged in plastic or epoxy resin, although glass is also sometimes used. If the component emits interference or is required to withstand high temperatures, it can also be placed in an additional external metal electronics package. An important part of primary electronic component packaging is the means that the package provides for connecting components to other components. Sometimes this is accomplished via a series of small metal wires that plug into a socket-type device, such as with a CPU. Other times the device package has a series of long metal wires for soldering to a circuit, as is the case with resistors.
Once a set of primary components is assembled into a larger assembly, other options are available for packaging these assemblies. Sometimes a circuit itself may be an electronic package, however, usually circuit boards and similar assemblies are enclosed in another type of electronic package. The type of package typically used is determined by the use of the assembly or the conditions under which it will be used. For example, a circuit board may be screwed onto a structure which simply holds it in place; however, it can be enclosed in plastic or resin to make it waterproof. It may also be enclosed in a sheet metal, cast, or machined metal case to prevent it from being affected by circuit noise, or the case may be airtight to create an airtight seal that prevents the assembly from being affected by atmospheric conditions.
Finally, there is the outer electronic packaging which forms the outer casing of the assembly, such as the sheet metal case of a DVD player. In consumer electronics this type of packaging design is often driven by consumer appeal; in industrial applications, however, it can be a complicated design that protects it from extreme heat, humidity, or other environmental conditions. Often this type of packaging isn’t designed to keep things out so much as to keep things in, as is the case with packaging designed to enclose high-voltage components securely.
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