Sarah Boisvert, LIA Fellow, and Potomac Co-founder, introduces the meeting.

Two technical presentations on the application of lasers in microelectronic packaging kicked off the inaugural meeting of LIA’s new Mid-Atlantic Chapter.

Potomac Photonics, Inc., a LIA Corporate Member, hosted the meeting in their Lanham, MD headquarters on May 24 to a group from academia, industry and government.

Alberto Piqué [right in photo] of the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C. presented an overview of novel approaches developed at the lab for printing complex materials using Laser Direct-Write fabrication techniques.  He also described related work in “Lase-and-Place” as a method to use lasers in the placement of tiny components directly onto new miniaturized circuit boards.

Paul Christensen’s work is an extension of a joint DARPA contract the two groups had in the mid-1990s.  The National Science Foundation funded a SBIR Phase II contract to work on new fabrication techniques that allow for creation of complex electronics packaging platforms.

Shrimp, Crab Balls, Wine & Beer enjoyed by all!

Many people commented on the good opportunity a small regional meeting is for interaction with colleagues. Ted Reutzel of Penn State’s Applied Research Lab saw such great value in the meeting he volunteered to host the next meeting at Penn State. All in all, our first meeting was a great success!

About LIA – Laser Institute of America (LIA) is the professional society for laser applications and safety serving the industrial, educational, medical, research and government communities throughout the world since 1968. LIA is the secretariat and publisher of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z136 series of laser safety standards.

For more information, visit www.lia.org.