MIT Reporter

Fungi Fodder?

  • March 1998
  • By Carol Potera
   

Fungi. They decimate Dutch elm trees and disfigure toe-nails, blacken bread and rot logs. And that's not all. A group of researchers at MIT and Harvard University have now shown that the same culprits can corrode the protective polymer coatings that package and insulate complex integrated circuits. If this work holds up, it may suggest an explanation for the unexpected failures that sometimes plague electronic systems.

Complex electrical circuits resemble a club sandwich, with chips and wires smothered between insulating layers of polymers called polyimides. The aerospace and electronics industries rely on polyimides because they are strong and lightweight, repel moisture, stand up to high temperatures and flames, and resist ultraviolet rays and other damaging atmospheric radiation.

 

To read the entire article you must log in:

Most of our content — all daily news, blogs, and videos — is free. Magazine stories are paid. To read this story, you must have a subscription or you must use a reading credit. Registration to Technology Review is free and entitles registrants to three free reading credits.

Username or REGISTER
Password  
   
 
Advertisement

MAGAZINE

Can We Build Tomorrow's Breakthroughs?

Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.

Videos

Meet 2011 TR35 Winner Jesse Robbins

More

Advertisement

Technology Review Lists

TR50

Our list of the 50 most innovative companies, including the following:

Cellular Dynamics International

Twitter

Siemens

Roche

More

Advertisement

Facebook

Advertisement