Thermoanalytical characterization of electronic materials.

This is the substance of an invited address of the 20th Anniversary Conference of the Japanese Society of Calorimetry and Thermal Analysis and will appear in their proceedings. The diverse demands of the electronics and communications industries require a very wide range of materials, e.g metals, ceramics, semiconductors, polymers, etc. Essential to the ability to create or develop new materials and devices, is the power to characterize and understand the critical properties and processes involved. A wide range of thermoanalytical methods frequently perform a crucial role in gaining these insights. A broad survey of applications is described in a general manner to illustrate the versatility of thermal analysis in this field and a few prominent examples are selected and discussed in greater detail.