Semiconductor scientists and electronics engineers who need fast, accurate answers about the properties of various materials have a new online database that may be the most complete resource of its kind.

For 45 years, Purdue University has compiled and analyzed materials property data through its Center for Information, Numerical Data Analysis and Synthesis (CINDAS). In the early eighties, Purdue published the center's collection in a series of hard-back volumes entitled "Thermophysical Properties of Matter - the TPRC Data Series."

Matter of Data on Matter

"This data is considered to be the most complete collection of its kind in the world," said Joseph Hornett, senior vice president and treasurer of the Purdue University Research Foundation. "It will allow engineers, researchers and other scientists to perform comparative analysis of different materials, optimize material selection, and ensure material compatibility, resulting in safer, more reliable designs."

Under an exclusive licensing agreement, the Purdue Research Foundation has granted CINDAS LLC rights to the immense collection of mechanical, physical, electrical, thermal and optical properties for particular types of materials.

"Purdue published more than 1,000 of the 13-volume sets at 17,000 pages per set," said CINDAS LLC president Frank Mason. "They sold quickly, and since then, Purdue has received numerous requests to post the information electronically."

The new electronic, searchable version -- sporting the streamlined title "Thermophysical Properties of Matter Database" (TPMD) -- "will become essential for product designers," Mason told NewsFactor.

TPMD, Mason added, will answer questions critical to the chip and electronics industries, such as, "How is heat transferred through the material?" and, "How does it cool down?"

Newly Packaged Packaging Database

CINDAS LLC also is offering the "Microelectronics Packaging Materials Database" (MPMD) which contains information on the thermal, mechanical, electrical and physical properties of materials used in the microelectronics-packaging industry.

Purdue scientists spent 20 years developing this database with Semiconductor Research Corp., which has spent more than US$460 million seeking semiconductor innovations.

Critical analysis, data evaluation, literature searching, and experimental measurements come together in the MPMD, explained Purdue University spokesperson Jeanine Phipps.

"The MPMD is a unique source of reliable materials-properties data and supports leading-edge packaging design and manufacturing, selecting materials, and performing compatibility checks," CINDAS' Mason said.

Pricey or Priceless?

Researchers can search both databases by the material name, a desired property or even a partial name. All data sets contain the composition of the material, references and a dynamic graphical display.

Database users can compare the same properties of different materials on the same graph, Phipps explained. Users also can export data and add or delete proprietary information.

CINDAS LLC will continue to update and expand the databases with information collected during Purdue's long collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense (news - web sites), during which time CINDAS analyzed the thermophysical, mechanical and electronic properties of ceramics and metals.

Researchers may purchase or lease the CINDAS data on CD-ROM or as a Web-based service, Phipps told NewsFactor, for a price that may yield priceless new technologies.

"When researchers need to know how different materials react under varying conditions, they want the best available data at their fingertips," Mason said.

Source: Yahoo