Alexander Coucoulas

Alexander Coucoulas is an American research engineer and inventor who spent most of his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories and helped establish thermosonic wire bonding as a manufacturing process.亚历山大·库库拉斯（Alexander Coucoulas）是美国研究工程师与发明家，大部分职业生涯在 AT&T 贝尔实验室度过，并推动热超声引线键合成为制造工艺。

His work on bonding silicon chips and optical components produced patents, conference papers and two best-paper awards.他在硅芯片与光学元件键合方面的工作带来了专利、会议论文以及两项最佳论文奖。

Biography

• Alexander Coucoulas was born in New York City, the son of Greek immigrants from Smyrna in Asia Minor.亚历山大·库库拉斯出生在纽约市，父母是来自小亚细亚士麦那的希腊移民。
• His father, Demetrios Koukoulas, was a wounded Smyrnaean Greek soldier rescued from the Aegean by a Japanese naval cruiser during the fire of Smyrna in September 1922.他的父亲德米特里奥斯·库库拉斯是一名受伤的士麦那希腊士兵，1922 年 9 月士麦那大火期间被一艘日本海军巡洋舰从爱琴海救起。
• The cruiser took him to Piraeus, and in November 1922 he reached the United States through Ellis Island on the steamship King Alexander.那艘巡洋舰把他带到比雷埃夫斯，1922 年 11 月他乘「King Alexander」号轮船经埃利斯岛抵达美国。
• Coucoulas served in the United States Army as a combat engineer in the Far East Command in the early 1950s and received the National Defense Service Medal for the Korean War.20 世纪 50 年代初，库库拉斯在美国陆军远东司令部担任战斗工兵，并因朝鲜战争获得国防服务奖章。
• He then earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in metallurgical engineering and materials science at New York University, supported by the GI Bill, a graduate scholarship and part-time work.随后他在纽约大学获得冶金工程与材料科学的本科和研究生学位，学费由退伍军人法案、研究生奖学金与兼职工作支持。
• His graduate thesis was supervised by Kurt Komarek, a former rector of the University of Vienna, and the two co-authored a paper based on the thesis.他的研究生论文由维也纳大学前校长库尔特·科马雷克指导，两人基于该论文合著了一篇文章。
• His first industrial research position was at the Air Reduction Central Research facility in New Jersey, where he studied the microstructure of solid carbon dioxide.他的第一份工业研究职位在新泽西的空气还原中央研究机构，在那里研究固态二氧化碳的微观结构。
• That work, co-authored for the Transactions of the Metallurgical Society of AIME, examined the brittleness known as sandiness in manufactured dry ice blocks.这项为《美国采矿、冶金与石油工程师学会会刊》合著的工作，考察了工业干冰块中称为「砂性」的脆化现象。
• He joined AT&T Bell Laboratories and retired in 1996 as a member of the technical staff.他加入 AT&T 贝尔实验室，并于 1996 年以技术职员身份退休。
• At Bell Labs he worked on electronic and photonic packaging, laser technology and optical fibers, areas that produced numerous patents and publications.在贝尔实验室，他研究电子与光子封装、激光技术和光纤，这些领域产生了大量专利与出版物。
• He co-authored the 1971 book Physical Design of Electronic Systems and the 1979 volume Thin Film Technology.他合著了 1971 年的《电子系统物理设计》与 1979 年的《薄膜技术》。
• He was married to Marie Janssen Coucoulas, a learning consultant who worked with learning-disabled children.他与玛丽·詹森·库库拉斯结婚，后者是一名学习顾问，从事学习障碍儿童的工作。
• Their daughters Diane and Andrea became, respectively, a professor at the University of North Carolina and an elementary school student counselor.他们的女儿黛安与安德烈娅分别成为北卡罗来纳大学教授与小学学生辅导员。

Research

• In the mid-1960s Coucoulas reported the first thermosonic wire bonds, formed by combining heat, ultrasonic vibration and pressure.20 世纪 60 年代中期，库库拉斯报告了首批热超声引线键合，通过结合热量、超声振动与压力形成。^[1]
• He adapted a commercial ultrasonic wire bonder to attach aluminum wires to tantalum thin films deposited on glass, a model for bonding leads to fragile metallized silicon chips.他改装一台商用超声引线键合机，把铝线键合到沉积在玻璃上的钽薄膜，以此模拟引线键合到脆弱金属化硅芯片的过程。
• He found that the ultrasonic energy and pressure needed to deform the wire caused frequent cracks in the glass or silicon substrate.他发现，使引线变形所需的超声能量与压力经常导致玻璃或硅衬底开裂。
• Adding heat to the bond region during the ultrasonic cycle almost eliminated the glass failure, because the wire deformed more easily at lower ultrasonic energy and pressure.在超声循环中给键合区域加热几乎消除了玻璃失效，因为引线在较低超声能量与压力下更容易变形。
• He attributed the improved deformation to a shift from cold working toward hot working, with recrystallization softening the wire where strain hardening had been strongest.他把变形改善归因于从冷加工向热加工的转变，再结晶在应变硬化最强处使引线软化。
• Thermal softening and ultrasonic softening at the atomic lattice level thus acted together to produce the required contact area.热软化与原子晶格层面的超声软化因此共同作用，形成所需的接触面积。
• George Harman later wrote that Coucoulas's early thermosonic work justified calling him the father of thermosonic bonding.乔治·哈曼后来写道，库库拉斯的早期热超声工作足以称他为热超声键合之父。
• In 1970 Coucoulas reported further hot-work ultrasonic bonding, joining copper wires to palladium films on aluminum oxide substrates.1970 年，库库拉斯报告了进一步的热加工超声键合，把铜线键合到氧化铝衬底上的钯薄膜。
• Thermosonic bonding became the dominant method for connecting lead frames to silicon integrated circuits because it uses lower temperature, force and dwell time than thermocompression bonding.热超声键合成为连接引线框架与硅集成电路的主流方法，因为它比热压键合使用更低的温度、压力与停留时间。
• It also uses lower vibratory energy than pure ultrasonic bonding, which reduces damage to the fragile chip during the bonding cycle.它也比纯超声键合使用更低的振动能量，从而减少键合循环中对脆弱芯片的损伤。
• The process is used in flip-chip assembly, in Josephson junction and DC SQUID devices and in light-emitting diode connections.该工艺用于倒装芯片组装、约瑟夫森结与直流超导量子干涉器件，以及发光二极管连接。
• Hamburg researchers reported that ultrasonic bonding alone degraded YBaCuO7 microstructures, while Coucoulas's thermosonic process left them intact.汉堡的研究者报告，单独使用超声键合会损伤 YBaCuO7 微结构，而库库拉斯的热超声工艺能使这些结构保持完好。
• Coucoulas also invented compliant bonding, a solid-state method that transmitted heat and pressure through a compliant aluminum tape.库库拉斯还发明了柔顺键合，这是一种通过柔性铝带传递热量与压力的固态键合方法。^[2]
• The tape compensated for thickness variations in the beam leads and also served as a carrier that brought the chip to the bonding site.铝带补偿了梁式引线的厚度差异，并作为载体把芯片送到键合位置。
• His later AlO bonding method joined oxide optical components to aluminum-coated substrates and was granted a United States patent.他后来的 AlO 键合方法把氧化物光学元件连接到镀铝衬底，并获得美国专利。
• The dry-ice study showed that solid carbon dioxide can display microstructural features similar to those of metals and ceramics near their melting points.干冰研究表明，固态二氧化碳可以呈现类似金属与陶瓷接近熔点时出现的微观结构特征。
• His packaging research thus moved between metallurgy, microelectronics and photonics rather than staying within a single discipline.他的封装研究因此游走于冶金学、微电子学与光子学之间，而没有局限于单一学科。

Awards

• He received the best paper and presentation award for Compliant Bonding at the 20th Electronic Components Conference in 1970, with the award presented at the 21st conference in 1971.他因「柔顺键合」获得 1970 年第 20 届电子元件会议最佳论文与报告奖，奖项于 1971 年第 21 届会议上颁发。
• The compliant bonding paper was selected from more than ninety papers presented by engineers and research scientists from around the world.那篇柔顺键合论文从来自世界各地的工程师与研究科学家提交的九十多篇论文中选出。
• In 1971 the Indiana chapter of the International Society for Hybrid Microelectronics gave him a certificate of appreciation for advancing microelectronics technology.1971 年，国际混合微电子学会印第安纳分会因他推动微电子技术进步而授予他表彰证书。
• Twenty-three years later he received the outstanding paper award at the 43rd Electronic Components and Technology Conference in 1993 for his AlO bonding paper.二十三年后，他因 AlO 键合论文在 1993 年第 43 届电子元件与技术会议上获得杰出论文奖。
• The AlO bonding award was presented at the 44th conference in 1994, and the method also earned him a United States patent.AlO 键合奖于 1994 年第 44 届会议上颁发，该方法还为他赢得了一项美国专利。
• His two best-paper awards came from the same conference series and recognized inventions that he had already patented.他的两项最佳论文奖来自同一会议系列，表彰的都是他已获得专利的发明。
• In later literature George Harman's description of him as the father of thermosonic bonding became the most frequently quoted assessment of his standing.在后来的文献中，乔治·哈曼称他为热超声键合之父的说法，成为对其学术地位最常被引用的评价。

Personal life

• Coucoulas was a native New Yorker and the child of Ionian Greek immigrants who had been born in Smyrna.库库拉斯是土生土长的纽约人，父母是出生在士麦那的伊奥尼亚希腊移民。
• His father's rescue in 1922 and passage through Ellis Island became a family story that Coucoulas later recounted in his own account of his background.父亲 1922 年获救并经由埃利斯岛入境的经历，成为库库拉斯后来讲述自身背景时反复提及的家族故事。
• His military service in the Far East Command preceded his university studies, which were financed by the GI Bill and part-time jobs.他在远东司令部的服役早于大学学业，学业由退伍军人法案与兼职工作资助。
• His wife Marie worked as a professional learning consultant for children with learning disabilities.他的妻子玛丽是一名专业学习顾问，为有学习障碍的儿童服务。
• Diane became a university professor and Andrea an elementary school counselor, both in North Carolina.黛安成为大学教授，安德烈娅成为小学辅导员，两人都在北卡罗来纳州工作。
• His patents and conference papers were the main record of a career spent largely inside one industrial laboratory.他的专利与会议论文，是这段大部分时间在一家工业实验室内度过的职业生涯的主要记录。