Received 23 March 2011, published online 25 March 2011 Defence Science Journal, Vol. 61, No. 4, July 2011, pp. 354-363, DOI: 10.14429/dsj.61.1085  2011, DESIDOC 354 1. INTRODUCTION With continuous innovation and advancement in electronics, more and more aerospace systems, from aero- engine to passenger entertainment, have advanced electronic circuitry as an integral part of their functioning and forms large portion of non-recurring cost of the airplane systems 2 . Mobile communication services are provided for the passengers. While servicing the aircraft, technicians are provided with special goggles which can project three-dimensional diagrams, which facilitate to use both hands repair, thereby dispensing off the conventional manual. Aerospace systems require high performance interconnectivity with excellent electrical and proven performance. From the perspective of defence, air force of a country has a major role to play in warfare strategy. With the introduction of various types of missiles, active aperture phase array radar and airborne surveillance systems, the need for high performance has increased. Reliability of the system needs to be addressed, right from the beginning by the selection of appropriate process components and laminates. Success of an industry depends on its capability to discover, innovate, and incorporate technical knowledge. Rapid globalisation of world markets and economies alter the international business relationships, competition, and other issues, thereby widening the challenges for interconnection industry for time to market and cost effciency 2 . Prosperity of such an organisation depends on new products brought out by the integration of engineering disciplines. Development of control processing units and rapid expansion of memory device capabilities, realised by the development of large-scale integrated circuits (LSI) and other electronic devices with higher integration and with new functionalities. Enormous efforts have been made for the development of system-on- chip (SOC), where a single semiconductor chip constituting a complete system is bonded on substrate. These changes in packaging technology made a big impact on the laminates used in printed circuit boards(PCBs) 5 . The global market for the PCBs (which was around $ 52.6 billion during 2007 with major contributions from Japan, china and Taiwan) are forecasted to be over $ 76 billion in 2012. Production in India is around $ 0.34 billion 13 . As can be seen, PCB industry is globally well established and is focusing towards products having large demand such as consumer, communication, computing, etc. PCB manufacturing is highly process-oriented and uses expertise from different branches of science and engineering. The industry uses many proprietary materials which have their optimised parameters to achieve production effciency and profts. With the mandatory requirement of global standards, processes and laminate systems need to be improved continuously. This necessitates initiation of research activities in the area of airborne laminate system to match the ever increasing interconnection densities. This forms an important expertise towards building core competency and concurrent engineering, which are essential for making a product successful. Avionics systems are a complex mix of computers, sensors, radar, communication, navigation, actuators and display units that are integrated and majority of these are located in the High Performance Interconnection Technology in Avionics C.R. Raghunath, Punya Prabha V., H.S. Yeshaswini, T.N. Sushma, and H. Rashmi M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bengaluru-560 054 E-mail: raghunath_lrde@yahoo.co.in ABSTRACT Avionics sub-systems continue to get smaller and more functional, driving the total circuit package itself to become denser, causing the printed wiring board (PWB) to evolve new laminates to meet these needs. There is a continuous scope for improvement to match the requirement of wireability demand from high density and high speed integrated circuits. Development of control processing units and rapid expansion of memory device capabilities were realised by the development of large-scale integrated circuits and other electronic devices with higher integration and with new functionalities. Enormous efforts have been put on the development of the system-on-chip (SOC), where a single semiconductor chip constituting complete system is bonded on substrate. These innovations in packaging technology made a big impact on laminates used in printed circuit boards. Aircraft systems are expected to withstand disturbances due to unexpected threats. Under such situations, passengers’ safety, emergency landing and timely information to pilot become of paramount importance, hence, new innovative laminate systems are being developed. Various aspects of laminates and the current developments that are taking place are facilitating scientists and engineers in selecting appropriate laminate systems, have been discussed. Keywords: Avionics, integrated circuits, large-scale integrated circuits, packaging technology, system-on-chip, laminates systems, interconnection technology SHORT COMMUNICATION