The art of electronic packaging is being integrated into the monolithic and hybrid integrated circuit (IC) and printed circuit board (PCB) card manufacturing and is heading towards system-on-a-chip (SoC) and/or system-on-a-package (SOP) technologies.


This paper traces the course of this progression, from the beginnings of electronics packaging technology in the nineteen-fifties to its present state, and discusses the direction in which it the technology is ultimately headed.