FEATURES

• Process Improvement
  Reducing BGA Defects with AXI Inspection
  How large can a BGA void be and still be considered acceptable? This study established the ideal sensitivity setting for catching BGA voids.
  Zhen (Jane) Feng, Ph.D., Eduardo Toledo, Jonathan Jian and Murad Kurwa

• ROHS Compliance
  RoHS and the Supply Chain
  The time is at hand to switch to lead-free parts. What are the issues involved?
  Chris Reynolds

• IC Testing
  The Basics of Boundary Scan
  Eliminate ICT and functional test while reusing test data.
  Stefan Meissner

• Ag Solderability
  Wetting Characteristics of Pb-Free Alloys of Interest
  Regardless of flux, silver-containing alloys can achieve acceptable wetting at high temperatures.
  Anna Lifton, Ronald A. Bulwith and Louis M. Picchione

• Cover Story
  Stencil Design for Pb-Free SMT Assembly
  The new process will require a few tweaks from SnPb standards.
  Chrys Shea

• Optical Inspection
  Pb-Free Flip Chip and CSP Inspection
  A review of failure analysis data for area arrays used in Pb-free soldering shows topside ball delamination that x-ray alone cannot detect. A new nondestructive optical inspection technology can, however.
  Mark Cannon and Juergen Friedrich

FIRST PERSON

• Caveat Lector
  Ron Daniels, 1948-2005.
  Mike Buetow

• Talking Heads
  SMT Resource's Malcolm Montanjees.
  Robin Norvell

MONEY MATTERS

• Focus on Business
  Reps and EMS.
  Susan Mucha

• Global Sourcing
  Buy far, buy near.
  Greg Papandrew

TECH TALK

• On the Forefront
  3-D: Looking good.
  E. Jan Vardaman

• Screen Printing
  Laser: A "cut" above plastic?
  Clive Ashmore

• Better Manufacturing
  R's and C's of embedding passives.
  Peter Grundy

• Countdown to Pb-Free
  Equipment changes for Pb-free soldering.
  Jasbir Bath

• NEW: Wave Soldering
  Controlling the wave.
  Gerjan Diepstraten

• Test and Inspection
  Process characterization made easy.
  Stig Oresjo, Thorsten Niermeyer and Stacy Johnson

• Optoelectronics Assembly
  Testing optoelectronic components.
  Michael Shores

• Process Doctor
  Silver and green.
  Terry Munson

• Technical Abstracts

DEPARTMENTS

Assembly Insider
Industry News
Market Watch
Product Spotlight
Ad Index
Classifieds

On the cover: "Homeplate" apertures will be replaced by a variety of new designs. (David Gilder)