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FEATURES

COVER STORY
SMT Reflow Oven-to-Oven Repeatability
SMT process engineers with multiple process lines traditionally needed to establish a different recipe for each reflow oven because of variation between equipment. Advancements now make it possible to adjust some reflow ovens so a single recipe will work “among” ovens running the same product.
by Fred Dimock

EMS Top 50
Bend, Don’t Break
If the EMS market in 2012 were a movie, it would have been the good (Nam Tai), the bad (the effects of RIM) and the ugly (Elcoteq). But most of the world’s 50 largest contract assemblers absorbed the blows from shrinking PC and cellphone margins and set their sights on the more profitable (if smaller) automotive and industrial sectors.
by Mike Buetow

Nanocoatings
Stencil Printing: The Next Big Thing is Actually Very Small
Originally met with overt industry skepticism, nanocoatings are quickly proving themselves in studies and in production. A look at the latest in the molecule technology.
by Chrys Shea

ESD Basics
Managing Your ESD Program
Enjoy all the software tools, but don’t forget the procedures.
by The ESD Association

Pan Pac Recap
High-Tech in Hawaii
The annual Pan Pacific Microelectronics Symposium brought together the industry’s top specialists from around the world, and process and equipment revelations were in abundance.
by Chrys Shea

FIRST PERSON

• Caveat Lector
  Knotted up.
  Mike Buetow

MONEY MATTERS

• ROI
  Incorporating new technology.
  Peter Bigelow

• Focus on Business
  Relationship make or breaks.
  Susan Mucha

TECH TALK

• Screen Printing
  Board to stencil alignment.
  Clive Ashmore

• Defects Database
  Clean those cavities.
  Dr. Chris Hunt

• Selective Soldering
  Bowed boards.
  Chris Denney

• Solar Technologies
  Dual print processes.
  Tom Falcon

• Test & Inspection
  Getting inline.
  Tian-Chiok Lian and Wee-Sheng Yong

• Technical Abstracts
  In Case You Missed It.