2015 Magazine Archives

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FEATURES

PACKAGING
Cost/Benefit Tradeoffs of Capacitor Part Size vs. Manufacturing Efficiency
Passives continue to eat up 70% of the board area. How smaller part sizes require less solder and can eliminate parasitic inductance.
by Chris Reynolds

COMPONENT PROCESSING
Embedded Passive Technology Materials, Design and Process
EPT can simplify assembly and test processes and reduce the actual cost, especially when using 0201 packages or lead-free processes. A summary of resistor material selection, evaluations and duplication of a complex digital design.
by Hikmat Chammas

INSPECTION
A New SPI Tool for Defect Prevention
A new automated solder paste inspection routine can check for paste volume imbalance to preempt the defects prior to component placement. Plus: Adding an on-board jet dispenser overcomes insufficients in a single step.
by Chrys Shea

DEFECTS DATABASE
Lighting the Wick
Capillary effect can thin conformal coating, but simply adding more material isn’t the answer.
by Dr. Chris Hunt

FIRST PERSON

• CAVEAT LECTOR
  Is sharing for suckers?
  Mike Buetow

MONEY MATTERS

• ROI
  What’s hot this year?
  Peter Bigelow
  

• FOCUS ON BUSINESS
  Governed solutions?
  Joseph Fama

TECH TALK

• TEST AND INSPECTION
  Five things I know about AXI.
  Robert Boguski
• GETTING LEAN
  Standard test platforms.
  Jorge Zamarripa