News
Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials (CEAM, Jersey City, NY) has introduced a new dulling flux technology, ALPHA EF-9301. The product is compatible with both tin/lead and lead-free processes and is designed to help manufacturers meet environmental regulations without sacrificing productivity.
Tested under real-world conditions, the flux was shown to deliver higher first pass yields, more throughputs and require less rework than competitors. It reduces bridging on connectors and bottom side components and provides superior hole filling. Additionally, it minimizes solderballing, significantly reducing board handling time. The flux creates smooth, fully dull solder joints, easing the visual inspection process. It is designed for both spray and foam applications, eliminating the need for investment in additional equipment.
CEAM has also announced the worldwide availability of ALPHA OM-338, an ultra fine lead-free solder paste. The no-clean solder paste is designed for a broad range of applications and is formulated to minimize the transition concerns from tin/lead to lead-free processes. It yields print capability performance across various board designs and is ideally suited for ultra fine feature and high throughput applications.
The paste provides voiding resistance and maximizes reflow yields across a range of thermal profiles. Full alloy coalescence can be achieved at circular dimensions as small as 0.25 mm. Use of the paste results in print consistency and rapid cycle times. It can be applied at print speeds of up to 200 mm/sec. The high performance of the solder paste increases plant efficiency, increases yield and reduces rework requirements. It meets the highest IPC voiding performance classification and is reliable, ensuring product longevity. The paste is halide-free and compatible with either nitrogen or air reflow processing.
CEAM has also introduced ALPHA Vaculoy SACX307 lead-free wave solder alloy, which will be available worldwide through Cookson's global distribution network. The alloy delivers high yield and fast throughput, while meeting the strict lead-free environmental mandates.
Its fast wetting speed delivers improved solderability, outperforming all Sn/Cu based alloys. It provides excellent drainage and minimizes bridging defects. The alloy creates strong, mechanically sound joints with long-term reliability. The solder minimizes dross generation, resulting in low process maintenance and reduced product waste.
The process window supports the use of a wide range of flux technologies.
CEAM, a Cookson Electronics company, develops, manufactures and sells materials used in the electronics assembly process. CEAM supplies a full line of solder paste, stencils, squeegee blades, stencil and printed circuit board (PCB) cleaners, bar solder, cored wire solder, wave soldering fluxes and surface-mount device adhesives.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
As attendance totals indicate, the first co-located IPC SMEMA Council's APEX/IPC Printed Circuits Expo/IPC Designers Summit exhibition and conference, held Feb. 24-26 in Anaheim, CA, proved to be a wise investment for the show's exhibitors. IPC (Northbrook, IL) announced today that the attendance increased 8% over last year, from a combined exhibition total of 5,300 in 2003 to 5,700 attendees this year. Additionally, the co-location increased traffic at both shows, with 60% of attendees indicating they would take part in the offerings of both the APEX and Expo events.
The three-day event attracted 10,200 total visitors (attendees and exhibitors) to the Anaheim Convention Center, which featured 480 companies covering more than 154,350 sq. ft. of exhibit space. The professional development courses welcomed nearly 1,300 participants and 1,100 people attended the technical conference. Also, this year's Interconnect Manufacturing Services (IMS) / Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Presidents Management and Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) Management Council meetings continued to draw strong numbers, with a total of 105 senior level managers in attendance.
Wendy Stallman, corporate communications manager at Electro Scientific Industries, concurred with McGuirk, "The quality of attendance at this year's event shows that the market is turning around. It is refreshing to see that people are beginning to make purchases again for existing equipment and that they are beginning to embrace new process technologies, such as embedded passives."
Attendee Mark Basich, manufacturing manager at Rauland Borg, siad, "The show was highly informative this year. It was well organized and having the shows at the same time allowed us to reduce the amount of time and energy we spent in previous years to meet and greet others in the industry."
Next year's co-located show will take place Feb. 22-24, 2005 in the same location.
IPC also recognized this year's best U.S. and international papers at its co-located exhibition and conference. Each winning paper received a $1,000 honorarium and a commemorative plaque from IPC.
"Tin Whisker Growth—Substrate Effect Understanding CTE Mismatch and IMC Formation" received the Best U.S. Paper award. Cookson Electronics' Dr. Yun Zhang, Chonglun Fan, Dr. Chen Xu, Oscar Khaselev and Dr. Joseph Abys co-authored the winning paper.
In addition, IPC recognized the following papers as Honorable Mentions: "Mechanical Bending Technique for Determining CSP Design and Assembly Weaknesses," by Mark R. Larsen and Dr. Ian R. Harvey from the University of Utah, David Turner of Inovar, Inc., Brent Porter of Bourns Electronics and James Ortowski from EDO Ceramics; and "Design of Experiment in Micro-Via Thermal Fatigue Test," by Dr. Tse Eric Wong, Harold S. Fenger and Dr. Isaac C. Chen of Raytheon Electronic Systems.
The Martin L. Barton Best International Paper Award, named for former APEX Technical Conference Director Martin Barton, was awarded to "Phosphorus in Electroless Nickel Layers—Curse or Blessing." The paper was authored by Atotech Deutschland GmbH's Sven Lamprecht and Hans Jurgen Schreier, as well as Kuldip Johal and Hugh Roberts of Atotech USA.
IPC recognized "The Effect of Thermal Loaded Bend Test on the Solder Joint Reliability," co-authored by Yuanze University Taiwan's Dr. Yeongshu Chen, C.S. Wang and C.H. Chen, as well as Solectron Corp.'s Dr. Aichyun Shiah, with an Honorable Mention for this international paper.
Copies of the winning papers are included in the 2004 Technical Conference Proceedings. They will also be published in the IPC's Review, a monthly publication distributed to IPC members.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
A new report, The Chinese Challenge, Intellectual Property (IP) in China Manufacturing and Markets, will be released by consulting firm Technology Forecasters Inc. (TFI, Alameda, CA) on March, 22. The report will include comprehensive tactics for protecting and defending electronics IP in China.
The Chinese Challenge presents up-to-date and thorough research on crafting a broad, multilayered IP protection plan for electronics products made or sold in China. The report is the result of interviews with engineers and managers from name-brand and contract-manufacturing electronics companies, as well as discussions with industry experts, trade associations and U.S. and Chinese government officials.
One of the major contentions of the report is that protection of electronics IP in China operations is more than a legal problem. The report focuses on production policies to minimize loss of control over IP, supply chain systems to guarantee quality inputs, as well as technical fixes to track products and support product redesign, making copying more difficult. Based on a review of tactics and research, the report offers an Electronics IP Checklist with cost factors, effectiveness and advisability.
This report is authored by TFI associate Clive Jones, economist and managing director of Economic Data Resources, with the assistance of Ting Liu.
According to Jones, "China offers tremendous cost savings, but there can be tradeoffs against future market share. Companies need a range of tactics to check or slow down the diffusion of valuable IP to Chinese competitors."
Two major groups of IP violators exist: smaller groups of counterfeiters and black marketers, and task groups in larger Chinese electronics companies. The latter group currently operates mostly below the radar. The smaller operations are responsible for most of the cases identified to date. They assemble from a combination of sources: authentic or at least grey market, black market, counterfeit and quality rejects. Their efforts are largely directed at simpler electronics products and supplies, although they have tried their hand at assembling systems like computer servers. Jones points out that "threats from larger companies are also very real, as witnessed by the existence of 'departments of reverse engineering' in some of the larger Chinese electronics concerns."
Table 1
Comparing Patents in China and U.S.
|
China Patents |
US Patents |
|
First to file |
First to invent |
|
Patents of invention (20 yeas) |
Utility patents (20 years) |
|
Industrial design patents (10 years) |
Design patents (14 years) |
|
Utility model patents (10 years) |
N/A |
|
N/A |
Plant (biological) patents (14 years) |
|
Criteria: novelty, inventiveness, practical applicability |
Criteria: non-obviousness, innovative |
|
Maintenance fees paid annually |
Maintenance fees paid 3.5, 5.5, and 11.5 years after issue |
|
Chinese agent, licensed by the State Intellectual Property Office, required for application |
Applicant can file |
To order the report, contact TFI's Eric Miscoll: (817) 488-9456; email: emiscoll@techforecasters.com.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
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