DERRY, NH – StenTech® Inc., the leading multinational SMT Printing Solutions company, is excited to announce its participation in the SMTA Michigan and SMTA Ohio Expos. The company will exhibit its highly acclaimed Advanced Nano Coating and showcase its complete product line of various stencils and tooling. The expos are scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023, at Laurel Manor in Livonia, MI, and Thursday, Aug. 17th, 2023 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Cleveland- Rockside in Independence, Ohio.

As electronic packaging continues to miniaturize, the challenge of achieving precise solder paste deposition and meeting evolving IPC requirements remains ever-present. StenTech’s award-winning Advanced Nano Coating provides a groundbreaking solution to this challenge. Applied to the bottom side and inside the apertures of the stencil, this highly unique 1-3 micron hardened nano coating offers anti-adhesion properties, repelling solder flux and ensuring increased transfer of paste.

With Advanced Nano, transfer efficiency can be boosted by up to 25 percent, significantly reducing bridging and paste-related defects. The “non-stick” characteristics of the coating also lead to reduced underside cleaning, resulting in improved yields and reduced expenses on rework and touchup. Stencils coated with Advanced Nano are ready for use in just 30 minutes after coating, enhancing production efficiency and minimizing downtime.

With a history of pioneering stencil technology and introducing Fiber Diode lasers into North America, StenTech has established itself as an industry leader. The company's team of over 30 experienced CAD designers provides unparalleled support in stencil modifications, material recommendations, and thickness specifications, ensuring optimized stencil solutions for every application.

Visitors to the StenTech booth at the expos will have the opportunity to explore the full range of stencil technology offerings, custom-tailored to meet specific manufacturing needs in the SMT industry.

To learn more, visit www.StenTech.com

FREMONT, CA – Enovix Corporation (“Enovix”) (Nasdaq: ENVX), an advanced silicon battery company, announced today it has entered into a Master Service Agreement (“MSA”) with YBS International Berhad (“YBS”) (MESDAQ: YBS:KLS), a Malaysia-based investment holding company with segments including electronic manufacturing and assembly, high-precision engineering, and precision machining and stamping, among others. The agreement secures $70 million of non-dilutive funding to support Enovix’s Fab2 site in Penang, Malaysia, and its first Gen2 high-volume manufacturing line.

“We’re thrilled to announce this significant milestone in our journey to scale,” said Dr. Raj Talluri, President and CEO of Enovix. “Finalizing the agreement in a short amount of time is a great achievement and I’m very proud of the team. We’re all focused on establishing Fab2 and moving to high-volume manufacturing so we can provide a superior product for our customers and enable a better user experience for consumers.”

“We’re pleased to finalize our manufacturing agreement, opening up tremendous opportunities for growth and success globally,” said Dato’ Dr. Mohd Sofi Bin Osman, a YBS board member. “We look forward to a long-term collaboration with Enovix and bringing their leading battery technology to market.”

As part of the MSA, YBS, under the direction of Enovix, will provide the building and capital for equipment and labor for Fab2 and the Gen2 Autoline 1. Enovix announced earlier this year that it established Enovix Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (“Enovix Malaysia”). In addition, Enovix has hired more than 30 people in Malaysia including the two leaders announced in March. Enovix Malaysia’s Fab2 site is located in Penang Science Park.

“The Enovix Malaysia team is already making tremendous progress,” said Ajay Marathe, COO of Enovix. “They recently completed training at Fab1 in Fremont and the next step is Factory Acceptance Testing in South Korea, followed by Site Acceptance Testing in Malaysia. I am extremely pleased we finalized our agreement with YBS and are on track to produce first samples from the Gen2 Autoline 1 in April 2024.”

SANTA CLARA, CA ― Absolute EMS, Inc., an award-winning EMS provider of turnkey and consignment manufacturing services, proudly announces the appointment of Ray Amirkiai as its new Quality Manager. With an impressive background in quality assurance and operations engineering/management, Amirkiai brings a wealth of expertise and experience to further enhance Absolute EMS’s commitment to delivering exceptional contract manufacturing services.

Amirkiai’s career has been marked by outstanding achievements in the development of world-class networking equipment, consumer electronics, wireless products, storage devices, automotive components, and power-generating products. His notable projects include Amazon's Kindle, Disney’s Kid Phone, Motorola branded Cellular Devices, Phillips Optical Drives, and the Tesla Model 3 Instrument Panel.

As an expert in all aspects of supplier quality management, product quality and reliability, and New Product Introduction (NPI), Amirkiai has successfully deployed innovative product development processes and managed NPI projects in fast-moving, dynamic environments. He has a deep understanding of printed circuit board assembly (PCBA), enclosures, and system-level manufacturing processes, ensuring the highest standards of quality are maintained throughout the production cycle.

With a strong background in quality assurance, Amirkiai is well-versed in optimizing processes using quality tools such as FMEA, CpK, and SPC. He has also conducted numerous product design and regulatory qualifications testing, ensuring compliance with industry standards such as ISO13485:2016, AS9100 Rev D, ISO 9001:2015, IPC-A-610 Class 3, J-STD-001 Class 3, and UL registration.

“Ray’s extensive experience and proven track record in quality assurance and operations engineering will strengthen our commitment to delivering the highest quality EMS manufacturing services to our customers,” said Doug Dow, COO at Absolute EMS. “His expertise will enable us to continue exceeding expectations and maintaining our position as a leader in the industry.”

Amirkiai’s appointment is a strategic move by Absolute EMS to reinforce its position as a trusted partner for companies seeking high-quality EMS manufacturing services. With his leadership and expertise, Absolute EMS is poised to continue providing exceptional service to clients across various industries, including aerospace, medical, automotive, telecommunications, and consumer electronics.

“I am excited for the opportunity and honor of working with the great group of people at Absolute EMS,” stated Amirkiai. “In our initial communication, I realized the company is in a growth mode and would be the exact match to what I visioned for offering my expertise. The company continues to increase its capabilities with introducing new equipment and is committed to additional improvements, such as training and certifying personnel to J-STD-001 requirements for better support of the aerospace customers. I look forward to having a successful partnership and many great achievements together.”

Absolute EMS is a leader in end-to-end electronic manufacturing services solutions that help its customers rapidly introduce innovative new technology by facilitating speed-to-market in their marketplace. Based in Silicon Valley, the company provides world-class Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA).

For more information, visit www.absolute-ems.com 

CAMBRIDGE, UK – How far is printed/flexible electronics along the road to widespread adoption? The emerging manufacturing methodology, which replaces etched copper laminate with printed conductive inks on flexible substrates, offers multiple benefits, including flexibility/stretchability, the potential for low-cost roll-to-roll production, digital manufacturing/rapid prototyping, and improved sustainability. However, while undoubtedly the established manufacturing method for a small range of applications, printed/flexible electronics currently comprise a very small proportion of the total electronics industry.

Arguably the biggest success story of printed/flexible electronics is OLED displays, which are now ubiquitous in smartphones and widely used in TVs. However, with a few exceptions, such as foldable smartphone displays, these are neither printed nor flexible - while the emissive organic semiconductors can be printed, they are typically evaporated since that process is far more reproducible.

If OLED displays and the few established applications such as automotive seat occupancy sensors and glucose test strips are excepted, the printed/flexible electronics industry broadly follows the classic hype curve often used to describe the adoption of emerging technologies. Although clearly a simplification that aggregates many individual technologies and applications with different timelines, the hype curve nonetheless provides a helpful framework for characterizing industry sentiment.

A Compelling Vision

The original vision for printed/flexible electronics involved printing all circuit elements, including passive components such as resistors and capacitors, along with more sophisticated components such as logic and memory. Visions of printed electronic circuitry and devices such as photovoltaic panels, displays, and lighting rolling off production lines like newsprint captured the imagination. As such, printed/flexible electronics received considerable government and private funding, with many academic research groups exploring printable semiconductors for logic and photovoltaics.

This was followed in the 2000s and early 2010s by private investment into roll-to-roll production of both organic photovoltaics and printed logic, marking the zenith of the hype curve. Unfortunately, meeting market requirements of efficiency, durability, and cost proved challenging for both printed solar and logic, resulting in some cases of bankruptcy or strategic pivots.

Refining Product Market Fit

This realization that producing printed logic/memory that could compete with silicon integrated circuits was extremely challenging, along with the falling cost of conventional silicon photovoltaic panels, required adjustments from the nascent printed/flexible electronics industry. Rather than insist on printing the entire circuits, flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) gained traction as a compromise that combines conventional mounted components with printed functionality. Organic photovoltaics transitioned from aiming to compete on price to instead emphasizing other differentiators such as efficient indoor energy harvesting, lightweight for building integration, and easily tuneable designs.

Reaching the 'Slope of Enlightenment'

Recent years have seen much clearer targeting of printed/flexible electronics to specific applications where the technology offers significant enough benefits over the incumbent technology to merit adoption. Rather than 'here's a new technology with many widely relevant benefits', printed/flexible electronics companies instead offer specific solutions that happen to utilize printed/flexible electronics, often in conjunction with conventional electronics where appropriate.

As such, while the hype curve clearly hides many subtleties, IDTechEx regard the industry as a whole as on the 'slope of enlightenment'. A great example of this is successful commercialization after a strategic pivot, for example, a pivot from printed logic for RFID to producing transparent conductive foils for backlit touch interfaces that are now installed in mass-produced cars. Additional evidence for reaching this stage, where profitable use cases start to be found after the initial hype has faded, include the lack of new startups, with most early-stage players being 5-10 years old and have now identified the optimal product market fit. Furthermore, exhibited prototypes are now often produced in collaboration with a customer and generally show incremental improvements targeted at a specific application rather than novel capabilities. As such, expect to see an increasing commercial adoption of printed/flexible electronics across multiple sectors over the next few years, with applications ranging from wearable heaters to building leak sensors and from automotive touch interfaces to indoor photovoltaics.

Comprehensive Insight

IDTechEx has been researching developments in the printed and flexible electronics market for well over a decade. Since then, we have stayed close to technical and commercial developments, interviewing key players worldwide, annually attending conferences such as FLEX and LOPEC, delivering multiple consulting projects, and running classes/ workshops on the topic. "Flexible & Printed Electronics 2023-2033: Forecasts, Technologies, Markets" utilizes this experience and expertise to summarize IDTechEx's knowledge and insight across the entire field, with granular forecasts across 50 distinct applications and 40 detailed company profiles.

To find out more about this report, including downloadable sample pages, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/pe