HARROGATE, UK — There has always been a special relationship between the USA and the UK, and Robotas have been supporting their US customers for the past 25 years. However, to further improve their special relationship with the USA electronics market, Robotas has decided to invest in a new facility in Dayton, Ohio.

Having this facility will give the ability to offer its customers a USA based technical support and training location. Robotas spare parts and demo equipment will also be available on USA home soil. Customers will now also have the option of collecting their Robotas systems directly from the Dayton facility, rather than having to collect them from the UK.

Nick Walters, MD Robotas Technologies Ltd said: “The global market is changing, and we feel it is the right time to invest in the USA. The increasing number of projects we are seeing across the different states has meant that we needed a Robotas base in the USA to provide the best value to our customers, to support them both commercially and technically.

See more about Robotas’ Products here: https://www.robotas.com/apex-2023-clinch/

MUNICH — Würth Elektronik is relocating its Munich site from Garching to Freiham. With the Hightech Innovation Center Munich (HIC), a state-of-the-art building with a working and test field landscape, has been created in the west side of the metropolis. The new facility offers the latest new-work approaches and space for 250 employees in the first construction phase. True to the company’s motto “more than you expect,” the HIC is not only an investment in the future of the company, but also in Munich as a location. With the new facilities, there will be no limits to the engineers and scientists working on exciting topics such as wireless connectivity, sensor technology, power modules, IoT, cloud & software services, and Big Data. Within the next few years, an additional building with another 250 workstations will be built. This will provide sufficient space for growth and development.

At the Garching site, the focus was largely on research and product development. In addition, valuable partnerships had been established due to the close proximity to various semiconductor manufacturers and universities. However, despite several expansions, the premises were still too small for the tech company. The HIC opens up completely new possibilities for the now 140-strong team to drive forward its own innovations “Made in Germany”. A special highlight is the large test field, including two EMC test chambers, in which electromagnetic compatibility is tested. The test field accounts for around a quarter of the total area.

“Our Hightech Innovation Center is another milestone in the success story of Würth Elektronik. After the intensive construction phase, we are moving into the new premises today together with our employees. We can literally feel the dawn of a new phase as an electronics manufacturer. Innovations now also have the space they need in Bavaria – from the idea to the finished product,” says Oliver Opitz, Site Manager at the Hightech Innovation Center.

Würth Elektronik sees itself not only as a manufacturer, but also as a committed partner to industry with the mission of “Creating Together.” At the heart of its actions is a service philosophy characterized by partnership-based advice and support for customers throughout the entire product life cycle.

“Only together can we solve the challenges we face as an industry, but also as a society. With the HIC, we have created further conditions for our employees to tackle this complex task,” says Thomas Schrott, CEO of Würth Elektronik eiSos and Head of Business Unit of the Würth Group. “We are convinced that the investment in the HIC will quickly pay off and are personally very grateful to Prof. Würth for this investment. At last, we will be able to pool our development expertise, network specialist areas and develop future technologies together. We are looking forward to everything that lies ahead.”

MANASSAS, VA — ZESTRON, the leading global provider of high-precision cleaning products, services, and training solutions in the electronics manufacturing and semiconductor industries, is pleased to announce that ZESTRON’s Senior Application Engineer, Ravi Parthasarathy will be presenting, “Process Considerations for Defluxing Ultra-Fine Pitch Die on CoWs”, at IPC APEX 2023 taking place in San Diego, California.

CoW (Chip on Wafer) is the next generation of CoS (Chip on Substrate) that first combines the chips to the interposer, adds wafer-level molding, and finally, they are connected to the flip chip (FC) substrate. This technology makes a better physical structure for accommodating very large die and larger overall interposer dimensions.

A continuation from the technical paper presented at APEX 2022 and titled “Defluxing of Copper Pillar Bumped Flip Chips,” this new study concentrates on cleaning under the next level of ultra-fine pitch CoW devices down to less than 25μm bump pitch and bump counts of more than 150K. This study focuses on the impact of wash temperatures and conveyor belt speed utilizing analytical/functional testing, including Visual Inspection, FTIR with color mapping, and SEM/EDX to assess cleanliness.

To download the APEX 2022 technical paper, “Defluxing of Copper Pillar Bumped Flip Chips” visit the ZESTRON Technical Articles page.

REDDITCH, UK — Lean manufacturing goals are still top of the agenda for companies producing electronic devices. Maximising productivity while minimising waste within a manufacturing operation is the main objective, and an important part of this principle is automation. Altus Group, a leading distributor of capital equipment, is assisting its customers with assembly solutions, including platforms designed to improve and automate high volume, high mix placement processes.

Labour intensive THT (Through Hole Technology) is still used in the assembly of PCBAs. This process is not only expensive, but also requires highly-skilled operators with the added challenge of human-error reducing quality. To automate the process and improve productivity Altus advises using Cencorp odd-form solutions.

Joe Booth, Altus CEO said: “Odd-form process automation is an efficient way to improve profitability significantly by increasing the throughput and assembly quality. They come into their own with the most complex and varied components, with flexible and sometimes bespoke gripper fingers to meet the requirements of picking and placing conventional parts.

“It is the ideal solution when production control is a high priority. Cencorp's platforms include traceability software, increased assembly reliability, accuracy, labour savings, assembly yield improvements and even floor space savings. Cencorp’s odd-form range meets the demands of the toughest quality requirements and works in harmony with lean manufacturing and automation solution principles.”

To find out more about Cencorp odd-form solutions, or methods to improve automation within your facility contact Altus, www.altusgroup.co.uk