CRANSTON, RI – AIM Solder, a leading global manufacturer of solder assembly materials, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mhanny Aguillo as the Southeast Asia Technical Sales Manager. With over 15 years of experience at AIM Solder, Mhanny brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to his new role.

In this position, Mhanny will lead the growing technical sales team in Southeast Asia, alongside other recent additions, including Technical Sales Engineers Henry Colina, Wei Jye Lim, and Xuan Tung Le, as well as a new factory in Malaysia. This highlights our commitment to this vital and rapidly growing region. His extensive background in various roles within the company positions him to excel in this challenging role and drive significant growth for AIM Solder.

“We are excited to have Mhanny take on this new role," said David Suraski, Executive Vice President, Assembly Materials Division, "His dedication, deep understanding of the industry, and proven track record at AIM Solder make him the ideal candidate to lead our efforts in Southeast Asia. We are confident that under his leadership, we will continue to strengthen our presence and achieve our strategic goals in the region."

AIM Solder remains committed to providing superior products and unparalleled technical support, ensuring customers' success across the globe. This appointment is a testament to AIM's dedication to fostering talent from within and its commitment to maintaining its position as a market leader in solder assembly materials.

Mhanny Aguillo can be reached at maguillo@aimsolder.com

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 an upcoming webinar titled "Tackling Flux Residues: Best Practices for Cleaning Power Electronics Components." This informative session will be held on June 11, 2024, at 2:00 PM EDT.

Residues from flux pose a significant obstacle in cleaning power electronics components, potentially leading to corrosion, electrical shorts, and reliability issues that can adversely impact component performance and lifespan. Understanding and implementing optimal cleaning practices is critical in overcoming these challenges and ensuring the longevity and reliability of power electronics.

Join Ravi Parthasarathy, Senior Application Engineer at ZESTRON Americas, as he shares his expertise on the evolution of power electronics and offers insights into selecting the appropriate cleaning methods for these critical components. Ravi will cover essential topics, including:

1. Evolution of Power Electronics: An overview of how power electronics have advanced and the increasing importance of effective cleaning.
2. Cleaning Method Selection: Guidance on choosing the proper cleaning methods to ensure compatibility with various power electronics components.
3. Validation of Cleaning Effectiveness: Techniques for confirming that cleaning processes achieve the desired cleanliness level.

This webinar is an excellent opportunity for professionals in the electronics manufacturing and semiconductor industries to enhance their understanding of best practices for cleaning power electronics components and to learn from real-life case studies demonstrating effective solutions.

Registration for the webinar is now open. Interested participants can reserve their spot by visiting here.

CAMBRIDGE, UK – Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are increasingly adopted, with the market size expected to exceed US$8 billion by 2034. Thermal fillers play a crucial role in TIMs as they directly affect properties such as thermal conductivity, viscosity, cost, abrasiveness, and several other factors. TIM fillers typically stand as the most expensive ingredient in TIM formulations; therefore, the selection of TIM fillers needs to find a balance between good thermal conductivity, decent mechanical properties, and an acceptable price.

There is a variety of TIM fillers, including alumina, aluminum hydroxide (ATH), aluminum nitride (AlN), zinc oxide (ZnO), magnesium oxide (MgO), and boron nitride (BN). Depending on the target applications and requirements, the filler materials, particle size, and filler mixing are proprietary to TIM formulators. Below are a few interesting findings based on the comparison of different fillers, with more in-depth analysis covered in IDTechEx’s new market research report, “Thermal Interface Materials 2024-2034: Technologies, Markets, and Forecasts”.

Alumina fillers are the most commonly used in the current market. They are effective for increasing thermal conductivity in epoxies at a low cost (USD 5.5-6.5/kg with the potential to go as low as USD 2-3/kg). It is worth noting that prices are largely dependent on filler size, grade, geometry, and order volume. In addition to thermal conductivity, alumina fillers also present low electrical conductivity, making them ideal for electronics applications. However, despite their benefits, alumina fillers come with several limitations, such as relatively low thermal conductivity compared with other high-performance fillers, abrasiveness, and low viscosity at high loading percentages. Alumina fillers can be broadly split into spherical alumina and ground alumina fillers, spherical alumina typically has higher costs than ground alumina. According to IDTechEx’s research, ground alumina can reduce costs by around 50% compared to spherical alumina. However, ground alumina, due to their edgy geometries, often have a much lower loading percentage.

An interesting trend in TIMs for electric vehicle (EV) batteries is the transition from using alumina fillers to ATH fillers. ATH fillers have significantly lower costs compared to alumina (20% to 40% lower, depending on volume, suppliers, and many other factors), but they also lead to lower thermal conductivity. Nevertheless, driven by the battery pack configuration transition from modular design to cell-to-pack design and even cell-to-pack 3.0 design by CATL, IDTechEx believes that the thermal conductivity required for TIMs in EV batteries is expected to decrease from around 3.5 W/mK previously to around 2.5 W/mK in the future. This lowering of thermal conductivity opens the possibility of using ATH fillers for EV manufacturers to further reduce costs. Additionally, ATH fillers also have flame retardancy as they can decompose endothermically, releasing approximately 35% of their weight as water vapor, thereby absorbing heat and reducing thermal runaway. More details on how EV battery pack configuration will affect thermal conductivity and TIMs employed in EV batteries are covered in the IDTechEx report, “Thermal Interface Materials 2024-2034: Technologies, Markets, and Forecasts”.

In addition to low-cost thermal fillers, some applications also need high-performance TIMs. Commonly used higher-performance TIMs include boron nitride fillers and AlN fillers. However, high performance comes with high costs. For instance, BN fillers can cost 10 times more than alumina fillers. Therefore, to balance thermal conductivity performance and cost, TIM formulators typically mix fillers where primary fillers are low-cost alumina, and secondary fillers are high-cost BN fillers or others. Additionally, TIM fillers with various particle sizes are also commonly used. Larger fillers can reduce specific surface area and interfacial thermal resistance, improving thermal conductivity. However, large fillers lead to high defect density, which can impede heat transfer. Hence, smaller fillers are employed as additives to reduce defect density.

Besides the fillers mentioned above, there are also opportunities for other fillers such as MgO, ZnO, and several others, although each presents its own challenges, such as toxicity and high costs. For more details on the benchmark comparison of TIM fillers, please refer to IDTechEx’s new report, “Thermal Interface Materials 2024-2034: Technologies, Markets, and Forecasts”.

CRANSTON, RI – AIM Solder, a leading global manufacturer of solder assembly materials, is proud to announce its membership with the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI). This strategic alliance underscores AIM Solder’s commitment to advancing the electronics manufacturing industry through collaboration and innovation.

iNEMI, a not-for-profit consortium, brings together the world’s leading electronics manufacturers, suppliers, associations, government agencies, and universities. Its mission is to forecast and accelerate improvements in the electronics manufacturing industry, addressing technology and infrastructure gaps through high-impact projects and proactive forums. iNEMI implements a global agenda, focusing on eliminating technology and infrastructure gaps through collaborative projects and industry forums. For more information, visit www.inemi.org

“Joining iNEMI aligns perfectly with our mission to offer innovative and reliable product solutions to the electronics industry,” said Tim O’Neill, Director of Product Management at AIM Solder. “We are excited to collaborate with other industry leaders to drive advancements and support the development of cutting-edge technologies.”

As part of iNEMI, AIM Solder will engage in various projects focused on critical areas related to solder materials, electronics manufacturing, sustainable electronics, and more. These initiatives will not only benefit AIM Solder’s product development efforts but also contribute to the overall progress of the global electronics manufacturing landscape.