Indium Corporation®, a leader in supplying products to global electronics, semiconductor, thin-film, and thermal management markets, is partnering with SAFI-Tech, an Iowa-based startup that is creating no-heat and low-heat solder and metallic joining products.

Metallic soldering represents a key manufacturing process across many industries, including aerospace, automotive, and electronics. Current solder products trade off the reliability of joints formed with the very high processing temperatures needed to form those joints—a problem that has limited material selection and product design. SAFI-Tech’s patented supercooling platform removes this tradeoff by creating capsules of molten solder that can remain liquid far below the normal freezing point of metal. Using this platform, industry-standard alloys such as SAC305 can be soldered below LTS temperatures, and other alloys can be soldered as low as ambient temperature.

Indium Corporation and SAFI-Tech will evaluate market applications for supercooled solder materials and explore the development of new products.

Indium Corporation President and COO Ross Berntson said, “We’re always looking for innovative materials solutions that can give our customers ways to overcome current limitations of solder products. SAFI-Tech’s supercooling platform is a unique approach that has the potential to be a solution across a variety of applications.”

Ian Tevis, SAFI-Tech’s President and Co-Founder, said, “Indium Corporation is a world leader and innovator in electronics solder products. Our partnership with Indium will allow customers to explore the unique opportunities possible with our supercooled solder materials.” Indium Corporation® is a premier materials refiner, smelter, manufacturer, and supplier to the global electronics, semiconductor, thin-film, and thermal management markets. Products include solders and fluxes; brazes; thermal interface materials; sputtering targets; indium, gallium, germanium, and tin metals and inorganic compounds; and NanoFoil®. Founded in 1934, the company has global technical support and factories located in China, Germany, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.

SAFI-Tech is an advanced materials company creating supercooled molten metal products. SAFI-Tech’s supercooled platform was invented by co-founders Dr. Ian Tevis and Dr. Martin Thuo at Iowa State University.

For more information about Indium Corporation, visit www.indium.com or email jhuang@indium.com. You can also follow our experts, From One Engineer To Another® (#FOETA), at www.linkedin.com/company/indium-corporation/ or @IndiumCorp.

PCB WEST: The leading technical conference and exhibition for electronics engineers. Coming Oct. 4-7 to the Santa Clara (CA) Convention Center. pcbwest.com

Indium Corporation® will feature its proven, innovative products for LED manufacturing at the Mini LED Backlight Mass Production and Application Trend Conference, Thursday, July 28 in Shenzhen, China.

Indium Corporation produces a wide range of products to meet the current and evolving needs of the industry. As mini-LEDs are increasingly used in displays for consumer electronics at home and in external displays due to their superior contrast ratios, deep blacks, and high dynamic ranges.

Indium Corporation’s suite of semiconductor and advanced assembly materials is ideal for Mini-LED assembly and the small pad sizes and tight pitches required in their assembly.

Solder paste solutions to be featured include:

• LEDPaste NC38HF, a no-clean, halogen-free solder paste specifically formulated to accommodate fine feature printing, especially for mini- or micro-LED applications. This new product will be released at the show and combines superior wetting performance with excellent stencil print transfer efficiency to satisfy the broadest range of process requirements for the smallest LED applications. It also delivers high tackiness and is available in a wide range of alloys, including Ag-free options.

• Indium12.8HF, a no-clean, halogen-free microdispensing solder paste that is inherently compatible with Indium Corporation’s best-selling solder paste—Indium8.9HF—and is optimized for long-term jetting and microdispense applications. Originally formulated for micro-LED applications, Indium12.8HF has proven to be useful in a wide range of applications requiring precision dot diameter/line width deposits down to 80μm.

• Indium3.2HF is a water-soluble, halogen-free, Pb-free solder paste. Indium3.2HF formulated with Indium Corporation’s Type 6 SGS powder is ideal for fine feature printing applications. It also offers consistent, repeatable printing performance combined with a long stencil life. Flux solutions to be featured include:

• NC-809, an award-winning, halogen-free, ultra-low residue, flip-chip flux designed to hold die or solder spheres in place without risk of die shift during the assembly process. NC-809 exhibits superior wetting performance and is the first ULR flux qualified for ball grid array ball-attach applications for packages that are sensitive to traditional water cleaning processes.

• WS-829 is a wafer-level ball-attach flux is a water-soluble, halogen-free flux that can be used for ball-attach on substrate in a standard BGA manufacturing process (especially for the smallest sphere applications < 0.25mm) as well as wafer-/panel-level packaging. It is designed for printing and pin transfer applications for the smallest sphere and high-density applications, including LED die-attach.

• LED TACFlux® 007 is the leading die-attach flux for LED industry. Specifically designed for die-to-sub-mount applications with sputtered film or solder preform alloys, it provides melting points that range from tin-silver (SnAg), SAC (SnAgCu) and pure tin (Sn) up to gold-tin (AuSn) eutectic. It may be applied using various application techniques, holds the die in place during reflow, and is easily cleaned to give high wire bond pull-strengths.

About Indium Corporation

Indium Corporation® is a premier materials refiner, smelter, manufacturer, and supplier to the global electronics, semiconductor, thin-film, and thermal management markets. Products include solders and fluxes; brazes; thermal interface materials; sputtering targets; indium, gallium, germanium, and tin metals and inorganic compounds; and NanoFoil®. Founded in 1934, the company has global technical support and factories located in China, Germany, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.

For more information about Indium Corporation, visit www.indium.com or email jhuang@indium.com. You can also follow our experts, From One Engineer To Another® (#FOETA), at www.linkedin.com/company/indium-corporation/ or @IndiumCorp.

PCB WEST: The leading technical conference and exhibition for electronics engineers. Coming Oct. 4-7 to the Santa Clara (CA) Convention Center. pcbwest.com

SALEM, N.H. ― July 2022 ― Emerald EMS, an innovative solutions provider, has upgraded its Veris Manufacturing facility in Southern California with a new high-speed modular placement system from Juki Automation Systems, Inc. The new FX-3RAXL provides an upgrade in speed, accuracy, reliability and precision for component placement. The FX-3RAXL achieves a mounting performance of 66,000 CPH (IPC9850) thanks to four independent cross-rails, each with a six-nozzle placement head set on two mounting stations, providing the machine with 24 vacuum nozzles in total.

Jay Cadler, President, Veris Manufacturing, stated: “With the increased capacity this machine provides, we look forward to higher efficiency, greater flexibility and increasing our arsenal for mission critical quality.”

The FX-3RAXL supports mechanical and electronic feeders that can be used optionally with feeder trolleys if required. This provides Veris Manufacturing with the flexibility to continue using its existing equipment as they make the additional upgrade to smart feeders for increased traceability and accuracy.

The Veris facility specializes in advanced, complex and mission-critical assembly manufacturing. Veris’ unique edge is its exceptional quality and ability to create specialized service programs that fit the exact needs of the most cutting-edge customers.

For more information, visit www.emeraldems.com.

PCB WEST: The leading technical conference and exhibition for electronics engineers. Coming Oct. 4-7 to the Santa Clara (CA) Convention Center. pcbwest.com

July 11, 2022, PORTO, Portugal- Critical Manufacturing, a company that is redefining the role of manufacturing execution systems (MES), has once again been recognized as a Leader by Gartner, Inc. in its 2022 Magic Quadrant for MES.

According to Gartner, "Leaders execute well against their current vision and are well positioned for tomorrow."

Critical Manufacturing delivers a highly sophisticated, fully integrated, modular MES solution. It includes Augmented Reality, Digital Twin, and extended MES functionality. A highly configurable solution, it is designed to resolve the complex operational challenges faced by modern manufacturers.

Additionally, Critical Manufacturing received the highest scores in 3 of the 4 use cases in the 2022 Critical Capabilities for Manufacturing Execution Systems and is ranked first among 19 vendors recognized in the research against the ‘Batch/Repetitive Flow Manufacturing’, ‘Complex Discrete Manufacturing’ and ‘Highly Regulated Industries” use cases.

Francisco Almada Lobo, Critical Manufacturing CEO, said: “This is the second consecutive year we have been named as a Leader in the Magic Quadrant and we are very proud of this achievement. Our customers see the value our MES solution delivers and the potential it offers for the future with its ability to harness future technologies and provide connectivity to handle the rapid pace and growth of data generated by IoT devices and equipment. The success we have seen with our MES has assisted us in building a strong partner and SI ecosystem.”

In the report, Gartner mentions that “MES solutions are a foundational building block of smart manufacturing strategies and digital business for manufacturers. MES technology is evolving and propelling the market in a new direction. By 2025, 60% of new MES solutions will be assembled by manufacturers or implementation providers using composable technology.”

Almada Lobo concluded: “Our MES has been designed from the ground up to provide flexibility and scalability. It is increasingly becoming an enterprise solution, with a single, standard MES that can be deployed across multiple sites. We continue to work to bring innovative solutions that will deliver the functionality manufacturers need to make them strong, resilient, and competitive into the future and accelerate their growth and transition towards the huge benefits offered by Industry 4.0.”

View a complimentary copy of the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant report to learn more about Critical Manufacturing’s strengths and cautions, among other provider offerings, at 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant

Also access a complimentary copy of the 2022 Gartner Critical Capabilities for MES report to learn more about why Critical Manufacturing is ranking first on the 3 use cases: 2022 Gartner Critical Capabilities