Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

TUSCON, AZ — A University of Arizona professor has been awarded a $1.25 million, two-year grant to develop a sustainable process for electronics manufacturing.

Science Foundation Arizona issued associate professor of chemical engineering Anthony Muscat a $625,000 grant to to find ways to cut water and other materials from electronics manufacturing.

Matching funds will bring the total to more than $1.2 million in cash and other resources, according to reports.

Muscat's idea centers on the use of biological molecules to additively develop common lithography patterns traditionally conducted by subtractive processing.

He will work with Intel, Sematech, SEZ America, Semiconductor Research Corp. and ASM on the approach.

BADEN, SWITZERLAND – EMS firm Enics will purchase certain assets of ZTS Elektronika, the companies said Tuesday.

PALO ALTO, CA – The aerospace and defense industry, although exempt from RoHS, now faces the challenge of electronic device obsolescence, according to Frost & Sullivan. Some assemblers are accustomed to procuring devices that contain lead that meet military specifications. However, some of the new commercial off-the-shelf products will not meet this requirement, thus forcing participants in the military market to go back to the drawing board, the firm states.

The RoHS directive has forced companies to change their methods of designing and manufacturing products. Lead-free legislation resulted in the development of new production strategies and the modification of existing machinery so that products perform to the expected level with the support of the revised production materials and processes, continues the research firm.

“Even though the suppliers of these components insist on manufacturing leaded parts for military purposes, they will have to get fine-tuned to the rapidly changing technology and to the rise in prices of these parts, as they cater to a significantly small market,” notes Frost research analyst Ashwin T. Ananthakrishnan.

The trend of lead-free conversion is expected to become steady in the long term, the company notes. With the rising demand from various end-user industries, the increasing preference of Mexico as a manufacturing hub, adoption of lead-free substances and adherence to environmental regulations, the electronic manufacturing scenario looks promising in the North American region, the firm says.

SAN JOSE — Tessera Technologies promoted Michael Bereziuk to chief operating officer, responsible for the company's packaging, interconnect, and consumer optics businesses, including R&D, marketing and sales. He had been Tessera's executive vice president, product division since joining the company in February 2006.

Bereziuk spent the majority of his career at National Semiconductor, where he held numerous senior operations, sales and marketing roles. In his most recent position at National, he was senior vice president and general manager of the worldwide sales and marketing organization.

LOUISVILLE — Sypris Solutions Inc. controller and principal accounting officer Jeffrey T. Reibel resigned as of last Friday, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

He has been replaced by Glen French, a former senior vice president of finance and treasurer for SHPS Inc. and director, financial planning and accounting for LG&E Energy Corp.

EDINA, MN – Six spots remain for the Pan Pacific Symposium technical conference, conference organizer SMTA said today.

Next year’s conference, the 13th overall, will be held Jan. 22-24 in Kauai, Hawaii.

The committee is looking for papers in the following areas: packaging, interconnection, business issues, markets, assembly and microsystems technology.

The deadline for abstracts has been extended to Sept. 7.

The full call for papers can be found at www.smta.org/pan_pac/call_for_papers.cfm.