Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

The monthly order index compiled by the Electronic Components, Assemblies & Materials Association (ECA, Arlington, VA) continued its upward movement in February, extending an industry comeback that began last fall. ECA's 12-month moving index is up nearly 10 points in the last six months after being flat for much of the first half of last year.

"All signs continue to be positive," said Bob Willis, ECA president. "One of the trends ECA watches is participation in upcoming industry events. These are the forums where the industry should be actively exchanging information and taking advantage of business opportunities."

ECA has a full slate of industry conferences coming up where it can gauge industry momentum, beginning with CARTS 2004, the passive component technology conference and exposition, in San Antonio, TX. Other events in the ECA line-up include the International Relay Conference (IRC), the Electronic Distribution Show (EDS), the Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC), CARTS Europe and the International Wire and Cable Symposium (IWCS).

The ECA represents manufacturers and producers of passive and active electronic components, component arrays and assemblies, and materials and support services. It is a sector of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), comprising more than 2,100 members that reportedly represent 80% of the $430 billion U.S. electronics industry.

www.ec-central.org

Celestica Inc. (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider, has completed its acquisition of Manufacturers' Services Limited (MSL, Concord, MA), a full-service global electronics manufacturing services and supply chain services company.

Pursuant to the merger agreement, in consideration for the acquisition, Celestica will issue to holders of MSL common stock and certain holders of MSL preferred stock approximately 14.3 million subordinate voting shares and will pay cash consideration to certain MSL preferred stock holders totaling approximately $50.6 million.

www.celestica.com

Agilent Technologies Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) has introduced a comprehensive purchasing approach for pre-owned test instruments. Agilent CertiPrime and Agilent Advantage Assurance are two programs that provide low-cost and low-risk options for purchasing pre-owned test equipment.

Bill Highstreet, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Financial Solutions Unit, said, "Previously, customers had to choose between purchasing new test equipment from Agilent or refurbished, as-is equipment of unknown quality from a third party. Now customers have multiple options to purchase high-quality, pre-owned Agilent test instruments with total confidence."

In the more comprehensive of the two programs, CertiPrime units are fully remanufactured by Agilent to Agilent standards. In addition, the equipment undergoes the same production-quality calibration as new units and it includes the latest compatible software and firmware updates. The instruments typically are demonstration and off-lease units less than three years old and represent the most popular models and configurations of Agilent's current test equipment.

The fully remanufactured products are ordered directly from Agilent and ship within five days of receipt of order. The products carry the same warranty as new instruments and the same 60-day return policy as new products. Free technical support is offered during the warranty period. The test equipment is expected to be available in volume starting in April 2004. Prices are reduced 30 to 50% from list prices.

The Advantage Assurance program consists of pre-owned instruments purchased through an approved channel partner. Instruments purchased through the program have been fully calibrated and come with one year of protection against all repair costs, along with one year of free technical support. The program is initially available through eBay.

Under the terms of the program, an eBay seller may ship a pre-owned instrument to Agilent, where it receives an initial evaluation and then is fully calibrated by Agilent technicians. Once Agilent determines the unit meets its specifications, the seller is allowed to post the unit for sale on the eBay Web site. At the end of the listing duration, the instrument is shipped directly from Agilent to the winning bidder within 24 hours. Buyers are fully insured against all repair costs for 12 months. Also, should the instrument require repair during the first 12 months, it will receive a free calibration to ensure it meets all published specifications.

The program is expected to be extended to additional U.S. channel partners by April 2004, and to channel partners in Europe and Asia Pacific later in 2004.

For more information, visit: www.agilent.com/find/used.

www.agilent.com

Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials (CEAM, Jersey City, NY) has introduced a new dulling flux technology, ALPHA EF-9301. The product is compatible with both tin/lead and lead-free processes and is designed to help manufacturers meet environmental regulations without sacrificing productivity.

Tested under real-world conditions, the flux was shown to deliver higher first pass yields, more throughputs and require less rework than competitors. It reduces bridging on connectors and bottom side components and provides superior hole filling. Additionally, it minimizes solderballing, significantly reducing board handling time. The flux creates smooth, fully dull solder joints, easing the visual inspection process. It is designed for both spray and foam applications, eliminating the need for investment in additional equipment.

CEAM has also announced the worldwide availability of ALPHA OM-338, an ultra fine lead-free solder paste. The no-clean solder paste is designed for a broad range of applications and is formulated to minimize the transition concerns from tin/lead to lead-free processes. It yields print capability performance across various board designs and is ideally suited for ultra fine feature and high throughput applications.

The paste provides voiding resistance and maximizes reflow yields across a range of thermal profiles. Full alloy coalescence can be achieved at circular dimensions as small as 0.25 mm. Use of the paste results in print consistency and rapid cycle times. It can be applied at print speeds of up to 200 mm/sec. The high performance of the solder paste increases plant efficiency, increases yield and reduces rework requirements. It meets the highest IPC voiding performance classification and is reliable, ensuring product longevity. The paste is halide-free and compatible with either nitrogen or air reflow processing.

CEAM has also introduced ALPHA Vaculoy SACX307 lead-free wave solder alloy, which will be available worldwide through Cookson's global distribution network. The alloy delivers high yield and fast throughput, while meeting the strict lead-free environmental mandates.

Its fast wetting speed delivers improved solderability, outperforming all Sn/Cu based alloys. It provides excellent drainage and minimizes bridging defects. The alloy creates strong, mechanically sound joints with long-term reliability. The solder minimizes dross generation, resulting in low process maintenance and reduced product waste.

The process window supports the use of a wide range of flux technologies.

CEAM, a Cookson Electronics company, develops, manufactures and sells materials used in the electronics assembly process. CEAM supplies a full line of solder paste, stencils, squeegee blades, stencil and printed circuit board (PCB) cleaners, bar solder, cored wire solder, wave soldering fluxes and surface-mount device adhesives.

www.alphametals.com

As attendance totals indicate, the first co-located IPC SMEMA Council's APEX/IPC Printed Circuits Expo/IPC Designers Summit exhibition and conference, held Feb. 24-26 in Anaheim, CA, proved to be a wise investment for the show's exhibitors. IPC (Northbrook, IL) announced today that the attendance increased 8% over last year, from a combined exhibition total of 5,300 in 2003 to 5,700 attendees this year. Additionally, the co-location increased traffic at both shows, with 60% of attendees indicating they would take part in the offerings of both the APEX and Expo events.

The three-day event attracted 10,200 total visitors (attendees and exhibitors) to the Anaheim Convention Center, which featured 480 companies covering more than 154,350 sq. ft. of exhibit space. The professional development courses welcomed nearly 1,300 participants and 1,100 people attended the technical conference. Also, this year's Interconnect Manufacturing Services (IMS) / Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Presidents Management and Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) Management Council meetings continued to draw strong numbers, with a total of 105 senior level managers in attendance.

Wendy Stallman, corporate communications manager at Electro Scientific Industries, concurred with McGuirk, "The quality of attendance at this year's event shows that the market is turning around. It is refreshing to see that people are beginning to make purchases again for existing equipment and that they are beginning to embrace new process technologies, such as embedded passives."

Attendee Mark Basich, manufacturing manager at Rauland Borg, siad, "The show was highly informative this year. It was well organized and having the shows at the same time allowed us to reduce the amount of time and energy we spent in previous years to meet and greet others in the industry."

Next year's co-located show will take place Feb. 22-24, 2005 in the same location.

IPC also recognized this year's best U.S. and international papers at its co-located exhibition and conference. Each winning paper received a $1,000 honorarium and a commemorative plaque from IPC.

"Tin Whisker Growth—Substrate Effect Understanding CTE Mismatch and IMC Formation" received the Best U.S. Paper award. Cookson Electronics' Dr. Yun Zhang, Chonglun Fan, Dr. Chen Xu, Oscar Khaselev and Dr. Joseph Abys co-authored the winning paper.

In addition, IPC recognized the following papers as Honorable Mentions: "Mechanical Bending Technique for Determining CSP Design and Assembly Weaknesses," by Mark R. Larsen and Dr. Ian R. Harvey from the University of Utah, David Turner of Inovar, Inc., Brent Porter of Bourns Electronics and James Ortowski from EDO Ceramics; and "Design of Experiment in Micro-Via Thermal Fatigue Test," by Dr. Tse Eric Wong, Harold S. Fenger and Dr. Isaac C. Chen of Raytheon Electronic Systems.

The Martin L. Barton Best International Paper Award, named for former APEX Technical Conference Director Martin Barton, was awarded to "Phosphorus in Electroless Nickel Layers—Curse or Blessing." The paper was authored by Atotech Deutschland GmbH's Sven Lamprecht and Hans Jurgen Schreier, as well as Kuldip Johal and Hugh Roberts of Atotech USA.

IPC recognized "The Effect of Thermal Loaded Bend Test on the Solder Joint Reliability," co-authored by Yuanze University Taiwan's Dr. Yeongshu Chen, C.S. Wang and C.H. Chen, as well as Solectron Corp.'s Dr. Aichyun Shiah, with an Honorable Mention for this international paper.

Copies of the winning papers are included in the 2004 Technical Conference Proceedings. They will also be published in the IPC's Review, a monthly publication distributed to IPC members.

www.ipc.org

A new report, The Chinese Challenge, Intellectual Property (IP) in China Manufacturing and Markets, will be released by consulting firm Technology Forecasters Inc. (TFI, Alameda, CA) on March, 22. The report will include comprehensive tactics for protecting and defending electronics IP in China.

The Chinese Challenge presents up-to-date and thorough research on crafting a broad, multilayered IP protection plan for electronics products made or sold in China. The report is the result of interviews with engineers and managers from name-brand and contract-manufacturing electronics companies, as well as discussions with industry experts, trade associations and U.S. and Chinese government officials.

One of the major contentions of the report is that protection of electronics IP in China operations is more than a legal problem. The report focuses on production policies to minimize loss of control over IP, supply chain systems to guarantee quality inputs, as well as technical fixes to track products and support product redesign, making copying more difficult. Based on a review of tactics and research, the report offers an Electronics IP Checklist with cost factors, effectiveness and advisability.

This report is authored by TFI associate Clive Jones, economist and managing director of Economic Data Resources, with the assistance of Ting Liu.

According to Jones, "China offers tremendous cost savings, but there can be tradeoffs against future market share. Companies need a range of tactics to check or slow down the diffusion of valuable IP to Chinese competitors."

Two major groups of IP violators exist: smaller groups of counterfeiters and black marketers, and task groups in larger Chinese electronics companies. The latter group currently operates mostly below the radar. The smaller operations are responsible for most of the cases identified to date. They assemble from a combination of sources: authentic or at least grey market, black market, counterfeit and quality rejects. Their efforts are largely directed at simpler electronics products and supplies, although they have tried their hand at assembling systems like computer servers. Jones points out that "threats from larger companies are also very real, as witnessed by the existence of 'departments of reverse engineering' in some of the larger Chinese electronics concerns."

Table 1

Comparing Patents in China and U.S.

China Patents	US Patents
First to file	First to invent
Patents of invention (20 yeas)	Utility patents (20 years)
Industrial design patents (10 years)	Design patents (14 years)
Utility model patents (10 years)	N/A
N/A	Plant (biological) patents (14 years)
Criteria: novelty, inventiveness, practical applicability	Criteria: non-obviousness, innovative
Maintenance fees paid annually	Maintenance fees paid 3.5, 5.5, and 11.5 years after issue
Chinese agent, licensed by the State Intellectual Property Office, required for application	Applicant can file