Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

At DesignCon 2004, Winchester Electronics and Interconnect Technologies, business units of Northrop Grumman Corp. (Los Angeles, CA), and Xilinx Inc. (San Jose, CA) demonstrated the world's first implementation of a fully functioning 10 Gbps backplane reference design, manufactured using Winchester's SIP1000 I-Platform Passive Interconnect Technology, Interconnect Technologies' printed circuit board design and fabrication expertise and Xilinx Virtex-II Pro X field programmable gate arrys (FPGAs), and tested using Agilent 10 Gbps test and measurement equipment. Consistent with the input/output technology detailed in the UXPi standard, the companies demonstrated that 10 Gbps backplanes can be manufactured with off-the-shelf products and services available today.

"The inherent scalability and cost advantages of high-speed serial make this technology imperative for current and next-generation telecommunications, networking and storage applications," said Erich Goetting, vice president and general manager of the Advanced Product Group at Xilinx. "Today's demonstration proves that technology continues to push the envelope; backplanes can be built today that support 5G, 6.25G and 10G serial rates, allowing tomorrow's backplanes to be built and deployed today."

Michael P. Driscoll, president, Winchester Electronics, said, "The passive channel technology we are demonstrating at DesignCon 2004 will serve as a solid base upon which transceiver technologies for data rates of 20 Gbps and beyond will be built.The days of just selling connectors and printed circuit boards are gone and the days of selling channels have arrived. The reference design demonstrated proves that 10 Gbps in copper is a reality today."

The platform is a true interconnect platform designed to enable 10 Gbps+ serial data transmission in copper backplanes without the need for active equalization techniques. Conceived as a passive system-level interconnect, the platform seeks to reset the balance between the passive and active elements in what have become known as active interconnect systems by delivering a revolutionary new interconnect technology architecture that provides solutions for ultra high-speed, high-density differential applications.

Northrop Grumman Winchester Electronics is a provider of high-speed, high-bandwidth interconnect products, including board-to-board connectors, RF connectors, cable assemblies and power interconnects. Northrop Grumman Interconnect Technologies designs and manufactures electrical and electro-optical printed circuit boards and backpanel assemblies.

The announcement represents a major milestone in the Xilinx Serial Tsunami initiative, designed to accelerate the industry move from parallel to serial I/O technology by delivering next-generation connectivity solutions that meet bandwidth requirements from 3.125 Gbps today to 10.3125 Gbps and beyond.

www.winchesterelectronics.com

www.xilinx.com

www.littoninterconnect.com

Indium Corp. (Utica, NY) has announced the release of a new Product Data Sheet entitled: Eutectic Gold/Tin Solder. It is available immediately as document number 97800.

Eutectic AuSn solder alloy finds use in critical applications such as high-reliability medical, aerospace and military applications; die-attach and lid sealing; or as a braze alternative. The solder's relatively high melting point and joint strength make the alloy useful for certain applications.

The document provides detailed physical properties of eutectic AuSn solder alloys and discusses applications and characteristics of the material. Performance of the solder, and the resultant solder joint, are also covered.

Indium is a supplier of electronics assembly materials, including solder pastes, solder preforms, fluxes, lead-free solder alloys, underfill materials and die-attach materials.

Contact Indium Corp. to obtain a copy of the product data sheet and to discuss your application.

www.indium.com

Kester (Des Plaines, IL), a supplier of interconnecting materials and related services for the electronic assembly and component assembly markets, announced that it is working with FEINFOCUS (Garbsen, Germany), a provider of high resolution X-ray microscopy and fully automated systems, to co-host two non-commercial seminars focusing on lead-free technology.

Designed to assist electronics assembly manufacturers with the reliable and cost effective implementation lead-free assembly operations, the seminar covers the main issues with lead-free soldering in surface-mount technology, wave soldering and rework operations. The seminar offers technical and practical information on how to prevent process issues usually associated with lead-free soldering. Successful case studies are also discussed showing solutions to issues normally encountered with lead-free assembly.

The seminar will provide every attendee with a Lead-Free Assembly Technical Manual containing detailed technical presentations, white papers and a subscription to the Lead-Free Connections Newsletter, mailed quarterly. The newsletter will offer process information and tech-tips to achieve solid lead-free processes. They can be used to compliment a company's training needs or knowledge base.

The first seminar is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 4, in Dallas, TX. The second seminar is Thursday, Feb. 5, in Austin, TX.

This series of seminars is part of the Kester University, which offers solder technology training programs coupled with consulting services to assist the electronics industry with training and process issues. For information, contact: kesteruniversity@kester.com or call Shirley Wood: (847) 699-5589.

www.kester.com

www.feinfocus.com

Beginning March 1, 2004, Wolf Electronix (Orem, UT), an electronics contract manufacturer (CM), will begin assembly of surface-mount and through-hole components with complete box-build capabilities—including cable harnessing and testing—in Mexicali, Mexico. The 30,000 sq. ft. facility will house the surface-mount and through-hole equipment, along with automated optical inspection (AOI) machinery.

The expansion allows Wolf to reduce labor costs up to 50% on low-mix high-run projects; thus proving an alternative for U.S. companies desiring to keep work in North America while remaining competitive. For the complete box-build, an estimated savings of up to 20% could apply.

Wolf was the first CM in the state of Utah to be awarded an ISO 9002 registration for their quality management system and currently have 9001:2000 registrations at the Utah and Colorado facilities. Wolf now is the first CM headquartered in the state of Utah to expand into Mexico.

"We desire all companies in the U.S. working with a CM to have the overseas labor rates while enjoying closer proximity and ease of communication," said Jim Trent Jr., president of Wolf. " I encourage every company to have the project quoted and compare."

Channels are already in place to facilitate the flow of product from the Mexico facility.

www.wolfelectronix.com

The electronics interconnection group at National Physical Laboratory (NPL, Teddington, UK) is making progress in its current research projects.

The use of AC signals instead of DC in surface monitoring of process residues, such as flux, is yielding startling results. The new methods, dubbed surface insulation impedance (SII), show that some fluxes appear to provide variations in loss of signal in an AC environment orders of magnitude higher than predicted by traditional DC surface insulation resistance (SIR) techniques. Ongoing work continues to validate the findings, which could have important implications for AC circuit reliability. For more information, contact: alan.brewin@npl.co.uk.

Over 170,000 electronic component joints have been built with two isotropic conductive adhesive materials at NPL. These samples are now in seven different accelerated environments comprising damp heat, dry heat and thermal cycling. The next steps will involve analysis of joint conductivity, shear and drop test data to compare the reliability performance of the adhesive joints to that achievable with solder. Contact martin.wickham@ntlworld.com for further information.

Work to improve solderability wetting balance tests by including a pre-heating process for the component is showing significant rewards. The use of pre-heat with focused IR energy allows for a lower solder globule or bath temperature and better representation in the test to the reality of wave of reflow soldering conditions. The improved method is likely to reward users with a better prediction of defect rates if parts are used in production. For more information, contact: alan.brewin@npl.co.uk.

www.npl.co.uk

UP Media Group Inc. (UPMG, Atlanta, GA) has announced the final schedule of events for the thirteenth annual PCB Design Conference West (PCB West). The West Coast conference and exhibition for PCB engineering, design and manufacture professionals will be held March 16-18 in San Jose, CA.

"This year, we've kicked things up a few notches," said UPMG president Pete Waddell. "The complete Professional Development and Technical Conference program boasts a terrific selection of more than 35 courses--over half of which are new to PCB West. Plus, attendees of the full-day tutorials and two-day Design Excellence Curriculum (DEC) courses that make up our new Professional Development Certificate Program will each receive certificates of completion following the show. I'm also pleased to announce that we've added a new low-cost conference package, the Lecture and Workshop Package, which is one of the best bargains we've ever offered at a PCB Design Conference."

The PCB West three-day Technical Conference takes place March 16-17 and includes 27 short courses. The Technical Conference is bracketed by 10 Professional Development Certificate courses: six full-day tutorials and four two-day DEC courses.

Dr. Walden C. Rhines, CEO of Mentor Graphics Corp., will give his keynote address, "Breaking the PCB Design Process," to kick-off the conference on March 16. The exhibition will begin immediately following the keynote. Three special events will also take place back-to-back on March 16: the Opening Night Reception, book signings and the Pot O'Gold Party and Giveaway at the headquarters hotel, the Fairmont San Jose.

Registration for the two-day exhibition and most special events is free.

UPMG publishes Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture and Circuits Assembly, and produces PCB Design Conference West and PCB Design Conference East in the Boston, MA, area. UPMG also hosts the PCB Design Conference Road Series of courses in cities throughout the U.S.