News
FocalSpot, Inc. (San Diego, CA), a provider of inspection and rework/repair solutions and services, recently announced that contract manufacturer Vanguard EMS (Portland, OR) has selected Den-on Instruments, RD-500 for advanced rework applications, including rework of lead-free assemblies.
Designed for both lead-free and standard solder, the system is a vision-based, semi-automated reflow, removal and placement rework station for printed circuit assemblies, surface-mount devices (SMDs) and connectors. The system combines high-powered top and bottom heater configuration with auto-profiling technology to efficiently heat and reflow rework applications—from small personal digital assistants (PDAs) and cell phones to personal computer (PC) motherboards and multi-layered avionics back planes.
Vanguard selected the system based on its efficient heating technology, ease-of-use and price performance. FocalSpot's product manager, Raymond LaFleur, was tasked during the evaluation to demonstrate the performance of the machine on several demanding applications, including lead-free rework.
UP Media Group Inc. (Atlanta, GA) has announced a call for abstracts for PCB Design Conference East 2004 (PCB East), which will be held Oct. 4-8, 2004, at the Holiday Inn in Manchester, NH. Sponsored by industry trade magazines Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture and Circuits Assembly, PCB East annually provides attendees and vendors with an East Coast conference and exhibition for engineering, design and manufacture professionals.
The five-day conference is made up of a three-day Technical Conference that features short courses and papers, and two days of Professional Development one-day and two-day courses.
Papers and presentations are being sought for the Technical Conference, based on the following course durations: 30-minute paper sessions, one-hour lectures or panel sessions, two-hour workshops or panel sessions, and half-day (3.5 hour) seminars. Papers and presentations also are sought for a Professional Development Curriculum of one-day and two-day tutorials.
Papers and presentations are sought for, but not limited to, the following topics:
- High speed, high frequency and signal integrity
- Impedance and crosstalk control
- EMI/EMC analysis
- Thermal analysis
- RF and microwave
- Packaging and components
- Area arrays
- FPGA design and implementation
- Embedded passives and active devices
- Flexible circuitry
- HDI design and technologies
- PCB design/layout techniques
- Component library creation and management
- Design for manufacture, test and assembly
- Design (including analog, digital and power supplies)
- PCB fabrication
- Soldering (especially lead-free and its impact on design)
- Surface finishes
- Industry forecasts
- Business and design/supply chain issues
To be considered as a speaker or presenter for PCB East, fill out the online submission form or send an email to Conference Chair Andy Shaughnessy, ashaughnessy@upmediagroup.com, by April 5, 2004. Your e-mail should include: a suggested course title, a suggested course length, a short description of your target audience, a 100- to 300-word abstract and a short speaker bio.
Each speaker/presenter will receive a copy of the Technical Conference Proceedings CD-ROM, a free pass for the three-day Technical Conference and free admission to the two-day exhibition, keynote address and other special events.
For more information or to submit a paper and/or presentation online, visit www.pcbeast.com.
UP Media Group (UPMG) specializes in magazine publishing and trade show and conference production. UPMG currently publishes Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture and Circuits Assembly. In addition, UPMG produces two annual conferences and trade shows for the design and manufacture industry—PCB Design Conference West in the San Jose, CA area, and PCB Design Conference East in the Boston area. UPMG also hosts the PCB Road Series of technical seminars in cities throughout the U.S.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI, Herndon, VA), an industry-led consortium focused on strengthening the global electronics manufacturing supply chain, has published a research priorities document intended to serve as a resource to all who are tasked with directing R&D (both funding and execution) for the electronics manufacturing industry.
"It is only through effective prioritization of limited R&D programs that the North American electronics industry will maintain the technology leadership that it has enjoyed for the past 50 years," said Robert C. Pfahl Jr., vice president of operations for NEMI. "The 2003 NEMI Research Priorities document has been prepared to aid in this process, facilitating more focused investments and an improved rate of return. With a steady stream of research results to harvest, the electronics industry can continue to enjoy growth and prosperity driven by our society's adoption of breakthrough products that increase productivity and improve lifestyles."
The 2003 NEMI Research Priorities, completed at the end of 2003, presents the consensus on R&D needs identified in the 2002 NEMI Roadmap. This document is part of a planning methodology NEMI has established to ensure that its members focus on high-impact areas where they can make a difference in the marketplace. This process involves five basic steps:
- Create industry roadmaps by drawing on the expertise of a broad cross section of individuals from industry, academia and government.
- Identify the major areas on which NEMI will focus, based on need, participation and ability to make a business impact.
- Conduct gap analyses on the areas identified to determine where industry needs fall short of capabilities and also to identify those areas where meaningful opportunities exist for industry.
- Create the five-year NEMI technical plan, which identifies the projects and activities necessary to close the identified gaps. (These plans become the basis for the formation of NEMI projects.)
- Prioritize research needs identified by the NEMI roadmap and gap analysis activities, creating the NEMI research priorities document, which is distributed to members and key funding agencies, universities and industry.
"In the past, we have developed a technical plan for our own organization, and we have informally shared information with universities and funding agencies about key areas identified for R&D work," said Pfahl. "This is the first time we have formalized the process and documented research priorities for universities and funding agencies."
The document organizes the R&D needs identified by the roadmap into five categories: 1) manufacturing processes; 2) systems integration; 3) energy; 4) materials and 5) design. Highlights of top priorities identified for each of these areas are as follow:
- Manufacturing processes: more cost-effective electrical test methods; more flexible assembly equipment for low-volume, high-mix, high yield board products, including data-driven solder deposition methods.
- Systems integration: Interoperability standards for matching of vendor/supplier hardware for increased competition; improved data transport standards to support data protocols.
- Energy: Lower voltage components and assemblies; higher energy density/specific energy power supplies, batteries and fuel cells.
- Materials: Substrate materials with improved dimensional stability, planarity, low moisture absorption and warpage; improved interfacial adhesion and strength between copper/low k and wire bonds, bumps and underfill.
- Design: Improved design tools for optoelectronics, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and other emerging technologies; integrated design and simulation tools needed for mixed mode wireless chips and modules.
A final section on disruptive technologies examines how newly discovered phenomena may be exploited to provide innovative technology solutions for identified needs. In particular, this section describes possible future areas for exploiting nanotechnology to create innovative new products.
The document may be downloaded at www.nemi.org.
Milara Inc. (Medfield, MA), a vendor of fully and semiautomatic stencil printers for surface-mount technology and wafer applications, has introduced STW-1, a wafer printer system.
Milara takes its combined system technology practice one step further with the development of the new SemiTouch Wafer Printer system. The system is capable of both wafer stencil printing and bumping within a single system. It is molded after Milara's standard printer but by pressing a single button, the system converts itself from a wafer bumper to stencil printer in seconds.
Milara has incorporated a new vision system with accuracies of 12 µm that yields capabilities of ultra-fine-pitch printing. Using patented vibration squeegee technology, which has proven viability in wafer bumping, the system uses the same technology to accomplish ultra-fine pitch-printing (down to 70 µm) with printing reliability (no missed apertures on wafers with excess of 25,000 per print) and solder brick geometry.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
On Feb. 3, 2004, the SMART Group (Bucks, UK) held its 6th annual Lead-Free Seminar at Wycombe Football Club Conference Centre. Delegate numbers were finally cut-off at 173 a week before the event (another 50 engineers wanted to attend). According to the group, the exhibition area could have sold out four times over.
The Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) announced at the event that it would shortly be embarking on a whistle stop trip to the U.S. spreading the WEEE/RoHS status. Steven Andrews and Mark Downs will be speaking at four U.S. seminars, in addition to company visits and meetings and evening discussions. The two will arrive in New Jersey on Feb. 18, then move on to California, Seattle and Chicago.
The visit will complete the DTI coverage of the major markets and suppliers for electronic and electrical equipment (EEE) who have most interest in WEEE/RoHS. DTI approached American Electronics Association (AeA) to get involved with U.S. seminars, after similar initiatives were undertaken in China and Japan.
According to a survey conducted during the conference, most delegates are still conducting investigations on lead free; few had actually built demo or test boards, or selected the lead-free alloy, although most expect it to be tin/silver/copper. Help and advice is still needed, including a a help desk, hands-on experience and regular lead-free forums. When attendees were asked what was needed to get industry moving, the only positive response was for the government to give some financial help, by way of tax benefits, especially in the first year of the changeover from processing with lead solders to lead-free solders.
SMART Group is associated with LEADOUT, a European-funded scheme that will expand the SMART Group PPM Monitoring Project in a lead-free environment. In cooperation with over 20 organisations across Europe, LEADOUT will examine reliability, process change and the training needs of small and medium volume organisations.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
The Christopher Group (Santa Ana, CA) has announced the addition of William J. Boyle to their technical staff. Boyle, a graduate of The Catholic University of America in electrical engineering, was most recently employed as an applications engineer specializing in automatic optical inspection products at Teradyne. His responsibilities will include applications, engineering, sales and support of the Christopher Groups' inspection technology product line.
The Christopher Group provides sales, service and support of the Dainippon Screen (bare board) and NSpec (assembly) automatic optical inspection systems; HC 610 hole inspection system, and SmartOptics solder paste inspection and measurement system.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Fabrinet (Bankok, Thailand), an engineering and electromechanical manufacturing services company, announced that they have executed on a new credit facility from the Bank of Nova Scotia. The funds will be used to finance the purchase of new equipment to increase the company's capacity to match current revenue backlog for components and subsystems for the fiberoptics, telecommunications, medical and automotive industries. The terms of the loan have not been disclosed.
Fabrinet has received previous funding from the Bank of Nova Scotia. Growth in operations with existing customers and an increase in new customer orders necessitated an expansion of current funding.
"Expanding our international banking relationship with the Bank of Nova Scotia will enable Fabrinet to continue to support our growing global customer base," said Fabrinet Sr. vice president, strategy & corporate affairs, Mark Schwartz. "We are especially pleased to further our existing relationship with one of the premier lending institutions in the world, with regional offices in many of the same cities and time zones as our factories and customer base."
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Micro Care Corp. (New Britain, CT) has announced two new technologies for cleaning fiber optic connectors. The first innovation is a new Fiber Optic Connector Solvent in a pump-spray canister. The second is a family of swabs specifically designed for cleaning inside tiny fiber optic connectors.
The communications industry has long been bedeviled by the difficulty of cleaning fiber optic connectors. Exacerbating this problem is the continuing trend towards thinner, higher-capacity fiber optic cables and connectors. The labor cost inherent in installing thousands of perfectly clean male and female connectors is becoming a major factor in every large fiber optic installation. Traditional alcohol wipes have failed to deliver the consistent cleaning required.
The cleaning solvent is a nonflammable, environmentally safe, residue-free solvent formulated to clean fiber connector end-faces. The new product, based on a patented azeotrope of Vertrel specialty solvents from DuPont, is SNAP-approved, plastic-safe and double-filtered to 0.2 microns during packaging. It dissolves light oils, salts, grime and uncured epoxies, and—since it also is mildly hygroscopic—it will absorb small amounts of moisture while cleaning. The cleaner can remove the messy but vital silicone pastes used inside the fiber optic cables.
The solvent is packaged in a unique nonaerosol pump spray which is even permitted on board commercial aircraft. Since the container is hermetically sealed, cross-contamination cannot occur, ensuring that clean, pure cleaning fluid is used on every cleaning job. The compact size fits easy in the hand, and makes it easy to fit in tool kits, instrument cases and inspection packages.
Micro Care also has developed a proprietary cleaning swab for fiber optic connectors. The new cleaning sticks are made of a synthetic, extruded polyester. The cleaning sticks come in three sizes, each engineered to fit the most popular sizes of connectors, including the troublesome 0.0125 connectors favored on military projects, and can clean both male and female shaped connectors.
No fibers, binders, adhesives or outgassing contaminates the connector. Since recleaning is rarely required, the cleaning sticks offer time-savings in a complex optical installation.
Manufactured by Micro Care, the products are marketed exclusively by AFL Telecommunications under the Noyes brand.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
The monthly order index compiled by the Electronic Components, Assemblies and Materials Association (ECA, Arlington, VA) moved upward in January, confirming industry optimism during the last four months.
"The index has been moving up steadily," said Bob Willis, ECA president. "It's not the meteoric boom of the late 1990s, but we might never see that again. This is nice, manageable growth that looks like it will be sustained throughout the year."
Willis says recent news substantiates the upward trend that has been seen in the ECA order index during the last four months. For instance, ECA members, such as Vishay Intertechnology, Littelfuse and KEMET, have reported substantial revenue increases in Q4 2003 compared to Q4 2002. Also, Reuters reports that major electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies are seeing stronger demand in 2004, helped by an improving economy and a trend to outsource personal computers, servers, cell phones, handheld computers and other electronics gear.
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, comprising more than 2,100 members that reportedly represent 80% of the U.S. electronics industry.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
AEGIS Industrial Software Corp. (Horsham, PA) and Cogiscan Inc. (Bromont, Quebec, Canada) have announced that they will demonstrate integration between their products as the Cogiscan material tracking and line control technology is integrated to Aegis' real-time machine monitoring and data acquisition systems.
The combined solution offers control of business processes from the preparation of design and bill of matrials data, to line setup validation, execution and the gathering and analysis of process data. It then yields traceability—effectively closing the informational loop. The technical integration creates the first solution offering the Aegis NPI and MES solutions with the materials and process control solutions offered from Cogiscan.
"When Aegis and Cogiscan solutions combine to create closed loop manufacturing control, it yields more than just an extended range of functions," said Jason Spera, chief executive officer of Aegis, "It delivers new depth of information management through the entire process from end-to-end. It is a platform-independent solution free of proprietary and machine-specific elements to make deployment and scalability simple."
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Universal Instruments Corp. (Binghamton, NY) and CyberOptics Corp. (Minneapolis, MN) have signed an agreement to integrate the new Embedded Process Verification (EPV) inspection technology from CyberOptics into Universal's electronic component placement systems.
Universal will offer the EPV sensor system as a feature on its recently released platform placement machines that incorporate its new placement head. Introduction of the sensor is currently planned for the second half of 2004.
Ian McEvoy, president of Universal, said, "To achieve the challenging quality goal of less than 10 defects per million for surface-mount circuit board assembly, you have to verify each component placement. The CyberOptics' EPV is the first sensing system to enable this within the placement machine."
Steven Case, CyberOptics' chairman and founder said, "Unlike traditional inspection systems that are positioned after the placement machine in an electronics assembly line, EPV puts the inspection process right at the point of action, inside the pick-and-place machine. Ultimately, defects detected by the EPV sensor may be corrected while the circuit board is still within the placement machine."
Universal Instruments is an electronics productivity specialist, providing circuit, semiconductor and back-end assembly technologies and equipment, integrated system solutions and process expertise to manufacturers in every sector of the electronics industry.
CyberOptics Corp., specializing in optical technology, designs and manufactures a growing range of yield and through-put enhancement tools for the surface-mount electronic assembly equipment and semiconductor fabrication equipment markets.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Tyco Electronics (Willow Grove, PA), a business segment of Tyco International Ltd., will highlight the Opus 3 Selective Soldering System at this year's upcoming APEX show in Anaheim, CA.
The system is a four-axis Cartesian robot designed for selectively soldering through-hole and odd-form components into surface-mount and mixed-technology printed circuit boards (PCB) from the bottom side without inverting the PCB. It is a completely tool-less system for almost any soldering application.
The system is suited for applications where the product is delivered in small lot quantities and high product mix. The machine also functions well in high speed manufacturing environments when configured with site-specific solder nozzles. The optional tilt axis provides the peel-back found on conventional wave solder systems to insure bridge-free terminations.
The soldering system features the patent pending FlexSite miniature Gaussian solder wave, allowing for a 1-mm keep-out and increased thermal capability. The system features an adjustable board holder, spray fluxer, solder module and vision assist video for set up and process monitoring.
The system is ideal for accessing sites instead of assembly cases or sites shadowed by obstructions. Additionally, topside surface-mount components do not have to be reflowed when soldering only a few joints. The system is configured for bottom-side processing and uses process-specific subroutines for varying thermal demands, such as flow volume, solder temperature, emersion depth, travel speed and dwell. Featuring intelligent spray fluxing, the selective soldering system is designed for pass-through conveyor or batch operation, and is easy to program with instant changeover.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Press Releases
- NEOTech Significantly Improves Wire Bond Pull Test Process
- Sat Nusapersada Chooses Siemens' Process Preparation Software to Boost NPI and SMT Line Efficiency
- SIA Praises Finalization of CHIPS Investments for GlobalFoundries Manufacturing Projects
- KYZEN to Spotlight KYZEN E5631, AQUANOX A4618 and Process Control at SMTA Silicon Valley Expo and Tech Forum