Mentor Graphics Corp. released version 2005.1 of the Capital Harness Systems (CHS) product suite, an end-to-end software toolset for the design, analysis, engineering and production of electrical interconnect systems such as those found on transportation platforms. Users can select from a range of fully integrated tools.

Version 2005.1 contains more than 140 separate enhancements across the various software tools, including:

*            Preferred component declaration and selection

*            Configurable release behaviors

*            Extended name composition capabilities

*           Support for connector backshells

*            Configurable cross-referencing

*           Flexible electrical analysis scoping

*           Whole vehicle wiring diagram synthesis

*           Layered insulation display

*            Additional cost modeling variables

*           First integration capabilities with UGS TeamCenter Engineering

Mentor Graphics Corp., www.mentor.com

UK-based MicroStencil launched a new production facility for the manufacture of ultra-fine pitch screen printing stencils.

Following its spin-out from Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University, additional investment has now enabled the company to expand stencil manufacturing at its headquarters in Livingston with the installation of a class 100 cleanroom and customized production equipment based on the semiconductor manufacturing processes.

The company provides an electroformed stencil that allows the fabrication of sub-100 micron aperture pitch. The stencil has the potential to deliver considerable advantages in interconnecting technology and offers in screen printing for wafer bumping and chip bonding.

The process forms high tolerance apertures with extremely smooth sidewalls. Such stencils are beginning to enable printing at sub-150 micron pitch. While current methods of applying solder bumps using stencil printing cannot cost-effectively get below a 150µm aperture pitch, severely restricting the use of flip-chip packaging, MicroStencil can push the limits down to 10µm aperture size and 10µm web space.

The technology achieves high-density electrical interconnects leading to higher portability and functionality in portable electronics devices.

www.micro-stencil.com 

Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials has launched ALPHA EF-10000, the latest addition to its lead-free no-clean wave solder flux technology. The high rosin, no-clean, alcohol-based product passes international reliability standards, including JIS, IPC and Bellcore, while reportedly providing broad process compatibility and excellent first pass yield in both lead-free and tin-lead wave soldering applications. 

Said to deliver best-in-class top side hole fill on a variety of common plated through-hole sizes; is fully capable with SAC and eutectic tin-lead alloys. Resists micro solder ball formation.

“ALPHA EF-10000 flux passes the JIS, IPC and Bellcore electrical reliability standards enabling electronic assemblers to build strong, durable joints in both lead-free and tin-lead processes,” said Steve Brown, global product manager at CEAM. 

Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials, alphametals.com

Speedline Technologies will introduce its XyflexPro Dispensing System for the first time in Asia at Semicon Taiwan 2005. The system is said to deliver an increased speed rating of more than 30% and twice the accuracy of other dispensing systems.

The XyflexPr⁺ platform, along with Camalot Pumps and MPM Gel Flex tooling, will be featured at Semicon Taiwan 2005, booth number 914, Hall 1, on Sept. 12-14, in the Taipei World Trade Center.

“Featuring an advanced composite gantry design structure and linear drive system utilizing the latest in motion control drive technology, the new XyflexPro⁺ platform has the structural rigidity and control needed to attain the high performance capabilities and speed demands by the most challenging current – and future – manufacturing requirements,” said Hugh Read, product manager dispensing equipment.

Highlights include:

“Total System Accuracy” specification for “real world” material placement on a substrate relevant to a target;

Throughput increases across all dispense applications, with a faster point-to-point movement and the virtual elimination of z-axis travel time;

An increase in the gross dot placement rate to 45,000 DPH;

A Line Sequence command for faster, smoother travel around corners when dispensing Underfill, Encapsulation and Micro Display applications;

Pipeline conveyor mode allows parallel product transfer between conveyor zones, reducing transfer time up to 40%.

Allows the retrofitting of any option at anytime in the field as well as ability to change to and from SMT to semiconductor applications with minimum downtime. 

Features the Multi Piston Pump, Positive shut-off Dispense Units (DU), standard auger and MicroDot DU’s.

Available as a standalone or in-line system, and is easily configurable with single or dual heads for a range of dispense applications.

Speedline Technologies, .speedlinetech.com

SensArray Corp. announced an Assembly and Test Business Unit to deliver process optimization tools specifically for backend semiconductor manufacturers. The unit currently markets six applications as well as custom control systems to ensure optimum performance and better yields during wafer bumping.

"Present instruments currently used to control processes such as solder reflow and curing polymer coatings have become inadequate due to their lack of accuracy and sufficient channels of data measurement and analysis," said Phil Marcoux, Assembly and Test manager. "SensArray is leveraging its reputation for leadership in process optimization tools for front end IC manufacturing by supplying a set of measurement and control solutions that provide temperature accuracy, stability and calibration for the backend market."

With process optimization tools and measurement systems, regular profiling can reveal potential process problems before manufacturers realize a reduction in yields, which necessitate high rework requirements. SensArray has created a system bundle from its current tools for measuring real time, in situ temperature in backend processes.

The bundle includes: Process Probe1935 thermocouple (TC)-instrumented wafer; Process Prob3 1630 TC-instrumented wafer; Process Probe Custom Reflow; PDA-based Thermal TRACK measurement systems; laptop-based Thermal MAP metrology systems; and the Intelligent Sensor Interface System (ISIS).

SensArray, www.sensarray.com

EM8D-100L is a 16-pin DFN package, eight-line low pass filter array with integrated TVS diodes.  Is designed to suppress unwanted EMI/RFI signals and provide ESD protection for high-speed data interfaces such as color LCD displays, camera imagers in mobile phones and PDAs.

With a desired cutoff frequency of 150MHz, provides good EMI/RFI attenuation. Blocks the RF noises from GSM, DCS or Bluetooth, which affect the baseband chipset and other blocks. Meets the immunity test standard IEC 61000-4-2 at all levels.

In standby mode, the integrated TVS filter has a very low leakage current (less than 100µA) - an essential feature for battery powered handheld devices. Low profile durable 16-pin DFN package is useful in many applications.

ProTek Devices, protekdevices.com

Universal Instruments Corp. has designed an advanced assembly line that can assemble over 2000 flip chips per hour on flexible circuits.

The substrate is a thin flexible circuit that is normally processed in a carrier with eight to 12 circuits. Each comprises a 3 to 5 mm sq. pre-amplifier chip, five to 10 discretes and a connector.

An optimized line consists of a screen printer to apply solder paste, a chipshooter to pick-and-place the chip capacitors and the connector, a flip-chip placement machine with integrated dip fluxing and a reflow oven. For applications with high capacitor counts, two chipshooters would be required.

Universal’s chip placement platform configurations incorporate the company’s Variable Reluctance Motor (VRM) linear motors, featuring dual drives and one-micron linear encoders. Said to provide high accuracy and high speed, and enables the machines to be used in clean room environments. VRM technology is also at the heart of the 30-spindle rotary Lightning head – a chip placement solution that is smaller than mechanical turret heads typically deployed to place small discrete components. In addition, a four-spindle Pressure Enhanced (PE) head is used to place challenging components that demand higher accuracy. The PE head is used in conjunction with the Magellan camera – a high resolution digital Upward Looking Camera (ULC).

For the equipment designers, a major technical barrier was accurately imaging the component. The development project identified a need for a lighting module that integrates both blue and red LEDs to handle the wide spectrum of materials, such as polyimide, copper, etc. The team also redesigned the dip fluxing unit to be able to gang dip several components concurrently by adopting a linear versus a rotary mechanism..

The optimal tact time for the line is 20 to 25 sec. A twin-beam GSM Genesis platform equipped with two Lightning heads handles the discretes and the connectors. A second platform machine featuring a linear motor positioning system and a four spindle head combined with the Magellan ULC places all the flip chips to an accuracy of +/-9 microns at +/-3 sigma. Both machines are certified UL, CE, SEMI S2 and SEMI S8.

Universal Instruments Corp., www.uic.com

The Z-2000 series of flame, furnace and tandem atomic absorption spectrophotometers can determine low concentrations of toxic elements such as cadmium, mercury, lead and hexavalent chromium. This is of increasing importance with the implementation of the WEEE Directive and the planned implementation of RoHS next year.

Of particular importance is the determination of these toxic metals in plastic components such as electrical cables. A new method of sample preparation for polyethylene samples has been introduced which uses high-pressure microwave digestion with nitric acid. This replaces traditional extraction methods using sulphuric acid which is not suitable for the measurement of lead. Details of the new extraction method can be found in a new technical data sheet published by Hitachi (AA Sheet No. 72). (For a copy, e-mail info@hitachi-hitec-uk.com).

The Z-2000 Series benefits from the polarized Zeeman background correction method on both flame and furnace instruments, which not only gives extremely effective background elimination but also extremely stable baselines for both methods. The dual beam optics features twin detectors, enhancing detection levels. Detection limits for the flame instrument (in micrograms/g) are Cd: 2, Pb: 50 and Cr: 50. For the furnace instrument they are: Cd: 0.01, Pb: 0.25 and Cr: 0.2, also in micrograms/g.

The series is also suited to the testing of river water for toxic elements. These elements could end up in river water as a result of inappropriate disposal methods of electronic and electrical equipment. 

Hitachi High-Technologies Corp,. hitachi-hitec-uk.com

Speedline Technologies has announced several lead-free upgrades for its line of Electrovert Wave Soldering Systems.

40% wider than the traditional tin/lead nozzle, the UltraFill Nozzle increases both contact length and dwell time. The nozzles are placed closer together to reduce the temperature drop between the nozzles – so less superheat is needed to reflow solder joints in the second wave. As a result, hole fill is improved and bridging is reduced. There’s no requirement to slow the conveyor and dross generation is reduced.  The nozzles are available in Melonite Corrosion Resistant Stainless Steel or Titanium Material. 

An optional Nitrogen shroud is available for use with the Nozzle. Allows for either air or nitrogen operation, as determined by the desired recipe, without the need to change nozzles. The shroud both encompasses the nozzles in the pot and reduces dross formation in nitrogen environments. Lifts for easy maintenance and dedrossing without nozzle removal. 

Quick Change Solder Pot provides the capability to easily switch between two alloys, such as between tin/lead and lead-free solders.  The unit includes a second solder pot with motors, pumps, flow ducts, nozzle and two trolleys.

Both upgrades are available as an option on new or existing, installed Electrovert EconoPak Gold, Electra and Vectra systems.

Other available upgrades include:

• High Velocity Convention (HVC) Topside Preheater, for even topside preheating and tighter Delta T’s across the board;

• Reciprocating Spray Fluxing Technology, featuring UltraSpray technology for precise flux deposition, improved through-hole penetration and low maintenance requirements;

• Vectaheat Bottomside Preheater, providing efficient, even high thermal mass heating.

Speedline Technologies, speedlinetech.com

Version 10 of Ansoft's HFSS high-frequency/high-speed electromagnetic design product introduces capabilities for design-flow efficiency that allow users to easily share CAD models and results across existing CAD/CAE products. Offers dynamic-link technology  to co-simulate with other Ansoft products and extends applications to include RF/analog IC co-design, EMI/EMC and microwave heating.

The ability to reuse third-party CAD models and EDA layouts saves engineering time and allows designers to spend more time optimizing performance. Includes new model healing, meshing technology and model-resolution techniques that simplify the model translation and meshing process.

Expands  dynamic-link technology from Ansoft Designer to also include dynamic links to Nexxim(, SIwave, Maxwell and ePhysics for a range of end-user applications, including RF/analog IC, EMI/EMC, chip-package-board co-design and microwave heating. New features include optical incident wave sources, analysis prioritization, queuing and distributed network processing, user-constructed convergence criteria and support for Linux and Windows XP Professional.

Ansoft, ansoft.com or hfss.com

SP200-AV is an easy-to-operate semiautomatic stencil printer. The only manual task is placing the PCB into the machine. All other operations – including the positioning of the PCB – are fully automatic. Reportedly produces precise reproducible printing results. Designed for serial production, but can also be used for small batches due to the simple changeover.

Fast two-point-vision system provides a precise alignment of every PCB. To guarantee exact positioning for printing, two cameras look straight through the stencil onto the PCB. The cleanliness of the stencil and the alignment are checked simultaneously; misalignment is corrected automatically.

Control software is based on Windows, has built-in mouse and keyboard. All printing parameters are programmable with unlimited storage capacity for printing programs.

Side drawer provides simple loading and unloading. Frames of 584 x 584 mm can be mounted; maximum printing area is 400 x 360 mm.

ESSEMTEC, essemtec.com

353M Double-Coated Acrylic Adhesive Tape System combines quick-stick properties similar to rubber-based systems with the temperature performance of an acrylic system. Engineered for numerous substrate-bonding applications involving low energy surfaces, and challenging foams such as cross-linked polyethylene, low perms, ethers and esters.

Incorporates a differential caliper coating of 1.7 mils on the exposed side and 1.3 mils on the liner side, with typical peel values of 72 oz./in. width on the exposed side and 64 oz.. in. width on the liner side. Features a formaldehyde-free composition, RoHS complient. Several liner options, including 55 lb. densified Kraft, 74 lb. polycoated paper, 12 pt. board and a 2-mil PET liner are available.

Adchem Corp., adchem.com